About 60% of Hong Kong's first batch of dental graduates who underwent a mandatory 12-month internship have joined the city's Department of Health. According to Dr. Kitty Hse Mei-yin, consultant-in-charge of the department's dental services, 46 out of 75 interns have been recruited by the government, which she says has helped "significantly ease" the manpower crunch. The graduates who completed the internship were required to do so under an amendment to the Dentists Registration Ordinance in 2024, aiming to enhance their hands-on clinical experience.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
About 60% of Hong Kong's first batch of dental graduates, who were required to complete a 12-month internship, have joined the city's Department of Health. The interns, totaling 46 out of 75, are helping to ease the department's manpower crunch. According to Dr. Kitty Hse Mei-yin, consultant-in-charge of the department's dental services, this development was made possible by a controversial amendment to the Dentists Registration Ordinance in 2024. The ordinance requires all dental graduates in Hong Kong to complete an internship before obtaining a full license starting from 2025. The internship is meant to provide hands-on clinical experience in real-life settings, which can enhance interns' skills and judgment.
Written for “Dentist Internship Requirement” on 2026-09-12,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 8008 · logged 2026-09-11
Over 60% of new dentists join Department of Health after mandatory internship
asserted
% → join → internship
A consultant dental surgeon says the 46 new recruits have helped ‘significantly ease’ department’s manpower crunch
About 60 per cent of Hong Kong’s first batch of dental graduates who underwent mandatory internship training have joined the city’s Department of Health, a move that has helped “significantly ease” the manpower crunch.
The development followed a controversial amendment to the Dentists Registration Ordinance in 2024, requiring all dental graduates in Hong Kong to complete a 12-month internship before obtaining a full licence starting in 2025.
asserted
development → say → 2025
The measure aimed to enhance hands-on clinical experience in real-life settings.
asserted
measure → aim → settings
Dr Kitty Hse Mei-yin, consultant-in-charge of the department’s dental services, said on Friday that the government had recruited 62 per cent, or 46 of the first batch of 75 interns.
asserted
government → say → interns
The rest went on to work at the Prince Philip Dental Hospital’s teaching facility, at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), in non-governmental organisations or in the private sector.
asserted
rest → go → sector
“While students have learned a lot from their six-year undergraduate training, the internship allowed them to put what they learned in books into practice in the real world, meeting different kinds of patients in different roles under the support of experienced dentists,” Hse said.
asserted
Hse → learn → dentists
“During the internship, they never know what kind of problems will be brought into the room by the next patients, which is different from their clinical training at school … that could enhance their clinical judgment and independent thinking skills.”
uncertain
that → know → judgment
