The Hospital Authority's chief executive said on Saturday that making remuneration more commensurate with staff performance doesn't necessarily mean more money.

Tony Ko's comments came after chairman Henry Fan announced early this week that a high-level governance and reform committee would be looking into the authority's remuneration structure.

Speaking on a Commercial Radio programme, Ko said the rewards of an increase in remuneration were not just limited to monetary terms.

"Of course, we think that a rewarding remuneration structure can motivate staff.

"However, that can be in terms of money, recognition or an honour.

"This idea is still at an early stage, and the committee is carrying out lots of discussions.

"We have consulted and will consult a lot of colleagues.

"Some of them have told us that they don't need a pay rise as their lives are pretty much the same with or without one.

"But they hope to be given some kind of honour, like if a person is the best at a certain kind of surgery, can the person be named as a director in that particular field, something like that."

Ko also said that the authority's efforts in staff recruitment and retention over the past few years have brought about a significant decrease in turnover of medical workers.

He cited as an example a drop in the turnover rate for nurses to 7 percent from 10 percent.