At the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, I wish to send my congratulations and best wishes to this Statutory Postgraduate Training Organization of Hong Kong.

The Academy Fellowship has grown to over 7,000 in a quarter of a century within a doctor population of about 13,000, and I am confident that more and more doctors will undergo postgraduate training that will enhance their professional knowledge and skill, and be included in the Specialist Register of the Medical Council of Hong Kong. Fellowship and Specialist status are both reflection of a doctor’s competence in a specialty.

To protect the Public, I must congratulate the Academy for enhancing postgraduate education from one of only passive continuous medical education (CME) to include partly active learning, the continuous professional development (CPD). All such mandatory learning is essential for the maintenance of the knowledge and skill to the best interest of patients.

Having consolidated the postgraduate medical training in Hong Kong, the Academy has linked up with Mainland since 2005 to develop protocols of similar training, good practice and registration. As the Academy and its Colleges always have international input in its training and examination, the standard is of international level and hence welcome in Mainland. I do hope that in the not too distant future, the philosophy and pedagogy of the Academy’s training and furtherance of specialist practice will spread in Mainland and beyond.

May the work of the Academy grow from strength to strength!