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Item	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003

Number of Registered Medical Personnel①(person)
Doctors	9527	9818	10130	10412	10731	11016
Dentists	1724	1779	1826	1855	1907	1848*
Pharmacists	1212	1273	1315	1362	1414	1457
Nurses	39250	38960	40388	42032	43383	43782
Doctors Per Thousand Population	1.4	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.6^	1.6^
Number of Medical Institutions and Hospital Beds
Medical Institutions (number)	102	105	102	99	98	97
Hospital Beds (bed)	32836	34286	35100	34852	35159	35566
Beds Per Thousand Population	5.0	5.2	5.2	5.2	5.2^	5.2^


Notes: Figures are as at end of the year.
①Statistics on the registered medical personnel are maintained by the Medical Council for doctors, Dental Council for dentists, Nursing Council
for nurses and Pharmacy and Poisons Board for pharmacists. Annual renewal of practising certificate is required for doctors, dentists and
pharmacists. Figures for doctors/dentists refer to the doctors/dentists with full registration on both the local and overseas lists. Figures for
nurses refer to both registered nurses and enrolled nurses.
^ Provisional figure.
* In accordance with Section 15(3) of the Dentists Registered Ordinance, Cap. 156 Laws of Hong Kong, 154 names of 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.