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Letters | Hong Kong’s third medical school must have sizeable teaching hospital

Readers discuss a vital resource for medical training, Hong Kong’s healthcare priorities and the need for vigilance over property transactions

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Queen Mary Hospital is part of the teaching hospital of the University of Hong Kong medical school. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

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I refer to the article, “Hong Kong’s third medical school to work closely with Northern Metropolis partners” (November 28), which set out the 10 key parameters for considering proposals from institutions bidding to set up the third medical school. The project task group emphasised that key parameters should include recruiting high-calibre teaching staff, planning for a teaching hospital, offering a graduate-entry programme and adopting an accredited medical curriculum framework.

In the interests of establishing an ideal teaching hospital, I suggest that the task group must consider the available clinical teaching facilities of universities that intend to bid for the project, on the understanding that bedside teaching – first introduced in 1892 by Canadian doctor William Osler – is one of the vital components of clinical training and an indispensable tool in the creation of a competent doctor.

Banking on the yet-to-materialise Northern Metropolis may be a long shot, so the task group should be eyeing the currently usable private or public hospitals closest to the three universities that have expressed interest: the University of Science and Technology and nearby Tseung Kwan O Hospital (with its capacity of around 650 patient beds), Baptist University and Hong Kong Baptist Hospital (around 850 patient beds) and Polytechnic University and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (around 1,900 patient beds).

Simply put, the capacity of the teaching hospital that will be used by the third medical school must not pale in comparison with those of the University of Hong Kong and Chinese University. Having a sizeable teaching hospital will ensure that students can be trained well by having access to a diverse pool of real-world patient cases.

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It will also make sure that Hong Kong’s third medical school is in line with Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau’s direction that the school must aim high on the quality, apart from quantity, of its medical professionals.

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