ENG-2015 — Page 191

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Health

working in the organisation. In 2015, about 340 doctors were recruited for specialist training and some 300 doctors obtained specialist qualifications at the end of their training.

Dentists

HKU offers degree courses in dentistry, admitting 54 students to its six-year bachelor degree programme in 2015. Six candidates who completed their dental training outside Hong Kong passed a licensing examination conducted by the Dental Council of Hong Kong.

Chinese Medicine Practitioners

CUHK, HKU and Hong Kong Baptist University offer full-time undergraduate degree courses in Chinese medicine. In 2015, 71 full-time local bachelor's degree graduates who passed the licensing examination were registered as Chinese medicine practitioners.

The 18 public Chinese medicine clinics are required to employ these fresh graduates as junior Chinese medicine practitioners and to provide them with three years of training. As at the end of 2015, these clinics provided 72 junior places for their first year of training and 144 trainee places for their second and third years of training.

Allied Health Professionals

Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) offers degree programmes for allied health professionals in physiotherapy, radiography, occupational therapy, medical laboratory science and optometry. In 2015, 109, 93, 91, 43 and 36 students enrolled in these programmes respectively.

The Hospital Authority's Institute of Advanced Allied Health Studies devises structured long-term training plans for allied health staff members and runs courses on specialist and multidisciplinary training, clinical and personal development. These include three years of in-service training for new recruits of allied health grades. In 2015, the institute offered 60 training courses and a number of overseas scholarships.

Nurses

HKU, CUHK, PolyU, the Open University of Hong Kong, Tung Wah College and the Caritas Institute of Higher Education provide pre-registration nursing training. They recruited 1,638 students into their five-year full-time nursing degree programmes in 2015. PolyU and CUHK also enrolled another 134 nursing students into their three-year Master's Degree of Nursing programmes.

Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, St Teresa's Hospital, Union Hospital and HKU Space Community College provide pre-enrolment nursing training. They recruited 319 pupil nurses into their two-year Higher Diploma in Enrolled Nurse (General) training programmes in 2015. Open University enrolled 155 and 86 pupils into their two-year Higher Diploma in Nursing programme and Higher Diploma in Mental Health Nursing programme respectively. During 2015, 40 nurses with professional nursing qualifications obtained outside Hong Kong passed the Nursing Council of Hong Kong's licensing examination and were awarded practising certificates for registered nurses or enrolled nurses.

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