Page 49 - CASA Bulletin 2019 Vol 6 No 4

Vol.6, No.4, 2019

Anaesthesiologists. In 1991, the Hospital Authority (HA) was formed. HA is a non-government
but totally public funded organization overlooking all public hospitals in Hong Kong. As of
today, there are 43 public hospitals of which 21 of them have operating services. As some
departments of anaesthesia look after more than one hospital, there are 18 Departments of
Anaesthesia in Hong Kong. Whereas in the private sector, there are 12 private hospitals and
all have operating theaters. Only a handful of private hospitals have formal departments of
anaesthesia. Majority of the Specialist Anaesthesiologists in private practice are self employed

and rewarded with fee for service.

Training of anaesthesiologists

In the 1960’s, local senior anaesthesia trainees, after completing their basic anaesthesia
hospital program, would go to UK during their final year of training to gain more work
experience and sit for the fellowship examination of the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal
College of Surgeons of England (FARCS) After passing the examination and fulfilling the
training requirements, they became the Fellows of the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal
College of Surgeons (FFARCS). In 1969, the first primary examination of the Faculty of
Anaesthetists of the Royal Australiasian College of Surgeons (FARACS) was conducted

in Hong Kong. By then, local trainees could obtain their fellowship from either FARCS or
FARACS or both. Subsequently both UK and Australia established independent colleges known
as the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCA) and Australian and New Zealand College of
Anesthetists (ANZCA). The fellowships obtained from the respectively colleges were FRCA
and FANZCA.

In 1976, SAHK and the Hong Kong Oxygen & Acetylene Company Ltd established an
Education Foundation to sponsor tutorial courses so local trainees could attend regular territory
wide training programs regardless of which hospitals they were working.

In 1983, the Department of Anaesthesia was established at the Prince of Wales Hospital. In
1989, SAHK sponsored the formation of the Hong Kong College of Anaesthesiologists (HKCA)
and formal college training programs were established. Starting from that year (1989), HKCA
granted fellowship ad eundem (FHKCA). The first final examination of HKCA was conducted
in 1995 and thereafter fellowship was granted by examination. The first Intermediate Fellowship
Examination of HKCA was conducted a year earlier (1994). The first HKCA Intensive Care
fellowship examination was conducted two years later in 1997, whereas the first HKCA
Diploma in Pain Management examination was conducted four years later in 1999. The training
and curriculum of Diploma in Pain Management underwent dramatic restructuring and became
Fellowship in Pain Medicine in 2011. Since the establishment of the Hong Kong College of

Anaesthesiologists, all Specialist Anaesthesiologists must obtain the Fellowship of the Hong
Kong College of Anaesthesiologists (FHKCA) before the specialist status would be granted by

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