Hong Kong’s Secretary for Health, Lo Chung-mau, has cautioned against overstating concerns about employment prospects for nurses in the city, warning that such claims could discourage young people from entering the profession. His remarks come amid an ongoing debate over job availability for newly graduated nurses.
“I do not want recent comments, such as claims that ‘[nursing] graduation equals unemployment’, to dampen the interest of our younger generation in joining the nursing profession,” Lo said, emphasizing that increasing the nursing workforce cannot happen quickly because training takes time. He warned that if misleading statements affect recruitment, the city may face negative consequences.
The issue resurfaced after the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff reiterated warnings regarding the employment outlook for new nurses, previously calling for a halt in admitting non-local nurses via special registration routes. Some voices have suggested an “unwritten rule” exists under which the Hospital Authority reserves a portion of its recruitment quotas for nurses from mainland China, potentially limiting opportunities for local graduates.
In response, Lo underscored that the Hospital Authority had increased recruitment by 20 percent over the past year and urged public discourse to rely on comprehensive data rather than individual anecdotes. He cited examples where graduates declined offers or chose to take gap years rather than seeking immediate employment, arguing that using such cases to generalize an employment crisis was misleading.
Lo also acknowledged that the authority mainly serves patients with complex medical needs in public hospitals, which may limit nurses’ preferences for work hours or departments. Nevertheless, he called on nurses to uphold their duty to care for all patients regardless of those conditions.
The controversy gained further attention following a complaint from a psychiatric nurse to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu during a radio program. The nurse claimed difficulty finding employment in the city and suggested recruitment priorities disadvantaged local nurses. The issue was exacerbated by comments from Executive Council member Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, who described a nurse shortage in Hong Kong and supported importing nurses from overseas, while implying the complainant was affiliated with a labor union—a claim the nurse later denied.
Official figures released by the government indicated that the Hospital Authority had hired approximately 95 percent of local nurse applicants for 2025 positions. About 60 percent of that year’s nursing graduates applied for public hospital roles, suggesting that not all graduates seek employment within the public healthcare system. This year, the authority received nearly 3,000 applications from fresh nursing graduates and issued around 2,200 job offers during the initial recruitment phase.
The government and health officials maintain that public-sector nurse positions are available, though challenges remain in matching nurses’ preferences with hospital needs amid an evolving healthcare landscape.