In response to media enquiries on the Hong Kong Medical Association's proposal to exempt internship requirement for overseas medical specialists, a spokesman for the Department of Health (DH) today (April 20) provided the following reply:
According to the media reports, the DH has noted that representatives of some medical associations, in addressing the manpower shortage of the Medical and Health Officer grade, did not comprehend the specialist services and job nature of the DH as well as the severe manpower shortage faced by the Department. The DH will approach the relevant associations to provide accurate information for reference to facilitate a thorough deliberation.
In view of the severe manpower shortage problem in the DH's Medical and Health Officer grade in recent years, the Department has been striving to maintain communications with the relevant stakeholders, as well as providing information and participating in discussions to find solutions to address the recruitment difficulties. As at April 1, 2019, there are 521 posts under the Medical and Health Officer grade in the DH with 59 vacancies, spanning across different medical streams including child assessment, family medicine, forensic pathology, pathology, social hygiene, family health and health. With the creation of posts due to operational needs and wastage of officers, the number of vacancy of Medical and Health Officer grade is expected to increase to around 120 in the year 2019-20.
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