Guangdong authorities have been making efforts to address the issue. Late last year, the provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department issued guidelines on relaxing the entry threshold for Hong Kong doctors and forming an open evaluation system in the Bay Area.

The department now supports top-end hospitals in reviewing professional titles on their own, and directly issuing qualifications for eligible Hong Kong doctors.

Ko said Hong Kong has much to benefit from stepped-up exchanges between mainland and Hong Kong professionals. "Hong Kong-based healthcare facilities or specialty healthcare service providers can go to Guangdong if we can set up satellite organizations there, and patients can receive treatment either in Guangdong or in Hong Kong," said Ko.

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, he said, new technologies are gaining acceptance in the Bay Area. Artificial intelligence and telemedicine also help to strengthen collaboration among medical professionals on both sides of the boundary.

Former secretary for food and health Ko Wing-man urges authorities to cut back on the red tape that hampers the cross-border flow of medical practitioners. Provided to China Daily

Free movement

Ko's enthusiasm about the Bay Area's potential is shared by Jens Ewert, head of Deloitte China Life Sciences and Healthcare Industry.

Ewert envisioned that people can move freely between locations to access medicines and treatments that were previously available only in one place. Meanwhile, companies can simplify time-consuming and costly registration procedures for new drugs and treatments.

Hong Kong- or Macao-funded medical institutions in the Guangdong cities of the Bay Area cluster are allowed to use medicines from the two special administrative regions under 40 measures announced by the central government on Oct 18 to build Shenzhen into a demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The battle against COVID-19 has also demonstrated a robust diagnostic industry in Guangdong, said Ewert. If specimens can be transported freely within the Bay Area, it will allow access to more cutting-edge diagnosis in the province, and lower costs for testing in Hong Kong and Macao in the future.