Statistics
2018 Health Manpower Survey
Summary of the Characteristics of Doctors Enumerated
I. Doctors with Full Registration Covered
1.1 The doctors covered in the 2018 Health Manpower Survey on Doctors (HMS-DR) were doctors fully registered 1with the Medical Council of Hong Kong under the Medical Registration Ordinance (Chapter 161) and who were on the resident list2 as at the survey reference date of 31 August 2018, with exclusion of those subsequently found to have passed away on or before the survey reference date.
1.2 The number of doctors covered was 13 993.
1.3 Of the 13 993 doctors covered, 6 246 responded to the HMS-DR, giving an overall response rate of 44.6%. Among the respondents, 5 626 (90.1%) were economically active 3,4 (active) in the local medical profession as at 31 August 2018 and 620 (9.9%) were economically inactive 3,5 (inactive) in the local medical profession (Chart A).
1.4 Of the 5 626 active doctors enumerated, 5 597 (99.5%) were practising in the local medical profession, ten (0.2%) had not been available for work because of temporary sickness, 13 (0.2%) were seeking jobs, and six (0.1%) believed that work was not available, starting business in the profession at subsequent date, expecting to return to their original jobs in the local medical profession or waiting to take up a new job in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey. The survey results presented in paragraph 1.6 below were based on the 5 597 responding doctors who were practising in the local medical profession as at 31 August 2018. The percentages present below may not add up to 100% due to missing responses or rounding.
1.5 Of the 620 inactive doctors, 149 (24.0%) reported practising overseas, 15 (2.4%) reported practising in the Mainland and 456 (73.5%) reported not seeking jobs in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey (Chart A) . Among the 456 inactive doctors who reported not practising in Hong Kong and not seeking jobs, the main reasons reported for not seeking jobs included: 371 (81.4%) were retired, 41 (9.0%) wanted to take a rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need, 27 (5.9%) were working in other professions, and 13 (2.9%) were engaged in household duties.
1 Refer to doctors registered in Part I of the Medical Register maintained by the Medical Council of Hong Kong under the Medical Registration Ordinance (Chapter 161). These include doctors who hold the qualification of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery issued in Hong Kong (MBBS (HK) / MBChB (CUHK)), Licentiate of Medical Council of Hong Kong (LMCHK) or other overseas qualifications registered with the Medical Council of Hong Kong.
2 As the 2018 HMS-DR only aimed at covering doctors practising in Hong Kong, doctors on the non-resident list of the Medical Register were excluded from the survey.
3 In the survey, the criteria used in defining economically active / inactive followed those recommended by the International Labour Organisation, which are also being used by the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong.
4 "Economically active" doctors comprised all "employed" and "unemployed" doctors. "Employed" doctors referred to those doctors practising in the medical profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while "unemployed" doctors referred to those doctors who (a) were not practising in the local medical 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 medical profession during the 30 days before the survey.
5 "Economically inactive" doctors comprised the doctors who were not practising in the medical 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".
Chart A : Activity Status of Doctors Covered
1.6 A total of 81 doctors did not indicate their gender. Among the remaining 5 516 active doctors enumerated who were practising in the local medical profession, 3 679 (66.7%) were male and 1 837 (33.3%) were female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 200. Apart from 89 doctors who did not indicate their age, the median age of the remaining 5 508 active doctors enumerated was 50.0 years. The median age of the active female doctors enumerated was 42.0 years and that of their male counterparts was 54.0 years.
1.7 The responding active doctors enumerated were requested to indicate the characteristics of their main jobs 6. Distribution by sector for the main job of those enumerated showed that 2 767 (49.4%) of active doctors enumerated were working in the private sector, followed by 2 336 (41.7%) in the Hospital Authority, 285 (5.1%) in the Government, 157 (2.8%) in the academic sector and 39 (0.7%) in the subvented sector.
1.8 The median age of the doctors enumerated was highest for those working in the private sector (58.0 years), followed by the academic sector (49.5 years), the Government (47.0 years), the subvented sector (46.0 years) and the Hospital Authority (39.0 years).
1.9 Of the 5 597 active doctors enumerated, 3 666 (65.5%) spent most of their working time on specialist practice, followed by 1 692 (30.2%) on general practice, 175 (3.1%) on administration / management and 23 (0.4%) on teaching / education.
1.10 The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 5 597 active doctors enumerated was 44.0 hours. Among them, 2 317 (41.4%) were required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty), with a median of 17.0 hours on-call duty (excluding normal duty) per week.
1.11 Regarding the average number of consultations / patients encountered per working day, 2 233 (39.9%) of the active doctors enumerated reported to have a range of 20 to 50, 1 894 (33.8%) reported to have less than 20 and 866 (15.5%) reported to have more than 50.
1.12 In terms of the earliest basic qualification in the medical profession, of the 5 597 active doctors enumerated, 4 480 (80.0%) held Bachelor’s Degree at a local university, 644 (11.5%) held Bachelor’s Degree issued by overseas institutions and 427 (7.6%) held the Licentiate of Medical Council of Hong Kong as their earliest basic qualification.
6 Main jobs referred to the jobs in which the doctors had spent most of their working time.
Chart B: Number of Field(s) of Specialty of Specialised Training Received / Being Received by Active Doctors Enumerated
Total number of active doctors enumerated = 5 597
1.13 Of the 5 597 active doctors enumerated, 4 739 (84.7%) had obtained additional post-graduate qualification(s)7 after obtaining their earliest basic qualification, with 2 031 (42.9%) having obtained more than one additional post-graduate qualifications. The cumulative total number of active doctors enumerated by the field of additional post-graduate qualification obtained was 7 583. Among these 7 583, 3 613 (47.6%) had been awarded Fellowship / had passed the Exit Examination, 1 564 (20.6%) had obtained a Diploma and 1 318 (17.4%) had been awarded Membership / had passed the Intermediate Examination.
1.14 Of the 5 597 active doctors enumerated, 4 292 (76.7%) had received / were receiving specialised training. Of the 4 292 doctors who had received / were receiving specialised training, 4 208 (98.0%) were trained in one field of the specialised training. Among them, 965 (22.9%) were trained / being trained in internal medicine, 518 (12.3%) in surgery, 405 (9.6%) in paediatrics, 343 (8.2%) in family medicine, 315 (7.5%) in obstetrics & gynaecology and 287 (6.8%) in anaesthesiology (Chart B).
1.15 Regarding Continuing Medical Education (CME), 5 021 (89.7%) of the active doctors enumerated reported that they had participated in CME activities in 2018, 447 (8.0%) reported no participation in any CME activities and 129 (2.3%) did not report whether they had participated in any CME activities or not. Among the 5 021 active doctors enumerated who had participated in CME activities, the distribution of CME points attained in the past 12 months was: 1 to 10 points (6.1%), 11 to 20 points (9.9%), 21 to 30 points (21.7%) and 31 points or above (62.3%).
7 Refers to the quotable additional qualification which is acceptable to the Medical Council of Hong Kong.
II. Trend Analysis
2.1 Comparison of findings of the 2018 HMS-DR with those surveys conducted before 2003 should be made with caution as the survey coverage, methods and reference date had been changed*
2.2 The number of doctors with full registration and on resident list increased from 3 487 in 1982 to 13 993 in 2018 (Chart C).
2.3 There was an increasing proportion of female doctors. The overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) showed a decrease from 520 in 1982 to 200 in 2018 (Table A).
2.4 The median age of the active doctors enumerated increased from 40.0 years in 2000 to 50.0 years in 2018 (Table A).
2.5 From 1982 to 1990, the largest proportion of active doctors enumerated was working in the private sector. Together with those working in the Government, they comprised around 80% of all active doctors enumerated. The Hospital Authority was the largest sector in which doctors worked since its set up in 1991 until 2006. The proportion of active doctors enumerated and reported working in the private sector showed a steady increase from 39.1% in 2003 to 49.4% in 2018, and this sector has become the largest sector in which doctors worked since 2007.
Chart C : Number of Doctors with Full Registration and on Resident list Covered by Year (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2018)
Table A : Selected Characteristics of Active Doctors Enumerated (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2018)