Doctors from 27 overseas medical schools to be allowed to practice in Hong Kong public hospitals

Doctors who graduated from 27 universities in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Singapore will soon be allowed to practice in Hong Kong’s public healthcare institutions under a special registration route, the government has announced.

medic medical doctor A&E emergency ER caritas covid covid-19 queue — Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong during the fifth-wave Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

The Registrar of Medical Practitioners on Wednesday announced the first batch of medical qualifications acknowledged under the amended Medical Registration Ordinance. The legislation was revised last October to allow non-locally trained doctors with recognised medical qualifications to work in the Hospital Authority, the Department of Heath and other entities in Hong Kong’s public healthcare sector, in a bid to relieve the shortage of doctors in public hospitals.

Among the 27 medical programmes listed, 15 were offered at universities in the US, including Johns Hopkins University, University of California Los Angeles and Yale University. Six British universities were also recognised, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the University of Glasgow.

First Batch of Recognised Medical Qualifications by HKFP on Scribd

The list also included three Canadian universities, two universities in Australia and the National University of Singapore.

“[T]he announcement of the first batch of recognised medical qualifications is timely for qualified non-locally trained doctors to come to serve in the public healthcare institutions in Hong Kong through special registration as soon as possible,” Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The overseas medical qualifications were reviewed by the Special Registration Committee under the Medical Council of Hong Kong. Non-locally trained doctors may be granted a full license to practice in Hong Kong after serving in the public sector for a period of time and passing relevant assessment.

Those who have not completed their medical internship outside Hong Kong would have to sit for a licensing examination in order to apply for practising in the city via the special route.

The list will be gazetted on Friday and will take effect on the same day. The document will also be submitted to the Legislative Council for a review next Wednesday.