PART I

INTRODUCTION

This pamphlet is only a guide and is by no means exhaustive and will be updated from time to time. It is not a legal document. In this Code, unless the context requires otherwise, words in the masculine gender include the feminine gender and where necessary words in the singular include the plural.

The Medical Council has disciplinary powers over a registered medical practitioner who commits a disciplinary offence as set out in the Medical Registration Ordinance, Section 21(1). The two most common disciplinary offences occur when :-

(i)	a registered medical practitioner has been convicted in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) or elsewhere of any offence punishable by imprisonment; or
(ii)	a registered medical practitioner has been guilty of misconduct in any professional respect.

The task of the Medical Council in the exercise of its powers is not only to discipline its members but to protect the public where necessary; to seek to maintain public confidence in the profession; and in its widest sense to maintain the integrity of the profession. It is the duty of a registered medical practitioner who has been convicted inside or outside the HKSAR of an offence punishable by imprisonment or who has been the subject of professional proceedings by other professional bodies to report this to the Medical Council. Failure to do so within 28 days of the conviction or the finding adverse to the registered medical practitioner will be grounds for disciplinary action. In case of doubt the matter should be reported.

When the Medical Council finds that a registered medical practitioner has committed a disciplinary offence, it may, in its discretion, order :-

(i)	the removal of the name of the registered medical practitioner from the General Register or from the Specialist register, either indefinitely or for a specified period, and either for the removal to be immediate or to be suspended subject to conditions;
(ii)	the registered medical practitioner to be reprimanded; or
(iii)	a warning letter be served on the registered medical practitioner.

Doctors should note that removal from the General Register will also occur when the registered medical practitioner has not, before 30 June of a year, obtained his practising certificate or his retention certificate for that year or where he has failed to supply the Registrar with an address in the HKSAR at which notices from the Council may be served on him.

A doctor who has been removed from the Register for whatever reason and who practises medicine or surgery may commit a criminal offence. Doctors who have been removed from the General Register may apply to the Medical Council to be restored to the Register. The Council has a discretion to allow or refuse the application.