Under the Hong Kong government forcing all civil servants to swear allegiance, some doctors and nurses of the Department of health resigned rather than sign a statement of allegiance, setting off a wave of resignations. (Photo credit: Hong Kong Government Information Service)
Under the haze of the Hong Kong SAR National Security Law, the Hong Kong government has forced all civil servants to take an oath or sign a declaration of support for the Basic Law and allegiance to the HKSAR, with the deadline approaching at the end of February. Many civil servants do not want to show their loyalty to the Chinese and Hong Kong regimes, and would rather give up their stable jobs and set off a “wave of flight”. Hong Kong media reported that the Department of Health in the past three months at least 20 doctors and dentists resigned, many of them indicated that they did not want to sign a statement of loyalty and resignation letter. The Department of Health also revealed that the department has more than 80 medical and nursing resignations in the past three months, far exceeding the number of resignations last year.
The Civil Service Bureau issued a circular to all departments on January 15, asking civil servants who joined before July last year to sign a declaration of support for the Basic Law and allegiance to the Hong Kong SAR, with a deadline of four weeks to sign back, if not signed before the deadline and without a reasonable explanation or will be laid off. Apple Daily reports that the newspaper has learned that at least 10 doctors and at least 10 dentists have resigned from the Department of Health in the past three months, some with more than 10 years of experience, and some of them have officially left. Among those who left, at least 4 people privately indicated that they did not want to sign a statement of loyalty and resigned, and 2 people will emigrate.
Resigned doctors privately revealed that the situation is now faced with a very simple, either sign a statement of loyalty, or resign, “signed a lot of constraints, sign not to start”. A Department of Health staff revealed that there are resignations even do not want to salary instantly go away, although did not explain the reason, but from what happened during this period, “the political environment, immigration, oath, we think about it.
According to Legislative Council documents, Hong Kong in the past four years the annual loss of doctors in the Department of Health figures, respectively, 25, 21, 23 and 19 people, that is, an average of only 4-6 doctors left every three months. The Department of Health responded by admitting that more than 80 people resigned from various departments under its jurisdiction in the past three months, while only 58 people left the relevant grades last year.
For the current political environment, a number of Department of Health doctors and dentists resigned, the Government Doctors Association President Lee Wai-yan expressed helplessness, she said, the Department of Health most colleagues involved in the fight against the Epidemic, worried about the loss of manpower to affect the fight against the epidemic and the Department of Health services.
In addition to the Department of Health there is a “wave of flight”, the Social Welfare Department in January this year, there are at least eight people resigned, half of them are social workers, accounting for nearly 20% of the total number of resignations last year, more than the average monthly number of resignations in the first nine months of the year more than twice.
Yu Hui-ming refused to take the oath: rather be a real person than work is important
At the beginning of the outbreak last year, Hong Kong’s medical and nursing sector went on strike to fight for the “closure of the border” to prevent the spread of the epidemic from the mainland to Hong Kong, and has since become a thorn in the side of the regime. Although the staff of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority are not part of the government civil service, the pro-establishment camp has been advocating that they be included in the scope of public officials who must take an oath.
In this regard, the Chairman of the Hospital Authority Staff Front, Ms. Yu Wai-ming, said in an interview with The Apple that the greatest concern of the medical and nursing staff is that the government will link the “political” oath with professional qualifications, forcing medical and nursing staff to accept the oath arrangement. As a contract employee of the Hospital Authority, she said, “I am doing a professional job to save the people of Hong Kong, not to serve the regime to do this job. If I don’t take the oath, I’ll lose the job. I definitely think that I want to be a real person, more than this job.” She also believes that as long as the health care sector is united and sticks to its professional stance and principles, “it can form a force to counteract this totalitarianism.”
Yu Wai-ming was arrested by the police last month for allegedly violating the National Security Law for subversion of power because of her participation in last year’s pro-democracy primary election. She was initially worried that the incident would implicate the Hong Kong Hospital Authority Staff Front and lead to the withdrawal of members, so she took the initiative to propose to the union that she could be dismissed from her post as president if necessary. In the end, not only did no member asked her to resign, but the number of members increased as a result of her arrest. She thanked the members for staying on and fighting together.
Yu Huiming said frankly, after the “anti-sending” campaign and medical strike for the closure, medical staff has become a “thorn in the side” of the Lin Zheng regime, now because of the epidemic, the government needs medical care to help them “fight the war Now, because of the epidemic, the government needs medical care to help them “fight the war”, not necessarily so soon, “but once the epidemic is over, I believe (medical staff) will be rectified”. She confessed that many of her friends around her are already thinking about whether they should emigrate after the government pushed through the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law“; the democrats were raided, making more people determined to leave. In the face of oppressive rule, she is not sure what else can be done for the Time being. She only hopes that if she is unfortunately imprisoned in the future, “the idea and spirit of (resistance) can be passed on”.
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