Former Civic Party lawmaker and urologist Kwok Ka-ki was disbarred last week…
…after a [HK Medical Council] disciplinary panel found that his national security conviction had caused “damage” to the profession and that he “showed no remorse.”
…Kwok was quoted in the judgment as telling the panel that: “[his] conviction was not related to [his] clinical practice. Basically, the charge arose from [his] political commitment as a member of the Legislative Council in the participation in the primary election in 2020. There was no complaint [about his] integrity, and no dishonesty and negligence to [his] duties as a doctor.”
The panel said Kwok’s plea showed that he was “still putting his political agenda [at] the forefront.”
The judgment added: “In his subsequent correspondence with the Secretary [of the council], [Kwok] went so far as to [say] that ‘It is an uphill battle for me to face all these challenges in preparing for the inquiry. While I am facing an authority with resources and manpower, I am here alone. I am always ‘an egg in front of a high wall.’
“This illustrates to us that the Defendant has shown no remorse and let alone been rehabilitated.”
You may think all this also illustrates that the Medical Council is ‘putting a political agenda at the forefront’ here.
A translation of Kwok’s Facebook post…
I am not surprised by this at all. When everyone knows that there are teachers who cannot hold the teaching baton, social workers who can no longer assist those in need, and lawyers who cannot engage in legal work, it was only to be expected that I would be deprived of my medical practice qualification. This incident did not stem from professional negligence, but because I had participated in the 2020 Legislative Council primary election and was subsequently convicted for it.
…the following facts cannot be erased: In 1985, I graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong; in 1990, I became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a founding Fellow of the Hong Kong College of Surgeons; in 1993, I became a founding Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.
A translation of a piece by writer Freddy Fung Sze-kan hints at Hong Kong entering a ‘better-red-than-expert’ future …
…the threshold for permanently striking off a doctor in Hong Kong is very high—it takes either a heartless, beastly pervert or a quack who’s killed patients twice over, and the reasons for deregistration are always tied to medical matters. Dr. Kwok Ka-ki … argued in his written response that his conviction had nothing to do with his medical practice, that he had not engaged in any dishonest or violent behavior, and that his involvement in the primaries was limited and should not be deemed a serious offense. But the Medical Council saw things differently.
…Because he refused to grovel obsequiously to the regime or deeply “acknowledge” the severity of his political crimes, he ended up sacrificing an entire hard-earned professional career. Does politicizing the profession in this way really maintain public confidence in the medical field? I’m afraid it will only backfire. Dr. Kwok wrote on Facebook yesterday: “During my four years in prison, I studied diligently to maintain my specialist qualification in urology.” Unfortunately, today’s Hong Kong no longer prioritizes professionalism above all; instead, everything is “politicized” and “securitized.” Mr. Kwok’s pure heart can only shine in vain upon the gutter.
At this point, all I can say to Mr. Kwok is a modest “thank you,” and wish him safety.
A LegCo paper on Hong Kong’s shortage of doctors.