Doctor handed community service order for defrauding HK$110,000 in special remuneration

A 34-year-old Yan Chai Hospital doctor was handed a 160-hour community service order on Wednesday for deceiving the Hospital Authority into paying him HK$110,000 in special honorarium by making false representations about his extra services. 

The defendant Wong Man-ho had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of fraud. 

Passing down the sentence at West Kowloon Court, magistrate Jason Wan Siu-ming said a community service order was imposed after having considered that Wong was remorseful and the overall circumstances of the case. 

The defense earlier said in mitigation that Wong proactively joined the “dirty team” on the front line during Covid and cited colleagues praises that Wong had made important calls and decisions that saved lives more than once. 

Wong joined the HA in July 2013. He had been a resident doctor of Yan Chai Hospital posted to the Department of Medicine since January 2017. 

The court heard that under the Special Honorarium Scheme (SHS), medical staff of the HA who provided extra services were remunerated on an hourly basis, provided that the extra services were done outside the normal call of duty of the employees. 

After joining the HA, Wong made a number of applications to participate in the SHS at Tuen Mun Hospital. 

ICAC investigation revealed that on over 60 occasions between January 2017 and November 2019, Wong’s normal call of duty at Yan Chai Hospital overlapped with his reported SHS duty hours at Tuen Mun Hospital. The overlapping hours amounted to almost 170 hours. 

Wong admitted that he had left Yan Chai Hospital earlier than his official off-duty hours without approval from his supervisors, and had not reported for duty on time at Tuen Mun Hospital. 

On various occasions, he had also made false representations to the HA about his attendance records in relation to the extra services performed at the Accident and Emergency Department of Tuen Mun Hospital, so as to deceive the HA into paying him special honorarium of over HK$110,000. 

ICAC extended gratitude towards the HA for its full assistance during the investigation into the case. The watchdog also reminded public servants to uphold a high standard of integrity in order to meet public expectations and maintain public trust.