Mainland Doctors, Nurses To Work At Public Hospitals

The Hospital Authority (HA) on Thursday said nine specialty doctors and 70 nurses from the mainland will come and work at public hospitals in Hong Kong next month under exchange programmes.

The Greater Bay Area Healthcare Talents Exchange Programmes, announced by the HA last year, will allow doctors, nurses, radiographers and Chinese medicine practitioners from the mainland to practise in the SAR for a period of time.

The doctors, coming from the Greater Bay Area with limited registration granted by the Medical Council, specialise in areas such as respiratory medicine and infectious diseases, among others. They will work at hospitals of the Kowloon Central, Kowloon West and New Territories West clusters.

The 70 nurses, who are from Guangdong, have worked in the medical field for an average of eight years.

Henry Fan, the authority's chairman, said officials are also travelling overseas to recruit talent. The HA's chief executive, Tony Ko, will be among the team visiting London next week.

"Hiring a doctor working overseas to come work here isn't that easy, because they've already established their roots in many places and foreign countries," he said.

"We don't expect to get them all to agree in the few days of our trip to London. But Doctor [Tony] Ko is prepared, and he's bringing appointment letters, so they can immediately sign up if they want to. While we don't expect this to happen, we hope to take the first step."

Ko, for his part, said it is too early to estimate how many people will be recruited, but added that any medical professionals are welcomed.

As of January this year, the turnover rate over the past year was 7.2 percent for full-time doctors with about 455 resignations. But in the same period, the HA hired 511 doctors.

As for the attrition rate of full-time nurses, it stood at 11.2 percent for the period.