The 2004 Chinese Medicine Practitioner Licensing Examination will be open for applications from November 11 to December 20.

Under the Chinese Medicine Ordinance, any person who wishes to register as a Chinese medicine practitioner must first pass the examination.

A person is eligible if they have successfully completed an undergraduate degree training course in Chinese medicine approved by the Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board.

Listed Chinese medicine practitioners who want to undertake the 2004 examination need not apply now. The board will separately notify them of the date and other details of the examination.

People who have passed the written examination for this year's exam should submit enrolment forms for sitting the 2004 Licensing Examination-Part II Clinical Examination on or before March 31.

The test consists of the Part I Written Examination and Part II Clinical Examination. The written test will be held in May or June, and the clinical one will be held in July or August.

Application forms and candidate handbooks for the exam are available at the Chinese Medicine Council Secretariat at 37/F, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Or they can also be downloaded from the council's homepage.

The handbook can also be obtained by fax from the Department of Health's telephone enquiry hotline (2574 9999).