Former health chief calls for further dismantling of barriers for SAR's medical professionals to practice on the mainland. Chai Hua reports from Shenzhen.

Hong Kong healthcare service providers are eyeing the vast opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. To expedite the flow, medical pundits want more convenient and open channels for mutual recognition of qualifications of medical professionals, medicine and information.

"It has become a trend for Hong Kong healthcare service managers to seek opportunities in Guangdong cities of the Bay Area, while healthcare operators in those cities are also trying to introduce Hong Kong-style health services,"says Hong Kong's former secretary for food and health Ko Wing-man.

An eminent leader in public-health services, Ko led the city's battle against the SARS outbreak in 2003 after he was appointed acting chief executive of the Hospital Authority amid the crisis.

Since 2005, he has been part of a program for Hong Kong doctors to attend to patients on the mainland each week, and is now an adviser on the establishment of Hong Kong-style clinics and hospitals in the Bay Area.

According to the Health Commission of Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macao healthcare service providers had opened 33 medical institutions in Guangdong by the end of 2019, including seven hospitals and 18 outpatient centers.

The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, launched in 2012, exemplifies the medical collaboration and is alluded to as an integral part of the nation's medical reform.

Doctors attend to a patient in a hospital in Guangdong province. Provided to China Daily

Less red tape

There's still much room for development, Ko said. He expectsthe demand for high-quality healthcare services to expand in the Bay Area as the southern regionis primed to be a major engine for national socio-economic development.

He said Hong Kong plays a significant role in meeting that demand, especially in hospital and healthcare management.

The Chinese mainland is encouraging community-based health services, instead of a medical system that relies heavily on big and top-class hospitals. Ko believes this will lead to growing demand for community-based clinics, rehabilitation centers and small specialty-based ones.

But Hong Kong doctors' role has been curtailed by red tape, he said. Doctors need to knock on the doors of different government departments before they can get a license to operate on the mainland.

Ko suggests initiating a one-stop service center in each of the nine Guangdong cities in the Bay Area to help Hong Kong healthcare managers and doctors kick-start their business.