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Government proposes to amend Medical Registration Ordinance

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The Government proposes to amend the Medical Registration Ordinance (MRO) (Cap 161) to improve and increase the efficiency of the complaint investigation and disciplinary inquiry mechanism of the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK), to increase lay participation in the main Council of the MCHK to enhance its credibility and accountability, and to enable the MCHK to approve applications for limited registration for a period from not exceeding one year to not exceeding three years.

"The Medical Registration (Amendment) Bill (MR(A) Bill) 2016 could not be passed before the end of the last term of the Legislative Council (LegCo). The Government subsequently set up a tripartite platform, comprising doctors, representatives of patients' interests and consumers' interests, and Legislative Councillors, to provide views on the composition and operation of the MCHK and forge consensus on the proposed legislative amendments as far as practicable," a spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said today (May 24).

"The MR(A) Bill 2017 is formulated on the basis of the original proposals of the MR(A) Bill 2016 and the subsequent Committee Stage Amendments proposed by the Government, and after taking into account the discussions and concerns of LegCo and the community on the MR(A) Bill 2016, the views expressed by members of the tripartite platform on various occasions, and the earlier deliberations and views raised at the tripartite platform.

"There is a pressing need to amend the MRO. With a backlog of 940 cases, the latest estimate is that it takes about six years on average for the MCHK to complete a complaint case from receipt to disciplinary inquiry. Constrained by the existing legislation, the MCHK cannot substantially improve the efficiency of the mechanism solely by administrative measures. It is necessary for the Government to make legislative amendments to effectively improve the existing mechanism so that the MCHK can complete the complaint handling process within a reasonable time frame. The MR(A) Bill 2017 is more comprehensive than the MR(A) Bill 2016. Apart from removing the bottlenecks under the current legislation, a modern mechanism is recommended to be set up under the MCHK to increase its efficiency and flexibility in handling complaints."

Major amendments of the Amendment Bill are as follows:

1. To improve the complaint investigation and disciplinary inquiry mechanism of the MCHK and increase its efficiency. Major amendments are:

The Government hopes that the backlog of cases could be handled as soon as possible after the passage of the legislative amendments and that the majority of the cases that require inquiry can be concluded within two years after clearing the backlogs.

2. To increase lay participation in the MCHK. Major amendments are:

Under the MR(A) Bill 2017, doctor members will remain the majority (75 per cent) in the MCHK while the proportion of lay members will be increased from 14 per cent to 25 per cent. Half of the members will be elected doctor members. Elected members and one member to be nominated by the Consumer Council (whose appointment by the Government is not required) will account for about two-thirds of the membership, while only about one-third will be appointed members.

3. Limited registration

The validity period and renewal period of limited registration will be extended from not exceeding one year to not exceeding three years.

The MR(A) Bill 2017 will be gazetted on June 2 and introduced into LegCo on June 7.

Ends/Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Issued at HKT 15:00
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12 Apr 2019