Hong Kong Ordinances

MEDICAL CLINICS ORDINANCE - SECT 5

Registration of clinics

(1) Application for registration as a clinic shall be made to the Registrar in
such form as he may prescribe, and such form shall require a statement of the
objects of the clinic to be included.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, the Registrar shall, on
receipt of an application for registration, register the applicant in respect
of the clinic named in the application, subject to such conditions, if any, as
he may impose, and issue to the applicant a certificate of registration in the
prescribed form: Provided that the Registrar may refuse to register the
applicant if he is satisfied-

   (a)  that the applicant or any person employed by him at the clinic is not
        a fit person, whether by reason of age or otherwise, to carry on or to
        be employed at a clinic; or

   (b)  that for reasons connected with situation, construction,
        accommodation, staffing or equipment, the premises to be used in
        connection with the clinic are not fit to be used for the purposes of
        a clinic or that such premises are used or to be used for purposes
        which are in any way improper or undesirable in the case of a clinic;
        or

   (c)  that the clinic will not be under the continuous personal supervision
        of a registered medical practitioner; or

   (d)  that-

        (i)    the income derived or to be derived from the establishment or
               operation of the clinic is not, or will not be, applied solely
               towards the promotion of the objects of the clinic; or

        (ii)   any portion of such income, except payment in good faith of
               remuneration to any such properly employed registered medical 
               practitioners, persons employed pursuant to an exemption
               granted under section 8, nurses and menial servants working in
               the clinic, is, or will be, paid or transferred directly or
               indirectly by way of dividend, bonus or otherwise howsoever by
               way of profit to the applicant himself, or to any persons
               properly so employed, or to any other persons howsoever.

(3) In the case of a clinic run by a registered trade union exclusively for
its members and the families of such members, the Registrar shall not refuse
registration solely on the grounds set out in paragraph (d) of subsection (2)
where the income derived or to be derived from the establishment or operation
of the clinic and remaining after expenditure for the purposes permitted in
such paragraph (d) is or will be applied solely for the purposes authorized in
section 33(1)(f) of the Trade Unions Ordinance ( Cap 332) and so applied in
such a manner that no part thereof shall be paid to or for the benefit of any
person employed in such clinic. (Amended 80 of 1997 s. 102)

(4) Every person registered in respect of a clinic shall display the current
certificate of registration issued in respect of the clinic in a conspicuous
place at the clinic. (Replaced 58 of 1981 s. 2)