Doctors, nurses have social duty to make sacrifices for city, Hong Kong leader says on plan to fight shortfall with forced service period in public sector
- Asked about concerns the plan would be counterproductive, chief executive says he believes such professionals ‘love Hong Kong’ and ‘want to serve society’
- Latest comments by John Lee echo proposal raised in his maiden policy address last month
Doctors and nurses should make sacrifices for the city and see their jobs as a social responsibility, Hong Kong’s leader has said while defending his plan to plug a manpower shortfall at government hospitals by forcing professionals to serve a certain period in the public sector.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday said it was the government’s responsibility to find ways to solve manpower woes in the public healthcare sector.
“We must increase manpower when there is a yearly quota on the number of medical professionals we train every year. This is a bottleneck [that needs to be tackled],” he added.
In his maiden policy address last month, Lee vowed to explore different options to ensure sufficient manpower in the public healthcare system, including requiring qualified professionals to serve in government institutions for a specified period of time.
More than 500 doctors and 2,600 nurses in the public system had quit between April 2021 and the same month this year as part of a rising turnover rate.
Lee’s policy suggestion had courted controversy, with former finance chief John Tsang Chun-wah warning that the proposal – which he described as meaningless and unnecessary – could become another “push factor that prompts more doctors and nurses to leave public hospitals”.
Asked on Tuesday if he was worried the plan could be counterproductive, Lee said: “I believe that Hong Kong people love this city and are willing to make sacrifices for Hong Kong … I strongly believe that apart from loving their jobs, medical professionals also take up their employment as they want to serve society.”
