One year after serving a 50-month jail for being convicted for conspiring to subvert state power in a national security trial in Hong Kong, a former pro-democracy legislator who had once represented the medical constituency was penalised again. This time, a lifetime ban for practising. Kwok Ka-ki, now no longer Dr Kwok, was struck off from the medical registrar.

The Medical Council of Hong Kong ordered on Thursday that Kwok, 64, be removed from the General Register “indefinitely,” after a five-member disciplinary panel found that his national security conviction had caused “damage” to the profession and that he “showed no remorse.”

“Still Putting his political agenda at the forefront ?”

Kwok, once a member of the now-defunct Civic Party, did not attend the hearing and was not legally represented.

He said on social media after the Council decision, “I am not surprised.”

“When teachers are barred from teaching, social workers are prevented from helping those in need, and lawyers are stopped from practising law, it is only expected that I too would be deprived of my right to practise medicine,” he said.

Kwok was referring to cases of teachers and social workers being de-registered after they were found guilty of rioting during the 2019 anti-extradition protests.

In the judgment, Kwok was quoted as telling the panel that: “[his] conviction was not related to [his] clinical practice. Basically, the charge arose from [his] political commitment as a member of the Legislative Council in the participation in the primary election in 2020. There was no complaint [about his] integrity, and no dishonesty and negligence to [his] duties as a doctor.”

Kwok’s mitigation plea, the judgment said, failed to demonstrate his remorse or show that he had reflected on his conviction, claiming he was “still putting his political agenda [at] the forefront.”

That the Council accused Kwok of putting politics above professionalism could not be more ironic, if not hypocritical.

Case is clearly driven by politics

Politics has prevailed in the Kwok case, the first of its kind since the implementation of the national security law in 2020. Kwok had not been given any disciplinary punishment for professional misconduct during his 40-year-long medical career.

Claiming Kwok had a clear disciplinary record prior to the hearing in the judgment, the Medical Council seemingly attempted to muddle the issue by hinting that he has a track discipline record.

The truth is he had not been found of misconduct due to those so-called “disciplinary records”. If he had, he should have been struck off from the register, at least for a period of time more than 10 years ago. That did not happen.

The disciplinary case is clearly driven by politics after he completed the jailing handed down by the courts.

Together with dozens of pan-democrats, Kwok took part in the 2020 Legislative Council primary, which saw more than 600,000 people cast their votes in the unofficial pre-election.

The court ruled in favour of the prosecution, saying it was a plot to subvert state power.

Pro-democracy supporters thought otherwise; they disagreed with the ruling and insisted the democrats were innocent.

Second-time punishment

Like it or not, the society remains sharply divided over the official verdict of the 2020 Legco primary election despite the fact that Kwok and some democrats had pleaded guilty and most of the rest had been found guilty.

Furthermore, they have already paid dearly for their participation in the primary election with lengthy jailing terms.

If the decision to strike Kwok off the medical register is not a “second-time punishment”, what is it?

Given the fact that the society is split over the national security trial of the democrats, the handing out of double penalty against the convicted democrats after their jail terms ended has understandably been seen by some as unjust. Worse, it rubbed more salt on the wound of the society inflicted by the 2019 political unrest and the arrests that followed.

Politics and professionalism

Doubts, not surprisingly, have been cast over the independence of the medical statutory in upholding the basic values of profession and resisting political pressure for them to show no leniency to any medical doctors who were convicted of national security charges.

The iron-fist approach of the Medical Council in handing down a lifetime ban on Kwok’s practising is in line with the avowed national security strategy of the authorities likening it as a battle that is “only in present continuous tense, not past tense.” Put plainly, there is no full stop to the struggle against acts and deeds that endanger national security.

Hong Kong has thrived on professionalism. Excessive politics risk eroding the core values of professionalism. It is unclear why and how letting Kwok give treatment to his patients would cause damage to the profession. Patients are the best judge of the honesty, reliability and trust of doctors. They have a choice.

Any misuse of the power of the Medical Council in imposing a lifetime ban on a medical doctor without compelling reasons risks denting public confidence in the independence of the professional body in upholding the core values of the profession and society at large.

▌ [At Large] About the Author

Chris Yeung is a veteran journalist, a founder and chief writer of the now-disbanded CitizenNews; he now runs a daily news commentary channel on Youtube. He had formerly worked with the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Economic Journal.