Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau today said the Government is committed to implementing a series of measures to relieve the public healthcare system's burden, especially the stress of healthcare professionals in public hospitals.

Such measures include the development of primary healthcare, strengthening resources and manpower as well as improving service efficiency. 

Responding to questions from lawmaker Priscilla Leung in the Legislative Council, Prof Lo said there are 16,459 doctors in Hong Kong as at March 31, ie. only 2.16 doctors per 1,000 people, a ratio far lower than that of other advanced economies.

While the public and private sectors each has around half of the doctor manpower, the public healthcare system provides 90% of in-patient services in Hong Kong, he added.

The health chief highlighted that the Government has stepped up the investment of resources in training of healthcare professionals in recent years, with the training capacity for various healthcare professions increasing significantly from about 4,000 in 2017-18 to about 6,000 in 2023-24.

Moreover, the Government created new pathways for admitting non-locally trained doctors through an earlier amendment to the Medical Registration Ordinance, and also successively introduced bills to LegCo to create new pathways for admitting non-locally trained nurses and dentists.

Prof Lo also noted that the Government is exploring the admission of qualified non-locally trained supplementary medical professionals for working in the Hospital Authority (HA) and the Department of Health, and the legislative amendments will be proposed as soon as possible.

The HA had earlier established the Task Group on Sustainability to review various challenges including the manpower shortage as well as formulate strategies and implement various measures to attract, train and retain talent.

These include enhancing recruitment of local graduates, re-hiring retired staff, recruiting non-locally trained doctors and part-time staff, increasing training and promotion opportunities as well as launching the Enhanced Home Loan Interest Subsidy Scheme.

Prof Lo pointed out that the relevant measures have started to yield results, with the number of HA doctors increasing by more than 260 in 2023-24 as compared with the previous year, and the attrition rate dropping from 8.1% in 2021-22 to 5.2% in 2023-24.