Health chief rejects claims Chinese nurses are favoured over local candidates

Hong Kong's health minister, Lo Chung-mau, has dismissed allegations that the government favors Chinese nurses over local candidates, stating that homegrown professionals have a "very good chance" of securing employment despite public hospitals facing difficulties in recruiting staff. During an interview on Friday, Lo emphasized that the Hospital Authority had hired 95% of local applicants for nursing positions over the past year, with the figure rising to 99% for those with registered nurse qualifications.

He noted that over 4,000 students had graduated with nursing degrees, with about 3,500 becoming registered nurses; however, only 2,500 applied for vacancies at the Hospital Authority. Lo questioned why so many graduates were opting not to apply for public hospital jobs, attributing the issue to the demanding nature of the work, including shift rotations and night shifts.

The health minister responded to concerns raised by residents during Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu's radio show following the release of his latest policy address. The callers alleged that the recruitment of non-local nurses was limiting job opportunities for Hong Kong residents. One caller, a psychiatric nurse on pre-retirement leave, claimed his application for job extension was denied due to staff shortages in his department and his daughter's inability to find a nursing job after graduation.

He suspected an "unwritten rule" at the Hospital Authority to reserve recruitment quotas for Chinese nurses and criticized the government for not prioritizing local candidates. Lo reaffirmed that the authority would not hire non-local psychiatric nurses, noting that all locally trained psychiatric nurses had a strong likelihood of being hired.

He urged the review of manpower in the nursing sector not to focus on individual cases of unfulfilled job applications but to consider the city-wide medical service needs and resident demands. Lo expressed confidence that Hong Kong would meet its target of 2.43 doctors per 1,000 residents by 2030, as outlined in the first five-year plan delivered by Lee alongside the policy address.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's two medical schools admitted 650 students annually, a nearly doubling of numbers from the 2009-10 academic year. With the addition of non-local doctors to the workforce, Lo indicated that the city would have 2,000 more doctors by 2030, with non-local doctors currently comprising about 2% of the total medical workforce, predominantly employed in public hospitals and universities.