Press Releases
SFH on Medical Council
Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and
Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, after attending a radio programme this morning (June
14):
Reporter: Can you comment on the plan to bring in more lay assessors to the
Medical Council? Is that good enough to speed up the process (of handling
complaints)?
Secretary for Food and Health: There has been widespread concern about the
operational efficiency of the Medical Council recently, particularly in
respect of its procedures in handling disciplinary inquiries. The Medical
Council has formally submitted a proposal to the Government on introducing
two major changes in the current Medical Registration Ordinance. Firstly, it
proposed to increase the number of non-professional assessors that we can
appoint to the Medical Council. The second proposal is to allow
non-professional assessors taking part in the Preliminary Investigation
Committee of the Medical Council. With these two changes, it would enhance
the operational efficiency of the Medical Council in handling disciplinary
proceedings and shorten the timeframe of conducting disciplinary inquiries.
Meanwhile, it would also enhance the participation of laymen in its
disciplinary procedures, i.e. enhance the participation by those members who
are not medical professionals in disciplinary inquiries. I think these two
particular aspects would be something that we would all like to see. The
response of the Government to these proposals is positive and we would look
at the possibility of introducing such a legislative change as soon as
possible.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, June 14, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:43
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