The biggest group of specialists in Hong Kong's public hospitals are angry at their poor career prospects, with Hospital Authority figures showing the lowest-ranking doctors have to wait an average of 16 years for promotion.
The doctors - specialists in internal medicine, also known as physicians or internists - say their morale is at an all-time low and complain that the authority has done nothing to retain talent in the public hospital system. A panel under the authority formed by top physicians has urged the government to act at once to restore confidence. Otherwise, they say, there could be 'a collapse in public services'.
An authority committee overseeing the training of physicians - doctors who diagnose and treat illnesses in patients, as opposed to surgeons - recently completed an analysis of promotion prospects. It shows that some specialists take 16 years to rise to the rank of associate consultant. Doctors in other specialities, such as radiology and obstetrics, can become consultants within 10 to 15 years. The authority says doctors in the departments of medicine and clinical oncology wait the longest for promotion because of low staff turnover.
The four specialities with the fastest promotion tracks are obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, radiology and anaesthesia. Turnover among obstetricians was 9 per cent in the first 10 months of the financial year, to the end of January, but less than 5 per cent in departments of medicine.
The poor prospects have not only affected the morale of physicians at public hospitals but may mean fewer medical students choose this speciality. That could have long-term ramifications for hospital services.
Professor Daniel Chan Tak-mao, chief of the department of medicine for hospitals in the western half of Hong Kong Island and a member of the training committee, said internal medicine used to be one of the top choices for new doctors but had lost popularity in recent years because of the slow career advancement.
