Fudan University docs first from mainland to get special treatment

Doctors who graduated from Shanghai's Fudan University will become the first from the mainland to be allowed to practice in Hong Kong without going through a licentiate exam.

The second list of nonlocal graduates allowed to practice medicine in the city was released yesterday, with Fudan being the only mainland institution among the 23 universities.

Authorities announced the first batch of 27 medical schools on April 27 and it did not include any mainland universities.

Other universities on the second list include seven from the United States, seven from the United Kingdom, five from Australia, two from Canada and the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

The Times Higher Education's World University Rankings 2022 ranks Fudan as 47th in clinical and health subjects, while the QS World University Rankings 2022 ranks Fudan's medical school at 74.

The list of recognized medical graduates was compiled by a special registration committee, which was established in November under the Medical Council of Hong Kong.

The committee is responsible for reviewing nonlocal programs and determining whether their quality is comparable to that of the medical schools at University of Hong Kong and Chinese University.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said she is confident the committee will be able to complete the whole list within the year.

A spokesman said the Hospital Authority will continue to give priority to recruiting all suitable medical graduates from local universities but it also welcomes the announcement of the latest list to cope with increasing service demand.

So far, a total of 41 nonlocally trained doctors are practicing under the limited registration scheme in short-handed departments of public hospitals.

Alex Lam Chi-yau, chairman of Hong Kong Patients' Voices, said he is not surprised that Fudan is on the list.

Several other mainland medical schools are ranked 50 to 80 globally, so he believes "two or three mainland universities" could be included later.

This comes as the Legislative Council passed the Medical Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 2021, which came into effect on October 29 last year, opening the city to foreign-trained specialist doctors who are non-Hong Kong residents.

These doctors who possess medical qualifications from the list of recognized medical schools can apply for special registration to practice with the Hospital Authority, the Department of Health, HKU and CUHK. They will be granted full registration to practice in the SAR after serving in those institutions for five years and passing the assessment.

The second list will be gazetted tomorrow and will take effect on the same day. It will be submitted to Legco for negative vetting next Wednesday.

sophie.hui@singtaonewscorp.com