Before the handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997, medical education in this former British colony traditionally and exclusively followed the path of western medicine. Faculties of Medicine were modelled after those in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and only doctors trained in western medicine were considered "formal" and "reliable".[ citation needed ] Chinese medicine practitioners had no formal status at that time. However, after the return of the territory to China, the practice of traditional Chinese medicine was further regulated[ when? ] and schools of Chinese Medicine were set up within some of the government-funded tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. The first school of its kind, the School of Chinese Medicine at Hong Kong Baptist University, was established in 1998. Currently, there are two faculties with academic programmes in western medicine and three schools of Chinese Medicine in the territory.
There are two schools that teach Western Medicine in Hong Kong, namely, the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (HKU Med) and the Faculty of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The medium of instruction is English.
There are three public, government-funded schools of Traditional Chinese Medicine / Pharmacy in Hong Kong, including the School of Chinese Medicine of Hong Kong Baptist University, the School of Chinese Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, and the School of Chinese Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Education in Hong Kong used to be largely modelled on that of the United Kingdom, particularly the English system. Since 2012, the overhaul of secondary school diploma has introduced changes to the number of school years as well as the two-tier general examinations. The DSE has replaced the old HKCEE and the A-levels. Education policy in Hong Kong is overseen by the Education Bureau and the Social Welfare Department.
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong.
Sir Li Ka-shing is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the senior advisor for CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings, after he retired from the Chairman of the Board in May 2018; through it, he is a port investor, developer, and operator of the largest health and beauty retailer in Asia and Europe. As of July 2023, Li is the 33rd richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$37.7 billion.
The Joint University Programmes Admissions System, or commonly known as JUPAS (聯招), designed by Dr Gregory Chan Hin-fai, is a unified system for applying for full-time undergraduate programmes in Hong Kong. As of the 2017 admission cycle, all government funded degrees and sub-degrees provided by University Grants Committee (UGC) member institutions, and most of the other full-time degrees provided by institutions in Hong Kong are under the application system in JUPAS.
Shantou University, a university under the provincial Project 211 program in Shantou, Guangdong, was founded in 1981 with the approval of the State Council.
The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) is a public university in Ting Kok, New Territories, Hong Kong.
The Queen Mary Hospital is the largest district general hospital located in Pok Fu Lam on Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. It is part of the teaching hospital of the Faculty of Dentistry and Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong. It has 1,706 beds. It provides general medical and surgical services to the residents of Western and Southern districts and is a tertiary referral centre for the whole territory of Hong Kong and beyond.
Hong Kong Shue Yan University is a private liberal arts university on North Point, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong.
Kwok Ka-ki is a democratic Hong Kong former politician. He is a private urology doctor, having graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Kwok is a member of the Civic Party, having joined on 19 July 2010. On 11 November 2020, he was disqualified from the Legislative Council, along with three other lawmakers of the pan-democratic camp, by the central government in Beijing on request of the Hong Kong government. A mass resignation of pan-democrats the same day left the Legislative Council without a substantial opposition.
Hong Kong Metropolitan University is a public university in Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Modern medical education in Hong Kong started with the founding of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese in 1887. Currently, six institutes of higher education are engaged in the training of medical practitioners in Hong Kong.
The Li Ka Shing Foundation is a Hong Kong-based charitable organization founded in 1980 by Hong Kong entrepreneur Li Ka-shing.
Hong Kong is one of the healthiest places in the world. Because of its early health education, professional health services, and well-developed health care and medication system, Hongkongers enjoy a life expectancy of 88 for females and 83 for men, which is the highest in the world, and an infant mortality rate of 1.169 deaths per 1,000 births, the lowest in the world. The proportion of the population over 65 years old is expected to grow from 14% in 2013 to 18% in 2018, and the number of people with a long-term condition is expected to increase by 33% over the same period.
Hong Kong's medical infrastructure consists of a mixed medical economy, with 12 private hospitals and 43 public hospitals. Hong Kong has high standards of medical practice. It has contributed to the development of liver transplantation, being the first in the world to carry out an adult to adult live donor liver transplant in 1993. Both public and private hospitals in Hong Kong have partnered with the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) for international healthcare accreditation. There are also polyclinics that offer primary care services, including dentistry.
Gabriel Matthew Leung is a Hong Kong physician and epidemiologist, currently serving as the executive director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. From 2013 to 2022, he was the longest-serving Dean of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, where he was also the inaugural Helen and Francis Zimmern Professor in Population Health. Formerly, he was Hong Kong's first Under Secretary for Food and Health and fifth Director of the Office of the Chief Executive at the Government of Hong Kong.
The Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong is the medical school of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It was established in 1981 and consists of five schools offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the field of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health. The Prince of Wales Hospital is the faculty's teaching facility and base of research. CUHK is a bilingual university; in general, courses are taught in English and/or Chinese.
The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine or LKS Faculty of Medicine (HKUMed), formerly known as the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, is a medical school consisting of several schools and departments that provide tertiary programmes in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and Chinese medicine. English is the medium of instruction for all classes, while Chinese is retained for the teaching of Chinese medicine. It is located several kilometres away from the university's main campus and is near the Queen Mary Hospital, which is its main teaching facility and research base. Founded in 1887, it is also one of the oldest western medical schools in the Far East.
David Todd was a Hong Kong haematologist, the founding president of the Hong Kong College of Physicians and the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. He was best known for transforming medical education and training in Hong Kong.
Chak Sing Lau is a Hong Kong rheumatologist. He is the current Dean of Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Daniel CK Yu Professor in Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, and Chair Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology. Previously, he was the Chairperson of the Department of Medicine at HKU, the Chief of Service (Medicine) of Queen Mary Hospital, and the President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.
Sum Ping Lee is an American physician and gastroenterologist who served as the 39th Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, between 2008 and 2013. He is currently a Professor Emeritus at the Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine.