Hong Kong’s public hospitals unveil scheme to hire doctors from Greater Bay Area in bid to ease manpower crunch
- Programme allows one-year exchange of doctors, but only professionals from top three tiers of mainland hospitals are eligible
- Hospital Authority chairman Henry Fan says public hospitals face staff shortages due to emigration, cites 7.9 per cent attrition rate for full-time doctors
Hong Kong’s public hospitals have unveiled a scheme to hire top doctors from the Greater Bay Area in a bid to ease a manpower crunch caused by emigration and healthcare professionals joining the private sector.
The programme, which allows a one-year exchange for doctors, was announced on Thursday as hospital chiefs reported some progress in their recent retention efforts, and said a policy offering low-interest loans to help workers buy homes would be ready by the fourth quarter of this year at the earliest.
“With this multipronged approach, I believe the measures will have some impact [on retaining talent],” Hospital Authority chairman Henry Fan Hung-ling said at a press briefing after a board meeting.
He added that the plan was needed, citing a 7.9 per cent attrition rate for full-time doctors, equivalent to the loss of about 500 doctors, and an attrition rate of 9.5 per cent or the loss of some 2,600 nurses.
“The situation is very worrying, that’s why we have rolled out several rounds of manpower retention programmes,” he said. “Some [workers] have told us they are emigrating, while some are moving to the private sector or just want to take a break.”
