About HKCFP > President’s Message
February 2016
My frustration over my first year of presidency was the misquotation of the passing rate of our examinations by others who had little knowledge of this College. I am even more surprised to
read an article by another association recently regarding our low passing rate. Our intermediate examination-The HKCFP/ RACGP Conjoint Examination first commenced in 1987. In the eighties, the average passing rate was 66.7%. The average passing rate in the past 5 years (2011-2015) was 64.2%. The passing rate in 2015 was 79.4%. The Exit Examination leading to Fellowship of HKAM has an average passing rate of 77% in the past 5 years (2011-2015) including full and supplementary examinations. This is comparable to our sister Colleges in Hong Kong and other GP Colleges around the world. Our examinations are robust and meticulous and are well monitored by RACGP and external examiners. Now we have more experienced examiners and clinical supervisors, but the most important of all is we have better and hardworking trainees. All credit should go to this future generation of well-trained Family Physicians. I must also congratulate Dr. Chan Hung Chiu and Dr. Wendy Tsui in heading the Board of Examination and Specialty Board respectively. The sweat and blood of their teams have not gone unnoticed.
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At this very moment, there are 444 Fellows in Family Medicine at HKAM. The number of training post in Family Medicine is not determined by the College or the passing rate in professional examinations. It is determined
by the biggest employer in Hong Kong- the Hospital Authority! Any nonspecialist with 5 years of GP experience can sit the Conjoint Examination as Category II candidates. The best candidate in 2013 was from this category. From 2015 onwards, those who hold intermediate qualification can undergo further training in the alternative pathway leading to Exit Examination. The College has never embraced Academy Fellowship as the sole standard for Family Physicians to practise in Hong Kong. The profession, the society and the government have to decide the standard and training they want for independent and capable family doctors in Hong Kong.
If you have read my message last month, I mentioned quality assurance of primary care doctors is of prime importance. Poor quality primary care doctors can do more harm than good. An important quality assurance of
Primary Care is Continuing Medical Education (CME) for all primary care doctors and HKCFP can help to assure CME programme is relevant to Primary Care.
According to the Medical Council of Hong Kong, there are 2 types of registration for the fully registered doctors, i.e. Resident list and Specialist list. Just last weekend Dr. Ko Wing Man, Secretary for Food and Health Bureau spoke to the media regarding the concern of doctors on CME linked to registration. His latest concept is for non-specialist, CME is not linked to registration. However, he suggests through disciplinary
mechanism of the Medical Council e.g. under the code of conduct to require non-specialist to have CME. This is a major step forward and my Council is looking forward to further discussion with the Bureau.
By now I have visited all the seven clusters and their trainees. I am delighted Dr. David Chao has accompanied me in most of the visits. We have detailed the work of the College and we love to see them passing their examinations with flying colours.
Finally, I have learnt from Dr. Mark Miller, Censor in Chief, RACGP the greeting for the Year of Monkey. I wish you ahead by a somersault of 9,000 kilometres , 72 simultaneous transformations in scholarliness and 81 kinds
of creative skills.
Dr. Angus M W CHAN
PresidentBack
