The Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff is calling for a temporary pause in recruiting nurses trained outside Hong Kong after reports that some local graduates have struggled to find work.
Its chairman, Tse Kin-keung, said nurses trained outside Hong Kong had been recruited as a stopgap after staff losses, but argued that weaker demand in the private sector and the recruitment of such nurses by private care homes could leave fewer openings for local graduates.
Lo said the Hospital Authority had more than 3,000 nursing vacancies and about 30,000 nurses, 55 of whom were trained outside Hong Kong. He also said 2,500 people applied for nursing posts last year, described calls to stop recruiting nurses trained outside Hong Kong as irresponsible and said the government would consider offering stronger pay incentives to help address the continuing shortage.
A radio caller had earlier said he had worked as a psychiatric nurse in the disciplined services and had offered to delay his retirement because of staff shortages, but that offer was not accepted. He said his daughter, also a psychiatric nurse, had been unemployed since graduating and questioned whether Hospital Authority places were being reserved for nurses trained in mainland China.
On Sept. 28, Executive Council member Tommy Cheung Yu-yan strongly backed recruiting healthcare workers from overseas. He said the shortage was an undisputed fact and that overseas recruitment could add hospital staff, increase competition and improve access to care. Cheung also questioned whether unions had impersonated members who called the radio programme, a remark the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff criticised as unacceptable and regrettable.