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Statistics

2009 Health Manpower Survey

Summary of the Characteristics of Pharmacists Enumerated

I.    Pharmacists Covered

1.1   The pharmacists covered in the 2009 HMS were pharmacists registered with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Chapter 138) as at the survey reference date - 31.8.2009.

1.2   The number of pharmacists covered was 1 859.

1.3   Of the 1 859 registered pharmacists covered, 1 251 had responded to the survey, giving an overall response rate of 67.3%. Among the respondents, 966 were economically active*† (active) in the local pharmacy profession as at 31.8.2009 and 285 reported to be economically inactive*‡ (inactive) in the local pharmacy profession (Chart A) .

* In the survey, the criteria used in defining economically active / inactive followed those recommended by the International Labour Organization, which are also being used by the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong.

† “Economically active” pharmacists comprised all “employed” and “unemployed” pharmacists. “Employed” pharmacists referred to those pharmacists practising in the pharmacy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while “unemployed” pharmacists referred to those pharmacists who (a) were not practising in the local pharmacy profession during the survey period; (b) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey; and (c) had sought work in the local pharmacy profession during the 30 days before the survey.

‡ “Economically inactive” pharmacists comprised the pharmacists who were not practising in the pharmacy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, excluding those who had been on leave during the survey period and who were “economically active” but “unemployed”.


1.4   Of the 966 active pharmacists, 15 were seeking jobs in the pharmacy profession and two were starting business at subsequent date or waiting to take up new job in the local pharmacy profession during the 30 days before the survey. The survey results presented in paragraph 1.6 below were based on the 949 pharmacists who were practising in the local pharmacy profession as at 31.8.2009. As certain questionnaires contained missing information, percentages presented below may not add up to 100%.

1.5   Of the 285 inactive pharmacists, 133 reported practising overseas, five reported practising in the Mainland and 144 reported not seeking job in the pharmacy profession during the 30 days before the survey ( Chart A ). Among the 144 inactive pharmacists who reported not seeking job, the main reasons reported for not seeking jobs included: 71 (49.3%) were working in other professions, 32 (22.2%) were retired, 22 (15.3%) were engaged in household duties and eight (5.6%) wanted to take rest / having no motive to work / no financial need.

Chart A : Activity Status of Pharmacists Covered

Text Version

Of the 1 859 pharmacists covered, 1 251 (67.3%) had responded to the survey, while the remaining 608 (32.7%) had not responded. Among the respondents, 966 (77.2%) were active in the local pharmacy profession whereas 285 (22.8%) reported to be inactive in the local pharmacy profession. Among the 966 active pharmacists, 949 (98.2%) were practising in the local pharmacy profession, 15 (1.6%) (a) were not practising in the pharmacy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period; (b) had been available for work in the local pharmacy profession during the seven days before the survey; and (c) had sought work in the local pharmacy profession during the 30 days before the survey and the remaining two (0.2%) responding pharmacist who (a) were not practising in the pharmacy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period; (b) had been available for work in the local pharmacy profession during the seven days before the survey; and (c) were starting business at subsequent date or waiting to take up new job in the local pharmacy profession during the 30 days before the survey. Of the 285 inactive pharmacists, 144 (50.5%) reported not practising in the pharmacy profession in Hong Kong and not seeking job in the local pharmacy profession during the 30 days before the survey. 133 (46.7%) reported practising overseas, five (1.8%) reported practising in the Mainland in the pharmacy profession and the remaining three (1.1%) (a) were not practising in the pharmacy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period; (b) had not been available for work during the seven days before the survey; and (c) had sought work in the local pharmacy profession during the 30 days before the survey. Of the 144 not seeking job pharmacists, 71 (49.3%) were working in other professions, 32 (22.2%) were retired, 22 (15.3%) were engaged in household duties, eight (5.6%) wanted to take rest / having no motive to work / having no financial need and the remaining 11 (7.6%)* has other reasons for being inactive. Note: * Figure refers to the number of responding pharmacists who reported emigrated, undertaking study, etc. Percentage may not add up to 100% due to rounding

1.6   Seven pharmacists did not indicate their sex. Of the remaining 942 active pharmacists enumerated who were practising in the local pharmacy profession, 446 (47.3%) were male and 496 (52.7%) were female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 90. Apart from the 13 pharmacists who did not indicate their age, the median age of the remaining 936 active pharmacists enumerated was 39.0 years. The median age of the active female pharmacists enumerated was 36.0 years and that of their male counterparts was 42.0 years.

1.7   The responding pharmacists were requested to indicate the characteristics of their main jobs*. Distribution by sector showed that 64.9% of active pharmacists enumerated was working in the private sector, followed by those working in the Hospital Authority (27.3%), the Government (5.8%) and the academic and subvented sectors (1.7%).

