Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine

The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of The University of Hong Kong is the older of the two medical schools in Hong Kong, and among the oldest in the Far East.

Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, and renamed the Hong Kong College of Medicine in 1907, it had its first two graduates in 1892, one of which was Dr Sun Yat Sen. Medical students receive clinical teaching both in public sector hospitals and in private sector hospitals, including at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital.

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 rename provoke a controversy that many students and prominent alumni of the faculty objected. Despite the objections, the university officially renamed the faculty on January 1, 2006.

In early 2007, the Council of the University of Hong Kong formally accepted the resignation of Professor Lam Shiu-kum, Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, with immediate effect. Apart from the aforementioned controversy over the re-naming of the Medical Faculty (in which Lam was involved), during the 2003 SARS outbreak Lam had been publically very critical of the Prince of Wales Hospital, the principle teaching hospital of the other medical school in Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and blamed some of the difficulties which ensued on the Prince of Wales Hospital (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.