The Health Bureau today submitted a paper to the Legislative Council's Panel on Health Services on the legislative amendment proposals to the Medical Registration Ordinance (MRO) formulated to support the reform of the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK).

Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau said that the Government will make every effort to take forward the work of amending the MRO, with a view to introducing an amendment bill into LegCo in the first half of this year.

At present, the MCHK comprises 24 medical practitioner members and eight lay members. To reform the council's composition of the MCHK, the Government proposed to increase the number of lay members in the council; to suitably adjust the composition of medical practitioner members; and to include representation from primary healthcare.

Having considered the report submitted by the MCHK, the Office of The Ombudsman's investigation report and the views of relevant stakeholders, the Government proposed amendments to the MCHK's complaints handling mechanism.

The proposed amendments include requiring the MCHK to set target time frames for different stages of the overall complaints handling mechanism, and establish a system to monitor overall case progress; allowing both the complainant and the doctor concerned to apply to the MCHK for review of the Inquiry Panel's (IP) decision, or lodge an appeal to the court; the IP should adopt the court's findings of fact made upon conviction; and if a doctor is convicted of a serious offence and sentenced to imprisonment for a specified term, the doctor may be removed from the register immediately.

In view of the continued shortage of doctors and intensifying global competition for healthcare talent, it is proposed to allow both non-Hong Kong permanent residents and Hong Kong permanent residents to apply for special registration.

At present, to assist the MCHK in discharging its statutory functions, the Department of Health provides resources to establish the Secretariat.

The Government will explore with the MCHK how to enhance the Secretariat's support to the MCHK.

It proposed to actively explore the establishment of a dedicated team to support complaint investigations; actively explore increasing legal support and administrative personnel to handle the growing number of complaints; to systematically arrange experts from different medical specialties to provide advice on complaint cases and participate in inquiries regularly at the invitation of the MCHK; and to provide appropriate training and support for newly appointed assessors to ensure that they can participate in the complaints handling process.