The Hong Kong Hospital Authority said on Tuesday that it plans to send 20 traditional Chinese medicine doctors to undergo training in Chinese mainland hospitals this year under a new exchange program.
Doctors participating in the program will work at Chinese medicine hospitals in the mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for eight months, responsible for the clinical treatment to inpatients, according to the authority.
Rowena Wong Ho-wan, chief manager of the authority’s Chinese Medicine Department, said on Tuesday that the first batch of five TCM doctors embarked on their northbound exchange earlier this month
Rowena Wong Ho-wan, chief manager of the authority’s Chinese Medicine Department, said on Tuesday that the first batch of five TCM doctors embarked on their northbound exchange earlier this month.
They were welcomed by an opening ceremony held on April 12 at the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine in Guangzhou, where the five doctors will work.
The five, who Wong called “elites of the elites”, are working in the departments of neurology and acupuncture of the program’s first mainland partner. They will receive comprehensive training in stroke treatment from their mainland counterparts, Wong said.
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The authority expects to send 20 Hong Kong doctors to the mainland in the first year of the program, Wong said.
As Hong Kong’s first practical clinical inpatient training program, it provides intensive clinical training to participants and gives them the right to prescribe medicine and carry out treatment together with mainland doctors. Hong Kong doctors will also be issued temporary qualifications for providing medical services on the mainland during their stay, according to the authority.
Participants, who must obtain at least eight years of clinical experience, will work for eight months in designated mainland hospitals.
They will join the mainland hospital’s clinical team and engage in inpatient clinical work such as patient admission, ward rounds, diagnosis, treatment, prescription and medical record documentation, Wong said.
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Hong Kong doctors will also collaborate with various medical and nursing teams to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the clinical operations at hospitals in the GBA, she added.
In the following 16 months, they will return to Hong Kong and provide integrated Chinese-Western medical services. Participants will also engage in online training and case discussions with their mainland mentors.
Wong said the authority will invite more mainland hospitals to join the program in the future, hoping it can deepen collaboration between traditional Chinese and Western medicine and raise TCM’s research and treatment in Hong Kong
Wong said the authority will invite more mainland hospitals to join the program in the future, hoping it can deepen collaboration between traditional Chinese and Western medicine and raise TCM’s research and treatment in Hong Kong.
One of the participating doctors, Wong Tun-kei, who is currently working at the acupuncture department of the Guangzhou hospital, said he has been given opportunities to treat inpatients with acupuncture and Chinese medicine under the guidance of senior doctors.
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Wong said he believed the program would allow him to understand more distinctive medical methods and share his experience with colleagues in Hong Kong.
Another participant, Chow Wing-yan, is working with the mainland hospital’s neurology department. Chow said her work in Hong Kong involves acupuncture and prescribing medication, and now she needs to learn how to manage patients throughout the entire hospitalization process.
She said she found the work challenging as sometimes she must work for all night. However, she regards the work as a completely new experience, saying the practical methods and special diseases she learnt about during the diagnosis and treatment process has improved her clinical treatment knowledge.
