Press Releases

Supply of doctors in line with required medical services

In response to media enquiries, a spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said today (July 14) that the current supply of doctors in Hong Kong is broadly in line with the longer term requirements of the population and that the question of poor manpower planning did not arise.

Manpower planning for medical and health professionals is reviewed regularly based on the requirements of the population, changes and advances in medical technologies and in the context of the development of the local health care system, he said.

The existing ratio of doctors per 1,000 population is 1.5. This ratio is lower than those of the developed countries such as the United States but is generally higher than those of Southeast Asian countries. 

Local medical graduates, after completion of internship and when registered with the Medical Council, are considered fully qualified for medical practice. 

"The reasons for employment provided by the public sector are two-fold: to provide medical services and to provide training for specialists including both hospital specialists and specialists for practice in the community such as specialists in family medicine."

"The contract-term employment provided by the Hospital Authority (HA) is designed to provide training for medical specialists both in the public and private sectors. Employment opportunities also exist in the private sector apart from the public sector," he said.

As for the succession in the HA, the spokesman said that doctors will be employed to fill the posts vacated because of retirement, resignation or other reasons and to fill positions arising from the introduction of new and improved services.

Existing arrangements already provide adequate training opportunities for doctors to take up senior posts in due course and there is no question of a succession problem in the HA, he said.

End/Sunday, July 14, 2002
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