'Recruit more medical teaching staff and researchers'
The dean of medicine at the University of Hong Kong on Saturday said the medical sector isn't just short of frontline staff, but also lacks researchers and teaching staff, who are crucial for the sector's future development. Speaking on a radio programme, Professor Wallace Lau said the turnover rates for doctors and nurses under the Hospital Authority were 7.7 percent and 11 percent respectively. But he said his medical school is also facing similar difficulties, with the number of teaching staff in decline for the past six years, lacking people to guide students in doing research. He said his school will go to Australia and England in the next two months to recruit overseas talent, and he aims to attract 140 professionals by 2027. "What we really need is someone who actually works in the medical and health related sciences field, someone who has achievements in academic development of medical and health sciences," he said. "These people will be able to help us develop our research areas, as well as to train up our future doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other researchers." Some 83 doctors, nurses and Chinese medicine practitioners have already arrived in Hong Kong under the GBA Healthcare Talents Exchange Programme, and will work in different hospital clusters for about a year. "I hope this can be experimental and we can see how these talents can be integrated into our sector. But this takes time, as our medical system and the language we use are different from theirs," Lau said. He hopes the scheme could help alleviate the manpower shortage problem in the medical sector.