HA's Ko Meets Medics In UK Recruitment Drive

Hospital Authority chief executive Tony Ko has met Hong Kong medical professionals and students attending school in Britain as part of a recruitment drive to address the SAR's doctor shortfall.

Some 300 doctors and medical students attended the recruitment drive, during which Ko sought to address any questions or concerns about the scheme.

A young orthopaedist named Bonita told RTHK her parents were from Hong Kong and that she had just finished specialist training. She said she was now interested in finding out more about the possibility of continuing her career in the SAR.

"What attracts me to go back is the city, Hong Kong," she said. "I've always gone back as a kid so it's kind of like a second home."

She added: "Working in the UK at the moment, there's a lot going on at the moment, a lot of uncertainty in the NHS, so it'll be quite nice to see what life is like in a different country."

Other participants said they were worried that they would have problems adjusting to life, and long working hours, in Hong Kong.

However, Ko assured them that they would have nothing to worry about. He said there wasn’t much difference between how hospitals are run in Hong Kong and in the UK, so those switching to Hong Kong shouldn’t have any problems adjusting.

He added that non-Cantonese speakers are also welcome – noting that the city needs plenty of specialists who don’t need to communicate directly with patients.

Ko also said the Hospital Authority would provide specialist training for people to move to Hong Kong to work, and that they could become associate consultants within five years. Nor, he added, would they have to worry about having to do their internships all over again once they arrived.

"Under this new registration scheme, they don't need to do an additional examination," he said. "In the past, they would have to go through all the subjects and sit a licensure examination. The second advantage is they don't need to repeat internships, because most of the doctors when they graduate, they have already finished internships in their areas of training."

Ko will also be visiting three top medical schools in the UK to discuss ways to cooperate and to get a better grasp of how interested their students may be in coming to work in the SAR.