The Director of Health, as the Registrar of Medical Practitioners, announced today the first batch of medical qualifications recognised by the Special Registration Committee (SRC).

Under the Medical Registration Ordinance, the first batch of recognised medical qualifications covers 27 qualifications from institutions in Australia, Canada, Singapore, the UK and the US.

In November 2021, the SRC was established under the Medical Council in accordance with the amended ordinance to determine the list of recognised medical qualifications after reviewing programmes offered by non-local medical schools with quality comparable to those provided by the two medical schools in Hong Kong.

Non-locally trained doctors who possess recognised medical qualifications, subject to their fulfilment of certain criteria, may apply for special registration to practise in the public healthcare institutions in Hong Kong.

After serving for a certain period, obtaining recognised specialist qualifications and passing the assessment, they will be granted full registration to practise in the city.

For non-locally trained medical graduates who possess the recognised medical qualifications but have yet to undergo internship outside Hong Kong, subject to their fulfilment of relevant criteria, they may take the Medical Council’s Licensing Examination in order to apply for special registration to practise in the public healthcare institutions in Hong Kong.

They may also obtain full registration after meeting the requirements applicable to all special registration doctors.

Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan said she is grateful to the SRC for their hard work in the past few months, resulting in the initial achievements in determining the list of recognised medical qualifications. She is confident that the SRC will complete the task of determining the full list within this year.

Given the current shortage of doctors in the public healthcare system, the announcement of the first batch of recognised medical qualifications is timely for qualified non-locally trained doctors to come to serve in Hong Kong's public healthcare institutions through special registration as soon as possible.

For students who intend to study medicine outside Hong Kong, they may refer to the list when making their choices for further studies, Prof Chan added.

The list of the first batch of recognised medical qualifications will be gazetted on April 29 and will take effect the same day.

It will then be submitted to the Legislative Council for negative vetting on May 4.