Lo Chung-mau: Hospital Authority nurse vacancies exceed 10%; recruitment to be stepped up as new hospitals are completed

Secretary for Health and Welfare Lo Chung-mau told the Legislative Council that Hospital Authority nurse vacancies exceed 10%, and that as new hospitals are completed in future, the authorities will step up nurse recruitment. He said the attrition rate for public hospital nurses had fallen from a peak of over 10% to about 5.4% at present, and stressed that there was no surplus of doctors or nurses for the time being, estimating that in 10 to 15 years there would still be a shortfall of about 6,000 medical personnel in the public and private sectors combined.