The government's plan to allow non-locally trained nurses to practise in Hong Kong without taking a licensing exam has its drawbacks, a lawmaker and a nursing professor said on Sunday.

Instead, they said it's more important to take away administrative work from existing local nurses at public hospitals and recognise their specialty to retain staff.

Currently, non-locally trained nurses must pass the licensing examination administered by the Nursing Council of Hong Kong to be a qualified practitioner here.

But under the government’s proposal which has been submitted to Legco for scrutiny, those trained outside of the city could come through a special registration pathway and obtain a full license, without taking the exam, after having worked “satisfactorily and competently” during a specified period in the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority.

Marking the International Nurses Day, DAB lawmaker Edward Leung noted that the attrition rate for nurses in the public sector reached 9.5 percent in 2023-24, saying the government must improve working conditions to keep staff.

He said it’s important to reduce their administrative burden and ensure their pay is on par with the private sector.

He said while the plan to admit non-locally trained nurses could help alleviate manpower shortage at public hospitals in the longer run, it could add to the workload of local nurses in the initial phase.

"When we invite them to Hong Kong, in the very first period, we have to assign local nurses to assist them on doing their jobs and providing services. For this period, we are drawing manpower to assist the non-local nurses," Leung said.

William Li, vice-president of the Hong Kong Academy of Nursing, said the proposed special registration would only be a temporary measure to alleviate manpower shortage in the public sector.

“The most important way is to offer recognition to those nurses who have specialty experience or specialty nursing qualification," Li said.

"Eventually, their job satisfaction should be improved and more nurses would be happy to stay at public hospitals."

Li also said offering more training spots for aspiring nurses at local institutions could be another way to alleviate manpower shortage.