1.8   The median age of pharmacists enumerated was 40.0 years for those working in the private sector, followed by 36.0 years for those working in the government, 35.0 years in the Hospital Authority and 34.0 years in the academic and subvented sectors.

*   Main jobs referred to the jobs in which the pharmacist had spent most of their working time.

1.9   Of the 949 active pharmacists enumerated, 75.2% spent most of their working time on service in pharmacy*, followed by 10.1% on administration / management† and 7.9% on manufacturing / marketing / sales‡.

1.10   The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 949 active pharmacists enumerated was 44.0 hours. Among them, 833 (87.8%) were not required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty) and 114 (12.0%) were required to undertake on-call duty, with a median of 20 hours of on-call duty (excluding normal duty) per week.

1.11   Of the 949 active pharmacists enumerated, 89.6% held Bachelor’s Degree, 7.4% held Master’s Degree and 1.5% held Doctoral Degree as their basic qualifications.

1.12   Of the 949 active pharmacists enumerated, 548 (57.7%) received / were receiving additional training and 401 (42.3%) did not receive any additional training.

1.13   Of the 548 active pharmacists with additional training, 43 (7.8%) had not yet completed the additional training, 317 (57.8%) held Master’s Degree, 79 (14.4%) held Certificate, 42 (7.7%) held Graduate Diploma and 23 (4.2%) held Diploma.

*   Service in pharmacy referred to the work which had direct contact with patients in dispensing and patient counselling.

†   Administration / Management referred to the work which was out of scope of pharmacy such as supervising staff, accounting, budget control, procurement of drugs, etc.

‡   Manufacturing / Marketing / Sales referred to the work involving in the pharmaceutical company (wholesaler) or pharmaceutical manufacturer such as manufacturing, marketing and sales.

1.14   Of the 548 active pharmacists enumerated who received / were receiving additional training, 436 (79.6%) were trained in one field of additional training. Among them, 55.0% were trained in clinical pharmacy, 15.8% in Chinese medicine, 9.2% in pharmacy, 7.3% in health administration, 3.0% in pharmaceutical science, 2.1% in medical sciences and 1.1% in pharmaceutical technology.

1.15   Regarding continuing education training activities, 810 (85.4%) of the active pharmacists revealed that they had participated in continuing education training activities in 2009, 118 (12.4%) did not participate in any continuing education training activities and 21 (2.2%) did not reveal whether they had participated in continuing education training activities or not. Among the 810 active pharmacists enumerated who had participated in continuing education training activities, the distribution of continuing education training hours attained in the past 12 months was: 1 to 10 hours (27.3%), 11 to 20 hours (24.1%), 21 to 30 hours (19.8%), 31 to 40 hours (6.7%) and more than 40 hours (22.2%).

II.    Trend Analysis

2.1    Comparison of findings of the 2009 HMS with those surveys before 2004 should be cautious as the survey methodology and reference date had been changed.

2.2    A total of 1 859 pharmacists were covered in 2009 HMS, representing an increase of 44.2% over the 2000 HMS (1 289). Compared with the 1982 HMS, the number of pharmacists covered in the HMS recorded an average annual growth rate of 5.8% (Chart B) .


Chart B : Number of Pharmacists Covered by Year (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009)

Text Version

In the 1982 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 409. In the 1984 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 475. In the 1987 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 607. In the 1990 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 707. In the 1992 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 734. In the 1996 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 1 018. In the 2000 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 1 289. In the 2004 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 1 512. In the 2005 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 1 567. In the 2006 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 1 622. In the 2007 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 1 705. In the 2007 Health Manpower Survey, the number of pharmacists covered was 1 859. Note: Figures of the year 2000 and before refer to the number of pharmacists registered with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong as at the 1st of July of the respective years, whereas the figures of 2004 to 2009 refer to that as at 31st of August of the respective years

2.3    There was a decreasing proportion of male pharmacists. The overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) had shown a continuous decrease from 199 in 1984 to 90 in 2009 (Table A) .

2.4    The mean age of the active pharmacists enumerated increased gradually from 36.1 years in 1982 to 40.3 years in 2009 (Table A) .

2.5    From 1982 to 2009, the largest proportion of active pharmacists enumerated was working in the private sector, ranging from 63.0% to 73.1%. Prior to the establishment of the Hospital Authority in 1991, more than one-fifth of active pharmacists enumerated worked in the Government (20.7% to 25.9%); and the proportion decreased to less than 7% from 1992 onwards. The proportion in the Hospital Authority increased from 18.9% in 1992 to 27.3% in 2009 (Table A) .

Table A : Selected Characteristics of Active Pharmacists Enumerated (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009)

Department of Health
The Government of the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region
January 2011

14 Jan 2011