The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government on Monday announced a “dual-track” career pathway enabling doctors to simultaneously hold positions in public hospitals and university medical schools, as a “breakthrough” approach to encourage a combination of clinical practice and research.

Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said the initiative signifies a milestone in government-school collaboration and creates a more favorable environment to train and maintain suitable talent, providing them with a “more fitting professional development pathway”, tailor-made appointment and clinical work arrangements, as well as a promotion ladder commensurate with the nature of their work.

Under the framework, led by the Health Bureau, the Hospital Authority, and the city’s two medical schools — which respectively belong to the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) — doctors can flexibly allocate their time between their clinical and teaching roles as needed. The framework also provides stronger support for doctors to teach and conduct research, including conferring on them the title of university professor.

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Lo highlighted the link between a doctor’s clinical work with teaching and research, stressing that data and experience from hospitals are an important foundation for medical research, while the clinical application of the latest research results can further enhance the quality of clinical services.

“I hope that the dual-track development pathway will enable more doctors who aspire to engage in medical, teaching and research work to realize their ambitions and contribute to Hong Kong's medical innovation and research while providing clinical services to patients,” said Lo, adding that he also hopes to attract more non-locally trained doctors to the city.

The government statement disclosed that the Hospital Authority and the two medical schools have started recruitment work, with five doctors having been officially selected to participate in the pathway.

Four are from the Hong Kong Children's Hospital and have been appointed by the medical school of HKU, and one is from the Department of Intensive Care of the New Territories East Cluster and was appointed by CUHK’s medical school.

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More doctors from the New Territories East Cluster are expected to join the CUHK medical school through the pathway this year to expand the talent pool, according to the government.

Contact the writer at stacyshi@chinadailyhk.com