Before the amendment of the Medical Registration Ordinance, a non-locally trained doctor who wishes to practice in Hong Kong may either take the Licensing Examination for full registration or apply for limited registration without sitting for the Licensing Examination. With full registration, a doctor may practice independently in Hong Kong. With limited registration, a doctor may only work in the institution specified in the application and the maximum duration of limited registration is three years. While limited registration could be renewed every three years on application, a doctor with limited registration could not proceed to full registration unless he/she passes the Licensing Examination.
Under the amended Medical Registration Ordinance (Cap. 161) (“MRO”), there is now a new form of registration called “special registration”, providing a new pathway for qualified non-locally trained doctors to obtain full registration in Hong Kong, as an alternative to the pathway of passing the Licensing Examination.
Special Registration
Under the amended MRO, there are different possible entry points for non-locally trained doctors or medical graduates to seek to practice in Hong Kong, having regard to their medical qualifications, whether they are Hong Kong permanent residents (“HKPRs”), etc. For the purpose of special registration, a statutory Special Registration Committee (“SRC”) has been set up and it will draw up a list of recognized medical qualifications awarded by non-local medical schools (i.e. medical programs at the level of degree or higher), taking into account the medium of instruction and the curriculum of the medical programs, the international rankings of the relevant non-local medical schools, and any other aspects that SRC considers appropriate. The first batch of recognized medical qualifications could hopefully be determined by SRC within the first half of 2022.
In brief terms, the entry requirements for a non-locally trained doctor to obtain full registration under the new pathway of special registration are as follows -
A. If he/she is a HKPR,
(i) he/she holds a recognized medical qualification awarded by a non-local medical school and possesses medical registration in any place where the non-local medical schools concerned are located; or
(ii) he/she holds a recognized medical qualification awarded by a non-local medical school (without undergoing internship and hence without medical registration outside Hong Kong yet), passed the Licensing Examination in Hong Kong and thereafter satisfactorily completed one-year internship (i.e. period of assessment under MRO); or
B. If he/she is a non-HKPR,
(iii) he/she holds a recognized medical qualification awarded by a non-local medical school, possesses medical registration in any place where the non-local medical schools concerned are located, and holds a specialist qualification recognized or awarded by the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (“HKAM”); or
C. No matter whether he/she is a HKPR or non-HKPR,
(iv) he/she has served in any of the public healthcare institutions in Hong Kong (i.e. Hospital Authority, Department of Health, The University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong) as a limited registration doctor for at least five years and holds a specialist qualificationrecognized or awarded by HKAM.
Irrespective of which route (i.e. A, B or C above) is taken, he/she has to fulfill the following criteria before full registration could be granted -
- he/she has been engaged in full-time employment as a medical practitioner with special registration in any of the public healthcare institutions in Hong Kong for at least five years afterobtaining a specialist qualification recognized or awarded by HKAM; and
- he/she is considered by the employing public healthcare institutions to have served satisfactorily and competently as a medical practitioner during the five years (or more) period.
Click here for a flowchart reflecting the above-mentioned new pathway of special registration for easy reference. |
