Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine

The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine (styled HKUMed or LKS Faculty of Medicine, formerly the Faculty of Medicine) of the University of Hong Kong is a medical faculty which comprises several schools and departments that provide an array of tertiary programmes in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and chinese medicine. English is the medium of instruction in all of the classes while Chinese is also retained for the teaching of chinese medicine. It is located several kilometres away from the main campus of the university and is near the Queen Mary Hospital which is its main teaching facility and research base. Founded in 1887, it is also one of the oldest western medical schools in the Far East.
HKU Medical Faculty is the older of the two medical faculties in Hong Kong, the other one being the Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Together they are the sole two tertiary institutions offering medical and pharmacy education and research in the city.
History.
HKU Medical Faculty has a long history. Its origins can be traced back to the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese which was founded in 1887 and later renamed the Hong Kong College of Medicine in 1907. Student and faculty numbers were low in the early years. Its first graduates, of which there were two, graduated in 1892, one of whom was Sun Yat-sen, the prominent Chinese revolutionary.
The college was merged to become the medical school of HKU in 1911, one of the university's first faculties. The establishment of the Queen Mary Hospital in 1937 brought the faculty a major clinical teaching and research base. However, the Japanese occupation in the city during the Second World War disrupted teaching and many staff and students were imprisoned. Following the end of the war, it reopened and soon became an important training centre of clinicians in the city with many departments and schools in healthcare and medical sciences opened. Important milestones include being the world's first team that successfully identified the SARS coronavirus, the causative agent of the pandemic SARS on 21 March 2003. This was followed by the visit of Wen Jiabao to the faculty acknowledging the institute's contribution, the first time a Premier of China had visited a university in Hong Kong. Moreover, a State Key laboratory for emerging infectious diseases was established, the first of its kind located outside mainland China. The faculty launched a Bachelor of Pharmacy programme in 2008, being the second and of two institutions in the city offering pharmacy education.
Admission and Programmes.
Currently the Faculty offers six undergraduate degree programmes:
A new interdisciplinary programme, Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Global Health and Development, is set to receive its first intake in the 2019/20 academic year.
Medical graduates are awarded the M.B., B.S.; the equivalent degree offered by the CUHK Faculty of Medicine is the M.B., Ch.B. Both degrees are based on the United Kingdom's model for medical degrees. Moreover, the Faculty also provides various postgraduate programmes, including postgraduate diplomas, master's and doctoral degrees.
Controversy.
Scandal of former Dean in SARS plague.
In early 2007, the Council of the University of Hong Kong formally accepted the resignation of Professor Lam Shiu-kum (O.B.E.), Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, with immediate effect. During the 2003 SARS outbreak Lam had been publicly critical of the Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH), the principal teaching hospital of the other medical school in Hong Kong, the Faculty of Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and blamed some of the difficulties which ensued on the PWH (a statement felt by some others to be unfair and unhelpful). News of a possible problem relating to irregularities in the billing of patients being the underlying reason for Lam's sudden and unheralded departure may serve to weaken the moral force of some of Lam's criticisms. It was acknowledged by the University of Hong Kong that Lam's resignation was a "highly unusual" event.
In September 2009, Lam Shiu-kum was sentenced to 25 months in jail after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office. The misconduct involved inducing 12 patients who were treated at Queen Mary Hospital, to pay what appeared to be medical bills issued by the university and the hospital between 2003 and 2007 but were payable to Gastrointestinal Research, a company wholly owned by Professor Lam. He admitted pocketing almost $4 million in donations. In passing sentence, Judge Li said although the patients' well-being was not compromised and they suffered no financial losses, Lam had seriously breached the trust of both the faculty and his patients. Setting a starting point of five years jail, the judge deducted 35 months for Professor Lam's guilty plea, his good character and the fact that he had repaid all the money. Professor Lam earlier pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in public office, but denied more than 30 charges of theft and fraud. The prosecution had agreed not to proceed with those charges.
Renaming of the faculty.
As one of the founding faculties of the University of Hong Kong, the Faculty of Medicine changed to its present name after securing a pledge of a HK$ 1 billion donation from businessman and philanthropist Li Ka-shing under the funding of Li Ka Shing Foundation. The renaming was objected to by many students and prominent alumni of the faculty. Despite this, the university officially renamed the faculty on January 1, 2006.