§ 5. Mr. Rankinasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will urge the Hong Kong Government to remove their ban on the employment of outside doctors in their medical department, in view of the difficulty of filling the large number of existing vacancies from among local Chinese doctors.
§ Mr. J. AmeryThere is no ban on the employment of outside doctors in the Hong Kong medical department. The policy in filling all posts in the public service is to give priority to suitably qualified local candidates, and only if vacancies cannot be filled from this source is the Colonial Office asked to recruit.
§ Mr. RankinDoes not the hon. Gentleman realise that the Chinese doctors are not exercising the preference claim which they have been given to employment in the public service because they find private practice so remunerative? Is he aware that as a result there is hesitancy about the employment of Commonwealth and other doctors and that consequently the medical department in Hong Kong is being deprived of the necessary number of doctors to carry on the service efficiently?
§ Mr. AmeryThe latest information I have is that there are 50 vacancies for medical officers, 40 of which it is hoped to fill from the 45 graduates who recently passed their doctors' examination at Hong Kong University.
§ Mr. RankinAre they Chinese?