Democrats Want Top-school Doctors In SAR

The Democratic Party is urging the government to ease the rules that restrict foreign doctors from working in Hong Kong, so those trained at leading medical schools worldwide can practise in the SAR without taking more exams.

The party also says its polling shows strong public support for allowing doctors from Commonwealth countries to work here, as happened before the 1997 handover, to ease the burden on public hospitals.

Party lawmaker Helena Wong said she believed care standards would not fall because the city had "enough experts and academics to help us develop the listing".

"So those having comparable standards to locally-trained doctors, or having even better training than those trained in Hong Kong medical schools, we should be able to recruit and absorb into our public hospital services," Wong said.

The party said 60 percent of the 960 people it spoke to for a survey last month were dissatisfied with public hospital services. Some 54 percent wanted to allow Commonwealth doctors in.

The calls come amid concern over the pressure on the public medical system, which has seen wards filled beyond capacity in the early months of this year in the peak winter flu season.

The public system has also been criticised for putting too high a bureaucratic burden on staff, while many doctors have switched to the lucrative private sector.

There have been calls for years to make it easier for foreign doctors to work in Hong Kong without taking new licensing exams. But doctors have opposed such changes.