The Secretary for Food and Health, Ko Wing-man, says members of the Medical Council of Hong Kong have plenty of opportunity to express their views on reforming the council. File photo: RTHK
The Secretary for Food and Health, Ko Wing-man, said on Monday that there is plenty of opportunity for the medical sector to express its views on the government's proposal to reform the Medical Council of Hong Kong later this year.
He was responding to threats by some doctors to go on strike if officials pushed ahead with the plan to add four extra non-medical members to the council. Currently, four out of the council's 28 members are not from the medical sector, and half of them are picked by the government. The doctors feel the addition of the another four non-medical members would affect their professional autonomy.
The call for reforming the council came after it took nine years to resolve a complaint about professional misconduct.
Ko also said he hoped fewer medical staff will leave public sector hospitals after the Chief Executive, CY Leung, stated in his Policy Address last week that the government would allocate HK$200 billion for the development of public hospitals.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1236562-20160118.htm
