Bureau to cut dental grads some slack

Local dental graduates are now given flexibility on whether they have to serve in public institutions for three years before they could move to the private sector.

The Health Bureau earlier suggested graduates have to work fulltime in public clinics for three years in an attempt to solve the serious shortage of dentists.

But the bureau told lawmakers yesterday that the government agrees that the private sector is also facing a shortage of dentists, and “considers it appropriate for flexible implementation through administrative means at this stage without introducing the public service obligation in the current legislative exercise.”

A paper submitted to the Legislative Council yesterday said stakeholders were concerned that across-the-board implementation may affect the supply of dentists in the private sector.

The government agreed the manpower shortage in the private sector would also deprive citizens of access to dental care services, so the public service obligation would not be included in the legislative exercise.

The bureau will explore allowing locally trained dentists to fulfill the continuing professional development requirements through assisting in training dental professionals and providing special dental services, such as projects for persons with intellectual disabilities conducted by non-government organizations.

But the bureau will explore requiring dentists who have received Department of Health training support to continue serving in the public sector for a specified period of time after obtaining specialist qualifications.

It proposed introducing new pathways of limited registration and special registration, enabling qualified non-locally trained dentists, irrespective of whether they are Hong Kong permanent residents, to apply to the Dental Council to work full-time in specified local institutions.

The bureau also proposed a temporary registration to enable nonlocal dentists to perform clinical teaching or research in Hong Kong for a period not exceeding 14 days, with work that will satisfy the Dental Council.