After releasing the first batch of non-local medical qualifications recognised by Special Registration Committee (SRC) in April 2022, the Hong Kong government announced additional 27 programmes on 08 June. The number of the recognised programme providers (universities) is now increased to 50. This measure is in accordance with the amended Medical Registration Ordinance gazetted last October.

Among the fifty universities, most of them are from the US (22), thirteen from the UK, seven from Australia, five from Canada, one from mainland China, and two from other countries. The updated list of recognised UK medical schools in alphabetical order includes Imperial College London, Queen Mary University of London, University College London, University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Liverpool, University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, University of Oxford, and University of Warwick.

The new policy will allow non-locally trained doctors from mainland China and other countries who graduated from the SRC recognised medical schools to practice as medical specialists through the special registration pathway. They may be granted a full license to practice in the city after serving in the public sector for a certain period of time and passing relevant assessment. Medical students who graduated from any of the 50 universities but have yet to undergo internship may take the Medical Council’s Licensing Examination to apply for special registration to practice in public hospitals in the city. They would be eligible for full registration status after fulfilling certain criteria, according to the government’s press release this Wednesday.

The details on how to practice in public health institutions as an non-locally trained doctors, including registration routes, employability package and application process can be found on the Hospital Authority (HA) website: Opportunities for Non-locally Trained Doctors in HA .

Source:

• Announcement of second batch of recognised medical qualifications under Medical Registration Ordinance (including the full list of SRC recognised medical schools), Press Release, HKSAR
• Another 23 overseas medical schools recognized by the SAR, The Standard Hong Kong

Commentary by British Council

The amended Medical Registration Ordinance aims to ease the shortage of medical staff in the city. According to a review study on the report of Healthcare Manpower Projection 2017 conducted by University of Hong Kong in early 2021, the manpower shortage of doctors persists, and the gap further widens compared to the projections in the 2017 report - shortage estimated to increase to 1,610 doctors by 2030. Nearly 60% of the manpower shortage would come from the public sector based on the Hospital Authority’s projection in eight years’ time.

As a result, this comes as no surprise to see the government further relaxing the rules and published the list of the recognised medical qualifications so quickly. Authorities are hoping to attract more overseas trained doctors to join the workforce and provide guidance for those who intend to study medicine outside of Hong Kong, so they can refer to the SCR university list for further study options in near future.

The inclusion of the 13 UK universities as part of the SRC recognised universities is great news for the UK HE sector. It's real recognition of the quality offered by medical schools in the UK. Hong Kong students who are studying medical programmes in the UK can be confident that employment prospects will remain strong when they return to HK. University representatives may wish to share this information when counselling prospective students about their subject choices. This could also be a good seminar topic and marketing messages for faculties to engage with prospective students and their influencers from Hong Kong.