Limited registration approved for non-locally trained doctors

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) spokesperson today (January 13) announced that confirmation was received from the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) on the approval of nine applications of non-locally trained doctors for practice with limited registration in public hospitals to help relieve the frontline workload. Among the nine applications, seven are new applications while the other two are for renewal. The nine doctors will be serving in anaesthesia, family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, radiology and surgery departments.

     The HA spokesperson said that the recruitment of non-locally trained doctors will continue. Selection interviews by user departments will be arranged for eligible applicants. The HA will submit limited registration applications to the MCHK for the non-locally trained doctors who are considered suitable for appointment according to their intended date of reporting duty.

     Currently, there are 22 non-locally trained doctors working in public hospitals under limited registration to relieve the manpower shortage and workload pressure of frontline doctors in the specialties of anaesthesia, cardiothoracic surgery, emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, neurosurgery, paediatrics, radiology and surgery.  

     Since April last year, the HA has expanded the scope of the limited registration recruitment scheme to all specialties at the rank of Service Resident, and will continue to recruit non-locally trained specialists at the rank of Associate Consultant in eight specialties (anaesthesia, anatomical pathology, cardiothoracic surgery, otorhinolaryngology, obstetrics and gynaecology, ophthalmology, radiology and nuclear medicine) which face significant attrition of specialists.