British expert says city must do more to attract overseas doctors
ELIZABETH CHEUNGelizabeth.cheung@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Monday, 14 December, 2015, 2:44am
UPDATED : Monday, 14 December, 2015, 2:43am
KPMG Global Health chairman Mark Britnell shows off his new book as he discusses Hong Kong's health woes. Photo: Nora Tam
A global health expert has urged the city to roll out the welcome mat to overseas medical experts if it wants to stay ahead of a medical talent battle currently gripping the world.
Currently, Hong Kong has only 10 non-local doctors operating under very stringent licensing rules in public hospitals.
Mark Britnell, a former top official in Britain's National Health Service and current chairman of KPMG Global Health Practice, said "there is no doubt in my mind that you have a medical workforce crisis".
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Britnell, who was in the city last week, also said transparency of information was essential for a health care system to overcome blunders.
He said the Occupy movement last year inspired him to title a chapter on Hong Kong as "demography, democracy and destiny" as he underscored the importance of transparency in medical information in his new book, In Search of the Perfect Health System.
"I do believe the democratisation of information is a global trend which is frankly unstoppable," said Britnell, who declined to comment on the political situation in Hong Kong.
Disclosure of information should not be limited to the waiting time for patients in clinics or emergency departments, but also clinical outcomes and patient experience, he said.
On the local health system, he said it was of "high value" by spending less than 6 per cent of GDP while at the same time having a population with one of the longest life expectancies in the world.
However, he believed the government should be more proactive in increasing the number of doctors in the city to address the shortage of health care professionals.
"I don't think Hong Kong fully realises this. There is a global battle for medical talent," said Britnell.
The World Health Organisation estimated that there was a global shortage of 7.2 million doctors and nurses in 2013. The figure was expected to rise to 12.9 million by 2035.
"Hong Kong is a global financial centre that is happy to take the world's money. It should also be happy to take the world's best doctors," Britnell said.
The Hospital Authority plans to continue recruiting overseas doctors as one of the ways to fill the current shortage, which will rise to 400 next year and will not drop until 2020. However, barriers for overseas doctors to enter the local market were described by Britnell as "insurmountable".
Britnell said health care systems in countries such as Australia and Canada had benefited by embracing overseas talent when producing their own became a challenge.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1890932/hong-kong-must-win-medical-talent-battle-says
