(Yicai) March 23 -- Hong Kong's Health Bureau is considering policy adjustments to allow qualified non-locally trained doctors, including those from the Chinese mainland, to apply to practice in the special administrative region due to a medical personnel shortage.

In accordance with local needs, qualified non-locally trained doctors would be able to engage in medical practice in Hong Kong through "special registration" and "limited registration" models, according to a consultation draft amending Chapter 161 of the Medical Registration Ordinance and proposed supporting measures submitted by the Health Bureau to the Legislative Council, the SAR's main law-making body.

The latest is another major policy adjustment since Hong Kong introduced the test-free "special registration" system in 2021, allowing graduates from non-local medical schools recognized by the SAR and employed by local public institutions to obtain special registration to practice. However, the scheme was limited to permanent residents or non-permanent residents with specialist qualifications, while employing institutions were required to conduct interviews in English, so very few mainland doctors could meet all the criteria.

Just two universities in Hong Kong have medical schools, with only around 200 to 300 graduates a year, an authoritative medical expert on secondment at the University of Hong Kong's Shenzhen Medical School told Yicai. "Medical talent is in extremely short supply, resulting in high salaries for local doctors."

The "special registration" channel aimed to address the shortage of doctors in Hong Kong, but it was only open to permanent residents or non-permanent residents with specialist qualifications at the time. In addition, the employing institutions conducted interviews only in English, limiting the number of mainland doctors who could meet all the requirements.

The number of registered doctors in Hong Kong was only about 16,000 in 2024, with a median age of 53, leading to expectations of a retirement wave over the next 10 years, according to official figures. The shortage of doctors in the public healthcare system will likely exceed 1,600 by 2030 and reach about 1,950 by 2040. 

The most attractive part of the new policy is that mainland doctors who have not yet completed their specialist training also have the opportunity to apply to practice in Hong Kong, a chief physician at the cardiology department of a top hospital in Shanghai said to Yicai, adding that all they need is to complete five years of service at designated medical institutions and pass the assessment. 

However, the chief physician noted that some of his students had attempted to apply to practice in Hong Kong through the "special registration" system introduced in 2021 and failed. It is very difficult for people from the mainland outside Guangdong province to pass the language barrier for medical practice in the SAR, because they are required to be fluent in English and Cantonese, the person pointed out.

The new policy still requires applicants to serve as general practitioners for five years before they can become specialists, a chief physician from the sports medicine department of a large hospital in South China told Yicai. "This will be attractive to less experienced mainland doctors, but not so much for specialists like me."

Salaries of some doctors in private mainland hospitals have approached those of doctors in public hospitals in Hong Kong, so the new policy does not have a particularly strong appeal for senior and highly paid doctors from the Chinese mainland, a doctor from the cardiology department at a private hospital in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area said to Yicai.

"My annual salary is over CNY1 million (USD144,707), and although the salary in Hong Kong might be a bit higher, the requirements for English proficiency there are high, while the workload may not be any lighter," he noted. 

However, Hong Kong still holds considerable appeal for doctors in public mainland hospitals, he pointed out, noting that some of his former colleagues in such hospitals moved to Hong Kong, mainly in scarce positions that are in short supply, such as anesthesiology and otolaryngology. 

"Their income in Hong Kong is about two to three times higher than their pay was in public hospitals on the mainland," he added.

The starting monthly salary for medical graduates in Hong Kong is HKD70,000 (USD8,940), much higher than that of graduates from other disciplines, according to official data. After reaching the consultant level in public hospitals, the annual income can reach around HKD3 million (USD383,080), while the salary of doctors in private hospitals can be about 10 times that of those in public hospitals.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev