Health | Alexis Tam insists on nurses’ exam and internship

Alexis Tam

The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, expressed his disagreement after the medial affairs committee decided to vote down the controversial suggestion of making qualification examination and internship mandatory to local nursing graduates before they become professional nurses practicing at local hospitals and clinics.
As part of a law bill governing the city’s medical practitioners, the proposal has drawn immediate outcry from the nursing sector, in the wake of its first consultation held earlier this year at the public hospital. Nevertheless, a majority of committee members later budged on the draft bill, vetoing the introduction of qualification exams and internships for fresh graduates to seek work as nurses at local hospitals.
However, the committee’s abrupt backtracking on the deliberation has raised the secretary’s eyebrows. On a TDM program aired last week, Alexis Tam said that the initial draft of the registration regime for local medical professionals was concluded after lengthy conversations with representative organizations from the nursing sector, which were all in favor of the proposal at the beginning. All of these discussions have also been recorded. He then stressed that regular examinations could enhance medical professionals’ “knowledge and level,” saying there were similar routine exams in other “advanced countries.” Besides, the secretary also reckons that such exams could assess if medical professionals’ levels were up-to-date and he saw the necessity of introducing similar examinations for other professional sectors in the city.
According to the report from TDM English News, the head of the city’s Nurses Association said on Sunday’s TDM Forum that the clinical exams required for junior students majoring in nursing from the two local tertiary education institutions were already internationally recognized, and the hours they devoted to their internship far exceeded the number of hours the draft bill suggested.
Yet Leong Pui San, secretary-general of the Medical Affairs Committee, retorted that the recognition system was made in the interest of patients. “Our committee members have different perspectives, and have no united stance. Because of that, we also consider the matter of fairness. We believe all people need to take exams and internships. In establishing such a system, we consider the interest of citizens the most important issue,” said the committee member, adding that the next round of consultation would hear more detailed discussion that could eventually lead to a consensus favorable to the sector.
The head of the Nurses Association also stressed in the forum that the sector actually welcomed a professional, open and rigorous exam to be led by the government with the committee’s involvement, yet they strongly oppose its having been introduced without scrutinizing the schools’ curricula, internship hours and clinical qualification of those teaching there.
On the heels of the first consultation held early last month, it was reported that some frontline nurses staged a demonstration on International Nurses Day on May 12 to protest against the qualification and recognition system. The medical affairs committee later held an urgent meeting to explore the most controversial content of the bill on March 31, during which 17 members voted in favor of exempting the fresh graduates from taking threshold exams, with 15 votes against. Staff reporter