HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
18 January 1989 香港立法局———————— 一九八九年一月十八日
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surgeons, persons in the full-time service of the Government or the universities and persons in teaching or research institutions. Unfortunately, these exemptions do not extend to doctors serving in refugee centres.
Under the Ordinance, the Medical Council of Hong Kong has the power to grant a person a licence to practise medicine. The conditions for granting such a licence normally include a Licentiate Examination and a subsequent period of assessment, but the Ordinance provides that the Medical Council may, subject to such conditions as it thinks fit, exempt any person wishing to become a licentiate from any requirements imposed under the Ordinance. We have therefore approached the Medical Council and asked whether they would consider a licence or exemption for MSF doctors to enable them to work in refugee centres. The initial reaction of the Medical Council was that they saw difficulty in this, but we are in touch with the council with a view to further examining this problem.
We understand that the MSF have already recruited two volunteer doctors from the Commonwealth countries to serve the refugees at Sham Shui Po and Tuen Mun (Bowring). They are also recruiting a third doctor for the centre at Pillar Point. If they are successful, the minimum requirement of one doctor per refugee centre will have been met, but the problem will still remain of recruiting doctors from the international community as replacements in future, or to provide improved medical services. We shall need to address the general principle of whether in these unusual circumstances there should be special provision for non-Commonwealth doctors to practise strictly within the confines of Vietnamese centres. Clearly it is desirable that Government's medical resources should not be diverted from serving the people of Hong Kong and that the UNHCR and the MSF should be helped in every way possible to assume full operational and financial responsibility for providing medical services in Vietnamese centres. This point will be considered further, and as urgently as possible, since the likely need for additional medical services is already apparent.
MR. BARROW: Sir, it would be a pity if the dedicated and magnificent efforts of so many members of both the Hong Kong Administration and volunteer agencies were spoiled by bureaucratic or other delays resulting in a failure to overcome this problem. Does the Administration not accept that only a very minor change in the Medical Registration Ordinance would allow for the special dispensation suggested?
SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Sir, it is perfectly true that the dispensation desired could be achieved by a minor amendment to the Medical Registration