Health Secretary Discusses Medical Registration Ordinance Amendments with Hong Kong Medical Council Members

Secretary for Health meets with MCHK on amendment to Medical Registration Ordinance

The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, met with members of the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) today (February 4) to have in-depth exchanges of views on the amendment to the Medical Registration Ordinance.

The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, Photo by Bastille Post

As a statutory body established under the Ordinance, the MCHK regulates the medical profession in accordance with the powers conferred by legislation, including handling the registration of medical practitioners, overseeing the Licensing Examination, formulating professional codes and guidelines, and conducting disciplinary inquiries into complaints involving professional misconduct of medical practitioners. Hong Kong's medical profession has long enjoyed an esteemed reputation globally. Maintaining doctors'professional standards forms an important part of the MCHK's work. To ensure that the legislation for healthcare professions keeps pace with the times and meets societal needs and the public interest, the Government needs to review the Ordinance from time to time and propose amendments as necessary, with a view to enabling the MCHK to discharge its statutory functions more effectively, including its function in handling complaints.

Professor Lo said, "The MCHK shoulders the statutory duty of maintaining the professional standards of doctors, playing pivotal roles in ensuring doctors'professional conduct, continuously enhancing professional standards, and supporting Hong Kong's development as an international health and medical innovation hub. I am pleased to note the continual adjustments and enhancement of the MCHK's work in response to new trends in healthcare development in recent years. These include issuing ethical guidelines on the provision of services to patients through telemedicine by doctors to meet societal needs, and fully supporting the Government's policy to admit non-locally trained doctors by establishing the Special Registration Committee to assess medical qualifications from different places. To date, a total of 150 medical qualifications from different places have been recognised.

The Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK), Photo source: reference image

"The MCHK upholds the mission of ensuring justice, maintaining professionalism and protecting the public. Vested with independent quasi-judicial functions and powers to impose disciplinary sanctions through disciplinary proceedings on doctors whose professional standards or ethical conduct fall short of the required standards, the MCHK has a statutory responsibility and the powers to protect patients' interests. The intent behind this legislative amendment to the Ordinance is to enhance the efficiency of the MCHK's complaint handling, while maintaining professionalism and fairness, and to enhance doctors' professional standards. I am grateful to members of the MCHK for offering their valuable advice on further enhancing transparency and accountability in the work of the MCHK by drawing on their own experience participating in the work of the MCHK. The Government will consider the views received holistically in finalising the legislative proposal, including clarifying various implementation details."

The Health Bureau (HHB) noted that the MCHK recognised that handling complaints against doctors was crucial to safeguarding professional standards, and had been striving to address bottlenecks in the complaint handling process in recent years. Under the leadership of its Chairman, Professor Grace Tang, the MCHK has implemented measures since end-2024 to improve efficiency in handling complaints. These measures include taking stock of all cases pending inquiry, prioritising and expediting their handling, and co-ordinating with legal representatives and expert witnesses for better support; enhancing the complaint handling information system; and strengthening the Secretariat's monitoring of case progress to closely track the time taken at various stages of the process.

In response to public concern last year about the MCHK's investigation and disciplinary inquiry mechanism for handling complaints, the MCHK has reviewed the mechanism earlier at the request of the Secretary for Health and submitted a report to the HHB on improving the mechanism's operation to safeguard doctors'professional standards. Meanwhile, to ensure continuous enhancement of healthcare professional standards in support of Hong Kong's determination to develop into an international health and medical innovation hub, the HHB announced earlier to amend the Ordinance, having regard to the report's recommendations and the operational needs of the MCHK, targeting to introduce a bill to the Legislative Council (LegCo) in the first half of this year.

In January this year, the HHB consulted patient groups, the two local medical schools, the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, the Hong Kong Medical Association and various medical professional associations on the amendment to the Ordinance. The HHB will brief the Panel on Health Services of the LegCo shortly on the proposed directions and enhancement proposals for the Ordinance.

Photo source: online image

Hong Kong Customs detects smuggling case involving river trade vessel with goods worth about $700,000 seized

Hong Kong Customs detected a suspected smuggling case involving a river trade vessel on April 1. Large batches of suspected smuggled goods with a total estimated market value of about $700,000 were seized.

In the afternoon on that day, Customs identified a suspicious river trade vessel during sea patrol in the northwest area of Hong Kong waters and intercepted the vessel for inspection. Upon examination, Customs officers seized a large batch of suspected smuggled goods on board, including suspected pharmaceutical products, dried abalones, leather bags, liquors and wine. A captain and a crew member of the vessel, suspected of violating the Import and Export Ordinance, were arrested during the operation.

Being a government department primarily responsible for tackling smuggling activities, Customs has long been combating various smuggling activities on all fronts. Customs will keep up its enforcement action and continue to resolutely combat sea smuggling activities through proactive risk management and intelligence-based enforcement strategies, and carry out targeted anti-smuggling operations at suitable times to crack down on relevant crimes.

Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years upon conviction.

Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

Hong Kong Customs detects smuggling case involving river trade vessel with goods worth about $700,000 seized Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases