Medical graduates in Macao are expected to face difficulties when seeking employment in the city’s hospitals over the next three years, with the head of the Health Bureau, Kuok Cheong U, stating last Friday that their number exceeds the needs of the healthcare system.
Kuok told local media that the Conde de São Januário Hospital currently had between 300 to 400 doctors and roughly 1,000 to 1,200 nursing personnel. However, the hospital presently has no plans to launch a large-scale recruitment program, since the institution only has vacancies when a staff member transfers to another position or retires.
The hospital head advised graduates to consider other opportunities in areas such as the day hospital that will be launched in the future, as well as the nascent life sciences sector, which encompasses a range of offerings, including traditional Chinese medicine, health tourism and medical services.
Kuok pointed out that these fields also required medical graduates, adding that they could “pick their positions based on their own unique abilities and strengths.”
[See more: Guangdong-Macau emergency medical services to begin this year]
While medical graduates may struggle to secure work, there are more than enough internship spots for them, according to O Lam, the secretary for social affairs and culture.
During a Legislative Assembly session on Friday, O pointed out that Macao is expected to welcome an average of over 600 medical graduates each year between 2025 and 2027. Macao’s public and private medical institutions, however, will be able to provide more than 800 internship spots annually.
Meanwhile the secretary noted that the Macao Union Hospital is looking to boost its staff population to around 700 by the end of this year, some 390 of which will be medical personnel.
Data from 2023 shows that Macao has 2.9 doctors and 4.4 nurses per thousand people in the city, more or less reaching the goal laid down in the SAR government’s second five year plan.
