CB(2) 557/98-99(04)

Purpose

This paper sets out our proposal to commence statutory control of the Physiotherapy profession in January/February 1999. The subsidiary legislation involved will be tabled at the Legislative Council in December 1998.

Background

2. The Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance ("the Principal Ordinance") provides for registration, discipline and management of persons engaged in professions supplementary to medicine. Five professions are under the jurisdiction of the Principal Ordinance, namely Radiographers, Medical Laboratory Technologists, Optometrists, Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists. It provides for the establishment of a Supplementary Medical Professions Council and a Board for each of the five professions to carry out the functions under the Ordinance.

3. Under section 1(2), the Principal Ordinance shall apply to any supplementary medical profession governed by it, including the physiotherapy profession, from such date as the Chief Executive may appoint by an order published in the Gazette. It allows the application of the relevant provisions of the Ordinance to an individual profession only after the corresponding Regulation is ready to be brought into operation .

4. The Physiotherapists (Registration and Disciplinary Procedure) Regulation ("the Regulation") was made by the former Governor-in-Council on 15 October 1996. As in the cases of other professions under the Principal Ordinance, application of the Principal Ordinance to the Physiotherapy profession and the commencement of the Regulation are implemented in three phases, as follows -

Phase I	Provisions in the Principal Ordinance necessary for registration and those in the Regulation for qualifications and procedure for registration (Commenced on 1 April 1997)
Phase II	Provisions in the Principal Ordinance and the Regulation relating to control and discipline of the physiotherapy profession (Propose to commence in January/February 1999)
Phase III	Provisions in the Principal Ordinance and the Regulation concerning the regular publication in the Gazette of a list of registered physiotherapists and the obligations of companies engaged in physiotherapy to submit regular returns. (Propose to commence on 1 July 1999)

5. Phase I came into operation on 1 April 1997. The Physiotherapists Board has since been empowered to receive and consider application for registration as physiotherapists. The registration exercise of serving physiotherapists is about to complete in December 1998.

6. Since Phase II has not commenced, the statutory control of the physiotherapy profession has not been in place. A person not registered under the Principal Ordinance as a physiotherapist may still practise physiotherapy without breaking any law of Hong Kong. As most serving physiotherapists have been registered with the Physiotherapists Board, it is advisable to commence the statutory control in January/February 1999. From then onwards, a person who practises physiotherapy without being registered with the Physiotherapy Board commits an offence.

7. We also take this opportunity to specify that Phase III should commence on 1 July 1999. Relevant extract of the Principal Ordinance and the Regulation are at Annexes A and B respectively.

Consequential Amendments

8. Consequential amendments to a number of ordinances upon commencement of the statutory control of the physiotherapy profession have been provided for in the Supplementary Medical Professions, Midwives Registration and Nurses Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 1985 ("the Amendment Ordinance"). These consequential amendments, as shown in Annex C and described in paragraphs 9 - 12, will be brought into effect together with Phase II.

9. After the commencement of Phase II, physiotherapists will have to be registered under the Principal Ordinance. The premises they use for their practice is subject to statutory control under the Principal Ordinance. The current requirement that physiotherapy clinics should be registered under the Miscellaneous Licences Ordinance (MLO) and Miscellaneous Licences Regulations (MLR) is therefore no longer needed. The consequential amendments provide for repeal of the provisions relating to the licensing of physiotherapy clinics in the MLO and MLR.

10. The existing Massage Establishments Ordinance (MEO) and Medical Clinics Ordinance (MCO) contain references to physiotherapy clinic licensed under the MLO. Following the repeal of the provisions relating to the licensing of physiotherapy clinics in the MLO and MLR as proposed above, it would be necessary to repeal these references in MEO and MCO and to make corresponding amendments. These are also provided for in the consequential amendments.

11. Subsequent to the enactment of the Amendment Ordinance in 1985, the MLR was amended by another legislation. As a result, some of the consequential amendments cannot take the intended effect. We propose to introduce an amendment regulation to MLR to rectify the problem, and shall elaborate the details in paragraph 13 below.

12. Relevant extracts of the MLO, MLR, MEO and MCO are at Annexes D to G respectively.

Amendment Regulation to MLR

13. Part I of the Schedule to the Amendment Ordinance provides for consequential amendments to, among others, the MLR. It repeals part of regulation 17 of the MLR - delete "137, .......... 145, 146". The wording of this part of regulation 17, however, was changed, following another legislative amendment, to - "137, .......... 145 or 146". This textual mismatch makes this particular consequential amendment inoperable. We shall rectify this problem through an amendment regulation to the MLR, which will achieve the same effect as the original consequential amendment intends to do. We will bring this amendment regulation into operation together with Phase II.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

14. The Supplementary Medical Professions Council and the Physiotherapists Board have been informed of the proposed application of the Principal Ordinance to physiotherapists and the commencement of the relevant provisions in the Regulation and the Amendment Ordinance. They have not raised any objection.

ADVICE SOUGHT

15. Members are invited to note the commencement of statutory control of the physiotherapy profession in early 1999.

Health and Welfare Bureau October 1998
(HWB/M/22/3 Pt. 4 (95))

Annex A	Relevant extract of the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Cap. 359)
Annex B	Relevant extract of the Physiotherapists (Registration and Disciplinary Procedure) Regulation (Cap. 359 sub. leg.)
Annex C	Relevant extract of Supplementary Medical Professions, Midwives Registration and Nurses Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 1985
Annex D	Relevant extract of Miscellaneous Licences Ordinances (Cap. 114)
Annex E	Relevant extract of Miscellaneous Licences Regulation (Cap. 114 sub. leg.)
Annex F	Relevant extract of Massage Establishment Ordinance (Cap. 266)
Annex G	Relevant extract of Medical Clinics Ordinance (Cap. 343)