| 24-52 Conditions of Public Health | ||||||
| Item | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
| Number of Registered Healthcare Professionals①(persons) | ||||||
| Doctors | 10412 | 10731 | 11016 | 11242 | 11505 | |
| Chinese Medicine Practitioners② | - | 2385 | 4738 | 4986 | 5133 | |
| Dentists③ | 1855 | 1907 | 1848 | 1896 | 1941 | |
| Pharmacists | 1362 | 1414 | 1457 | 1517 | 1583 | |
| Nurses④ | 42032 | 43383 | 43782 | 44402 | 35465 | |
| Doctors per Thousand Population | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.7@ | |
| Number of Medical Institutions and Hospital Beds | ||||||
| Medical Institutions (number) | 99 | 98 | 97 | 98 | 99 | |
| Hospital Beds (beds) | 34852 | 35159 | 35526 | 34400 | 34119 | |
| Beds per Thousand Population | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 4.9@ | |
| Notes: Figures are as at end of the year. | ||||||
| ①Statistics on the registered healthcare professionals are maintained by the Medical Council for Doctors, Chinese Medical Council | ||||||
| of Hong Kong for Chinese Medicine Practitioners, Dental Council for Dentists, Pharmacy and Poisons Board for Pharmacists, | ||||||
| and Nursing Council for Nurses. Annual renewal of practising certificate is required only for doctors, dentists and pharmacists. | ||||||
| Chinese medicine practitioners and nurses are required to renew the practising certificates every three years. Figures for | ||||||
| doctors/dentists refer to the doctors/dentists with full registration on both the local and overseas lists. Figures for nurses refer to | ||||||
| registered nurses and enrolled nurses. | ||||||
| ②Figures have been made available since 2002. They do not include listed Chinese medicine practitioners who can practise lawfully | ||||||
| in Hong Kong under the transitional arrangements for registration of Chinese medicine practitioners until a date to be announced | ||||||
| by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food in the Gazette. Listed Chinese medicine practitioners may apply for registration | ||||||
| under the requirements of transitional arrangements. | ||||||
| ③In accordance with Section 15(3) of the Dentists Registration Ordinance, Cap. 156 Laws of Hong Kong, the names of 154 | ||||||
| registered dentists were removed from the register in 2003. Offsetting by 95 new dentists registered in 2003, there was a net | ||||||
| decrease of 59 dentists in that year. | ||||||
| ④The number of nurses had dropped in 2005 due to the removal of names of more than 9000 nurses from the register/roll in | ||||||
| accordance with Section7(3)(e) and Section 13(3)(e) of the Nurses Registration Ordinance (Cap. 164). | ||||||
| "@" Figures are subject to revision later on. | ||||||