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Hong Kong authorities will freeze the pay of senior managers at public healthcare facilities for medical blunders as part of reforms to hold staff accountable, with an official saying firing employees is not an option given the sector’s manpower crunch.
Henry Fan Hung-ling, chairman of the Hospital Authority, also said on Saturday that the organisation would seek to actively retain medical personnel and introduce non-locally trained doctors to resolve the staff shortage, which could be a reason behind the spate of blunders.
He noted that the number of non-locally trained doctors employed by the authority stood at more than 330, accounting for 5 per cent of the 7,000 working in public hospitals.
Fan spelled out proposals to punish staff behind medical blunders after a special committee appointed by the authority put forward 31 recommendations on Friday following a three-month review.
The committee was established in July in response to a string of medical blunders and equipment failures at public hospitals.
“We are considering implementing a reward and punishment mechanism … When there is a medical incident, the conclusion is either the frontline staff made a mistake or management failed to take full responsibility. We hope to rectify this situation,” he told a radio programme.