Hong Kong will further relax a contentious plan to let non-local doctors practise in the city in order to tackle a shortfall of medical staff in the public sector, the city's Health Secretary said on Tuesday (Aug 31).
Sophia Chan, speaking at a press conference, said the government was proposing to allow foreign สมัครslotxo doctors with specialist qualifications to work in the city via a scheme which allows them to skip a decades-old compulsory exam.
The scheme, which was announced at the start of this year, had initially been limited to overseas-trained Hong Kong residents and even then had sparked a backlash amongst many in the local medical sector who believed it would lower health care standards in the Asian financial hub.
Some see the legislation as a first step in replacing local doctors with those from China, where there are concerns over health and safety standards, more than a dozen medical workers told Reuters in May.
Chan dismissed concerns that the law would lead to lower standards.
"We are very careful about ensuring the quality of these doctors," she said.
Hong Kong has an acute doctor shortage with a per capita ratio of two doctors per 1,000 people, far lower than other economies, the government said.