President, the Liberal Party supports the passage of the Supplementary Medical Professions (Amendment) Bill 2025 (“the Bill”). After the passage of the Bill, “supplementary medical professions” will be renamed “allied health professions”. The Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance will also be renamed the Allied Health Professions Ordinance.

“Supplementary medical professions” refer to the five professions set out in the Schedule to the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance, namely medical laboratory technologists, radiographers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and optometrists. The services provided by these five professions are closely related to the life of the public. When members of the public have medical needs, they often first encounter healthcare professionals such as doctors, dentists, Chinese medicine practitioners (“CMPs”) or nurses, followed by various supplementary service providers, including the five types of supplementary medical professionals regulated under the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance.

Hong Kong’s healthcare services are world-class. However, due to the restrictions on “market access” in the past, there is a severe shortage of healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, dentists, and various supplementary medical professionals, resulting in exorbitant charges for private services and long waiting time for public services, which have been widely criticized.

The Liberal Party and I have always been at the forefront of breaking the “market access” restriction on healthcare services, controlling medical fees and enhancing transparency. In 2021, after many twists and turns, the Legislative Council finally passed the Medical Registration (Amendment) Bill 2021, which opened a new pathway for non-locally-trained doctors to provide services in the public healthcare sector under “limited registration”. It opened up a gap in the “market access” for doctors and inject new impetus into Hong Kong’s public healthcare services. Subsequently, the new pathway of “limited registration” has also been introduced to the dental and nursing professions. The Bill today also introduces the new pathway of “limited registration” to five supplementary medical professions, so as to provide better services in the public sector, which is indeed a commendable development.

In recent years, Hong Kong has successfully achieved reforms in various healthcare areas, marking one of the most significant chapters in my nearly 30-year public service career. Here, on behalf of the Liberal Party and the public, I would like to pay tribute to the previous terms of the SAR Government and Members of the Legislative Council for their dedicated efforts.

Apart from the introduction of special registration, and renaming “supplementary medical professions” to “allied health professions”, the Bill also reforms the composition of the Supplementary Medical Professions Council and boards of the supplementary medical professions, to strengthen the supervisory role of the Council and rationalize their relationship. Moreover, the Bill also revises the existing requirement that physiotherapists and occupational therapists must obtain a referral from a doctor before providing services, allowing them to do so without referral under specified situations. The Bill will also allow registered CMPs to refer patients to services provided by physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers and medical laboratory technologists under specified situations. This measure that strengthens governance and removes barriers is absolutely correct and we fully support it.

I wish Hong Kong’s public and private medical services will continue to thrive, not only providing good services to the public, but also upgrading healthcare services into an industry that serves Hong Kong’s neighbouring regions, thus providing another important pillar for Hong Kong’s economic development. I encourage the Secretary to keep up the hard work. The Secretary is so capable, so I hope the Secretary will achieve even more, and at a faster pace.

With these remarks, I support the Bill.