Editorial | Hong Kong’s Medical Council must heed diagnosis of ills in complaints process
While the 21 recommendations put forward by the ombudsman may not offer an instant cure, reform is the need of the hour
There were a staggering 895 outstanding complaints as of December 2025, according to the ombudsman. Over the past six years, the council has only completed 263 inquiry cases, averaging 44 a year. More than 75 per cent of the cases were completed within five years, while the handling of 11 cases, or 4 per cent of the total, took between 10 and 15 years. “The current investigations and disciplinary proceedings into complaints against medical practitioners are excessively long and fall far short of public expectations,” said Ombudsman Jack Chan Jick-chi.
Behind the numbers are the suffering and grief of patients and their family members waiting for their turn to seek justice over suspected wrongdoings involving doctors. Evidently, some cases may not be pursued after an initial screening while those involving serious allegations and providing evidence may proceed to the disciplinary hearing stage. They all deserve a clear answer under a fair and effective redressal mechanism.
The medical profession prides itself on professional autonomy and self-regulation. The revamp of the process of handling complaints against doctors is a long overdue surgery needed to ensure healthy operations and regain public trust in the system. Now that the ombudsman has made a detailed diagnosis of the problems and offered 21 ideas for improvement, we trust the authorities will follow up and make sure the Medical Council cooperates responsibly. Some of the prescriptions, such as raising the proportion of lay council members and setting target timelines for each key stage of complaint handling, may not be an instant cure. But further procrastination will only further entrench the broken system.