Hong Kong says overseas-trained nurses make up less than 0.5% of register

Less than 0.5 per cent of registered nurses in Hong Kong received their training outside the city, health authorities said amid a dispute with a trade union over employment opportunities for local graduates. A government spokesman said about 99.8 per cent of registered nurses working in public hospitals were locally trained. Around 50 non-locally trained nurses were serving in public hospitals, representing less than 0.2 per cent of the Hospital Authority’s nursing workforce.

The figures were released after the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff demanded that locally trained graduates be given priority. The union also called for a suspension of admissions through special or limited registration routes and urged improvements to nurse-to-patient ratios and primary healthcare. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said the authority had hired 95 per cent of local applicants for nursing positions during the previous year.

He said approximately 3,500 fresh graduates had registered, while about 2,500 applied for authority vacancies. The authority later said it had received about 3,000 applications from newly graduated nurses this year and issued roughly 2,200 offer letters during the first phase. Its nursing chief, Danny Tong Wah-kun, said the authority had never absorbed every local graduate and pointed to demand from private hospitals and residential care homes.

The dispute began after residents told Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu during a radio programme that nurses were struggling to find work. One caller alleged an unwritten quota for mainland-trained nurses, an allegation the health minister rejected. Officials urged discussion based on data.

The government spokesman said some private hospitals were also struggling to recruit, citing one with 40 vacancies that received 25 applications.