13. RECRUITMENT OF MEDICAL STAFF.
In the past Hong Kong U.K. recruited staff have suffered from isolation. Medical Officers complain with truth that their senior posts are largely filled from outside the Colony, and that staff originally appointed to Hong Kong rarely have a chance of promotion or transfer to another territory. Thus a policy of stagnation occurs, which is good for no one; many of the present staff in Fong Kong have spent all their service in this Colony. This has been due largely to two factors, one being that in the past transfer of individuals on the time scale was less thought of than it is at present and, secondly, that even now transfer on the time scale is unusual. there is limited opportunity for trying out potential candidates for higher posts, and their particular bent and abilities remain obscured. The longer they remain with the Colony the more difficult it becomes to transfer them elsewhere.
Thus
It might avoid stagnation in the Far East if a more freedom of transfer on the time scale were made possible by recognizing Far gastern territories, including Fritish North Borneo and Sarawak, not as a number of entities but as one group for this purpose.Vithout prejudice to wider transfers of staff or actual promotions, this would help not only to remove a real grievance but would provide also a means for the better observation of the capabilities' of Medical staff, as well as preserving keenness and initiative. I suggest that in the case of U.K. recruit- ment of both doctors and nurses, the F.3. Group should be reckoned as one territory for the purpose of routine relief and transfers.
For locally engaged staff the Colony would, as in the past, depend for doctors mainly on graduates of the Fong Kong University. Very few Chinese licentiates from the Singapore College of Medicine come to Hong Kong to practice; usually it is the other way about, and many Singapore Chinese come from Malaya to qualify at "ong Kong.
As local candidates become available and get qualified it is assumed that an increase in the number of posts available to them will be made and that a proportion of these posts will be of the same status as that normally filled by the U.K. recruited officer. At present there is a fair ratio of such appointments both for doctors and nurses, but a scheme should be published so as to let staff know in advance what are their prospects. This would apply not only to Medical Officers but to nursing staff
In a small who should have similar scope for advancement. territory such as Hong Kong it would be desirable to recruit doctors who would be capable of undertaking teaching at the University in an emergency or on relief.
Medical aids or dressers are essential and are carrying out a useful function. They, too, should be on
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