The revelation that the Medical Council has canceled a number of licensing exams for non-locally trained doctors is alarming.

As the city strives to compete with the rest of the world for medical doctors by enriching an international list of recognized medical schools, the council's decision to halt four licensing exams since 2020 is counterproductive.

It cannot blame others for accusing it of exercising protectionism.

Opening up the local medical profession to qualified overseas practitioners is a major policy set into motion by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

Regrettably, the policy is still far from achieving its desired goal.

As she is about to bid farewell, Lam said in a radio interview that few people could have possibly imagined how relieved she is right now because whatever happens after July 1 will be none of her business.

As his predecessor counts her days at Government House, John Lee Ka-chiu will have to finish the job left outstanding.

Conspicuously missing from Lam's report card is the number of how many overseas doctors - Hong Kong-born graduates from one of the recognized medical schools - have signed up to return to practice here in response to the SAR's open-door policy.

Lee will have to make the effort to find the missing piece. Certainly, the higher the number the better.

That being said, the quality of overseas recruits must also be upheld to ensure the standards of medical services that patients may legitimately expect.

Medical Council chairman Joseph Lau Wan-yee said it was difficult to find venues and supporting medical staff for the licensing exams during the Covid pandemic.

That is true - but the barriers were not impossible to overcome had there been the will.

Looking forward, the council will have to double its efforts to clear the backlog of candidates who have been waiting to take the exams in light of the major improvement that has been seen in the local pandemic situation.

I don't see why they cannot do that.

Meanwhile, a government-appointed special registration committee recently published its second list to increase the number of recognized medical schools to a total of 50.

And the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai has become the first mainland institute to be added to the list that government officials say will continue to expand.

DAB lawmaker Edward Leung Hei said many graduates from mainland medical schools wanted to come and practice here, and he called for more of them to be included by the committee in future.

But that is an ill-conceived appeal. He should be clear that recognition is based on the standards of training, not where an institute is based.

Perhaps Leung also agrees that there is no room to compromise the accreditation decision with political or patriotic calls.

Nonetheless, the DAB lawmaker did raise an indirect concern.

If mainland medical graduates prefer to practice in Hong Kong, would Hong Kong-born overseas-trained doctors be willing to return to practice here after settling or forming families in the UK, US, Canada or elsewhere?

It's a real issue facing Lee after July 1.

Canceled exams an unhealthy step