Hong Kong Hospital Authority chief promotes city to UK-based medical students, doctors in recruitment drive to lure non-locally trained talent
- Tony Ko, chief executive of the authority, spoke to more than 200 students and practitioners at weekend event in London
- City’s public hospitals face manpower shortages, losing 1,247 doctors between April 2020 and end of 2022, with only 15 per cent through retirement
More than 200 UK-based medical students and doctors attended a Hospital Authority recruitment event in London over the weekend in the organisation’s latest attempt to lure non-locally trained talent to Hong Kong amid a manpower shortage.
The authority’s chief executive Tony Ko Pat-sing spoke to students and professionals during the “Hong Kong Day” in-person and online event on Sunday, detailing what it was like to work in the city’s public healthcare sector and the career pathways on offer.
The event was hosted by the Hong Kong Medical Society of the United Kingdom, an organisation representing students and doctors from the city who live in Britain.
But Ko, who is spearheading an authority delegation in the country, admitted the public healthcare sector faced difficulties in employee retention and recruitment.
“We did have retention problems because business [in the private sector] was too good,” he said in response to a participant’s question.
“There are colleagues who are more interested in private sector work ... you may find the salary [in the Hospital Authority] is more attractive compared with [Britain]. But the private sector is even more attractive.”
The authority chief emphasised that the experience of growing professionally and picking up clinical skills, while serving the public, was “extremely satisfying”.
