Press Releases
Tripartite Platform on Amendment of Medical Registration Ordinance holds second meeting
The Tripartite Platform set up to enhance the operation of
the Medical Council of Hong Kong held its second meeting
today (December 13). Members continued to discuss the
composition of the Council and its complaint investigation
and disciplinary inquiry mechanism, as well as registration
arrangement for non-locally trained doctors.
During the discussion of these items, members made reference
to the relevant mechanisms and experience of the United
Kingdom (UK), Australia and Singapore.
On composition, half and one-third of the members of the
medical regulatory bodies in the UK and Australia
respectively are lay members, while there is no lay
membership in the case of Singapore. In Hong Kong, there are
four lay members in the Medical Council, accounting for
about 14 per cent of the total membership. Members of the
regulatory bodies in the UK and Australia do not directly
participate in the work of complaint investigation and
disciplinary inquiries, while members of the regulatory body
in Singapore do have a certain degree of involvement.
Disciplinary inquiries against doctors in these three
countries are either handled by an independent tribunal
under the regulatory bodies or referred to judicial
authorities. Adjudicators responsible for disciplinary
inquiries are not members of the regulatory bodies in the UK
and Australia. In Hong Kong, complaint investigation and
disciplinary inquiries against doctors are directly
processed by the Council and handled mainly by its members.
As for the registration arrangement of non-locally trained
doctors, while there are different registration pathways
available for non-locally trained doctors in the UK,
Australia and Singapore, all of them directly recognise
medical qualifications obtained in certain jurisdictions or
from specified overseas medical schools. Licensing
examination is not a mandatory requirement in the UK and
Australia and there is no such arrangement in Singapore. In
Hong Kong, all non-locally trained doctors are required to
pass the licensing examination for full registration and
practice. Non-locally trained doctors under limited
registration are not required to take the licensing
examination, but they can only be employed under the types
of employment as promulgated by the Medical Council in the
Government Gazette. Most doctors with limited registration
are registered under Promulgation Number 2, i.e. they are
employed by the medical schools of the Chinese University of
Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong, the Hospital
Authority (HA) and the Department of Health (DH). At
present, there are about 100 doctors registered under such
promulgation, with a majority being employed by the two
medical schools, 14 by the HA and none by the DH.
The Tripartite Platform will meet in January and February
next year to discuss possible proposals on amendments to the
Medical Registration Ordinance for enhancing the composition
of the Medical Council and improving its complaint
investigation and disciplinary inquiry mechanism for greater
credibility, transparency and efficiency. The Government
will re-introduce the Medical Registration (Amendment) Bill
into the Legislative Council as early as possible in the
first half of next year.
Information and discussion papers of the second meeting are
available at the website of the Food and Health Bureau (www.fhb.gov.hk/en/press_and_publications/otherinfo/161100_tripartite_platform/index.html).
Ends/Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Issued at HKT 20:40
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