Hong Kong College of Family Physicians

The busiest and exciting weekend of the College has just passed. The Hong Kong Primary Care Conference 2015 has attracted more than 500 attendees. This is definitely a record breaker. Congratulation to Dr. Lorna Ng , Chairlady of the Organizing Committee, her team and the secretariat - they have worked tiredlessly to make this Conference successful. The programmes were wellstructured under the theme “Stay Caring, Go Excelling in Primary Care”.

The plenary lectures were informative, innovative and challenging. The lecture of Dr. Donald Li on “Excellence in Primary Care, Ethical Dilemmas” brought us the motto “Opus medicinae salus” which features on the logo of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, meaning the physician leads the way to good health. In this process we faced numerous ethical issues and dilemmas which challenged our clinical competency and integrity.

Prof Cindy Lam talked on “We Need the Family Doctor More than Ever in the Era of Multi-disciplinary Primary Care”. She highlighted the importance of having Family Doctors in favourable health outcomes in Hong Kong and enlisted the multi-disciplinary approach in chronic diseases. The gadget she brought to the audience immediately cured everybody’s sleep apnoea. If you still don’t know RAMP and PEP, speak to Cindy!

The talk of Prof Rodger Charlton on “Family Medicine in 2050, A Vision through a Crystal Ball” walked us through the importance of consultation skills in daily clinical practice and discussed the future developments and challenges faced by primary care physicians. I am certain we will only be able to listen to these wonderful lectures at HKPCC.

The 28th Fellowship Conferment Ceremony and the 26th Dr. Sun Yat Sen Oration

Immediately on Sunday 31st May 2015 we had our 28th Fellowship Conferment Ceremony. It was intriguing to see so many new Fellows and Diplomats and some were from Macau. I mentioned to them “College is your forever home in your Family Medicine life, from cradle to grave”. I had made Dr. Donald Li, one of our most distinguished Fellows, a very busy man this weekend. He delivered the 26th Dr. Sun Yat Sen Oration with the title “Making a Difference: A Journey in Family Medicine”. This truly highlighted the contribution of Family Doctor in local and international arenas.

This year’s Honorary Fellowship, the highest honour of this College was awarded to Dr. Jennie KenDrick. Dr. KenDrick was the former Censor-in-Chief of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. She had been our external examiner for the Conjoint Fellowship Examination for over seven years. She deserved the highest praise for her contribution to this College. I was very pleased her husband Dr. Guan Yeo was here to witness her glory as the rightful recipient.

Dr. Ko Wing Man, Secretary for Food and Health candidly commented at the Conference and the Conferment Ceremony. “Well, there are a lot of people”. “The queue is very long”. This simply sums up the success of the two events.

It was interesting to read the article from the editor of the HKMA News April 2015 issue. HKCFP cannot support the idea of establishing a new College of Primary Care. The establishment of another organization under the name of “College” will be misleading to the public and probably to other medical colleagues as well, as to its status in relation to other constituent statutory Colleges under the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.

Let me make it crystal clear, the aim and spirit of this College is to promote Primary Care and Family Medicine in Hong Kong. Nothing more and nothing less! The might of this College is not built by me. It is the pure hard work of all the enthusiastic Family Physicians over the past 37 years. Now we have the Certificate course, Diploma course, Conjoint Fellowship Examination with RACGP and Exit Examination leading to specialist status in Family Medicine. Each level forms a stepping stone towards the next level. I am also very proud the College is exporting its expertise to Macau and China in organizing diploma and certificate courses there.

Any registered medical practitioners on the general or specialist lists of the Hong Kong Medical Council can participate in the certificate and diploma courses of this College. These courses provide knowledgeable, pragmatic and structured teaching in Family Medicine and encourage professional development of practicing medical practitioners. Those with 5 years of experience in primary care practice can sit for the Conjoint Fellowship Examination as Category II candidates. Category I candidates are basic trainees with 4 years of vocational training in Family Medicine. The passing rate of this examination is between 56% to 74% over the past three years and in 2013 the best candidate was from Category II. There is no barrier to anyone who wants to learn the knowledge, skills and attitudes in Primary Care and Family Medicine. The College is actively looking into the Category II Fellows training pathway at this very moment.

We are not couch potatoes and our arms are absolutely straight and cannot be twisted. All my colleagues in this College have worked their socks off to provide all the necessary educational needs to any doctors willing to learn. I am certain both HKMA and HKCFP can work together to enhance the standard of primary care doctors and promote continuing medical education among them.

Dr. Angus M W CHAN
President

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