Upon recommendation from the Medical Council of Hong Kong, the Fitness-to-Practice (FTP) procedures are established in the Faculty to address concerns relating to students with professional conduct and/ or health issues which render them potentially unfit to practise medicine. Medical students have duties and responsibilities which are unique to their profession. They are obliged to attain certain standards of professional behavior. This document chiefly considers students’ FTP in relation to their professional conduct and/ or their health. The FTP Enquiry Committee serves as an internal and mediating mechanism within the Medical Faculty to triage issues and grievances against the FTP of a student. The formation of the FTP Enquiry Committee is on a case-by-case basis in order objectively and thoroughly to assess, based on facts and evidence available on the case concerned, the FTP of the student concerned.
Upon careful review and substantiation, the FTP Enquiry Committee may, upon consultation and discretion of the Faculty Dean, recommend remedial actions for the students whose FTP becomes a matter of concern. For graduates and interns, the FTP Enquiry Committee may report to the Medical Council of Hong Kong if they are regarded as potentially unfit to practise medicine.
The membership of the FTP Enquiry Committee, with its power and authority, should be appointed and delegated directly by the Dean.
To prevent any conflicts of interest and ensure objectivity/ fairness, members of the FTP Enquiry Committee should not have direct relationships with the student concerned (e.g. personal tutor, mentor) and any person having such direct relationship shall not be a member of the FTP Enquiry Committee for that particular case. The student representative(s) concerned should not directly know the fellow student being investigated.
The membership of the FTP Enquiry Committee shall comprise:
A teacher/ staff member from the Department/ Unit/ curricular module relevant to the occurrence or impact of the alleged misconduct will be invited to appear before the FTP Enquiry Committee.
Where a solicitor is called for by the graduate/ intern whose FTP is in question, the FTP Enquiry Committee has the discretion to nominate a legal advisor to sit in the Committee.
Once a FTP concern has been addressed as stipulated in the FTP procedures, a decision/ recommendation is made by the FTP Enquiry Committee. If the student concerned finds it not agreeable with the decision/ recommendation of the FTP Enquiry Committee, he/ she can launch a formal appeal directly to the FTP Appeal Board.
The FTP Appeal Board is also part of the internal mechanism within the Medical Faculty to deal with requests from students appealing against the decision/ recommendation of the FTP Enquiry Committee. It serves as a review body to revisit the case concerned and is formed on a case-by-case basis by the Board of the Faculty.
Upon careful review and substantiation, the Appeal Board can uphold or subvert the recommendation/ decision of the FTP Enquiry Committee.
The membership of the Appeal Board, with its power and authority, should be appointed and delegated directly by the Chairperson of the Board of the Faculty.
To prevent any conflicts of interest and ensure objectivity/ fairness, members of the FTP Appeal Board should not have direct relationships with the student concerned (e.g. personal tutor, mentor) and any person having such direct relationship shall not be a member of the FTP Enquiry Committee for that particular case.
The membership of the FTP Appeal Board shall comprise:
Where a solicitor is called for by the graduate/ intern whose FTP is in question, the FTP Enquiry Committee has the discretion to nominate a legal advisor to sit in the Appeal Board.
Examples of areas of fitness-to-practice concerns
Follow HKUMed