Health | Medical accreditation regime to set three kinds of licenses

Leong Heng Teng and Lei Chin Ion (right)

The analysis of a bill that proposes to create a regime for medical personnel accreditation has concluded, and will now be sent to the Legislative Assembly (AL) to be voted on, the spokesperson from the Executive Council (ExCo), Leong Heng Teng, informed yesterday at a press conference.

One of the bill’s proposals is to establish a licensing process that will create three different kinds of licenses: full, limited and internship.

The full license (with a three year period) is reserved for Macau residents only and demands that the health professional who holds it possesses their own facilities, which should therefore assist with the development of the health sector.

The limited license can be used to hire health professionals from abroad for specific tasks or technically complex jobs within a limited time frame. These licenses last one year, but can be renewed up to three times.

The last level of the licensing system, the internship license, is granted to professionals who have already passed their admission exam and have been admitted for medical internships. This license is valid for the period of the internship, with a maximum time period of six months.

The ruling, management and supervision of all these professionals from both the public and private sectors, will be conducted by the new entity, the Health Professionals Council. The Health Professionals Council will operate as the ruling body for all examination, accreditation and training processes.

Health professionals with several years of experience may be exempted from examination, said the director of the Health Bureau (SSM), Lei Chin Ion, although, in reply to questions from the media, he noted that the law does not specify what period of time is sufficient to constitute “enough experience.”

Lei elaborated, “It has not set a specific time; this has to do with the relevant experience of the [health] professional and will be decided by the [Health Professionals] Council on a case by case basis.”

The law also establishes a subsidy mechanism for health professionals while they undergo their internships, although again the bill does not establish an amount for such subsidies, Lei clarified.

He also clarified that the examination requirement only applies to people seeking new licenses, and those who are seeking to renew their existing license which is valid for only a year.
According to the SSM director, the accreditation system should initially apply to around 2,000 professionals, recalling that, “every year we see around 200 to 300 new health professionals starting to work.”
He also noted that in order to skip the process of examination every three years, health professionals must provide proof of continuing training which represents a minimum of “30 credit units for the period of three years.” Credits can be acquired by participation in training courses, workshops or attending to national or international conferences, or even for producing papers or other relevant academic work.

Included in this new system of accreditation are also new categories of health professionals: physicians, dentists, traditional Chinese medicine physicians, pharmacists and pharmacy assistant technicians (in both conventional and traditional medicine) as well as nurses, clinical laboratory technicians, radiology technicians, chiropractors, physiotherapists, occupational and speech therapists, psychologists and dietitians.

The bill also establishes regimes for inspection and supervision, as well as a regime for penalties in cases of non-compliance, misconduct or negligence. The penalties range from a written warning to total suspension of activities.