Hospital Authority welcomes passage of Medical Registration (Amendment) Bill 2021 at Legislative Council

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) welcomed the passage of the Medical Registration (Amendment) Bill 2021 at the Legislative Council today (October 21). It is believed that the amendment can attract more qualified non-locally trained doctors to practise with special registration in Hong Kong.
 
     "While the amended Bill is crucial to the sustainability of public healthcare services, the HA will collaborate with the Government to promote the special registration programme under the amended Bill. We will also dovetail with and support the corresponding specialist training needs, apart from actively participating in the new platform established by the Food and Health Bureau for the deliberations of specialist training matters with the Department of Health and the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine," the HA spokesperson said.
 
     "The HA has proceeded with the two 10-year hospital development programmes to provide more hardware facilities for public healthcare. As such, the demand for doctors in public hospitals will also increase correspondingly. The recruitment into the public healthcare sector of more qualified non-locally trained doctors under special registration can help tackle the rising service demands."
 
     The HA will continue to give priority to recruiting all suitable medical graduates from local universities and will continue to implement various human resources measures, including the recruitment of full-time and part-time healthcare staff; increase promotion and training opportunities for doctors; and continue the Special Retired and Rehire Scheme, etc, to increase and retain doctors' manpower to alleviate the workload of frontline doctors.
 
     "Facing challenges of an ageing population and increasing service demands, the HA will continue to promote public-private partnership programmes and primary care development in Hong Kong to ensure quality healthcare services for the people of Hong Kong," the spokesperson added.