Lawmakers on Thursday urged the authorities to widen the criteria in selecting medical schools for a special scheme aimed at enticing non-locally-trained doctors to practice here.

The government has so far selected 50 medical schools whose graduates can apply to practice here without having to pass a licensing exam, to ease a chronic manpower shortage in the public health sector.

However, some lawmakers aren’t happy that the government-appointed Special Registration Committee only chooses schools that teach in English, in line with the practice at local medical schools.

At a Legco panel meeting, lawmaker Yang Wing-kit said this in effect disqualifies all mainland schools that teach in Chinese.

Business and Professionals Alliance legislator Priscilla Leung agreed that it’s not a good idea to keep top mainland medics out.

"Those experts from China, especially in the medical field, are ranked very top in the world, so we can also learn from their experience," she said.

"If you limit yourself to just one language, namely English, it may limit the transfer of knowledge to humankind."

Lawmaker and doctor Dennis Lam pointed out that the even Hong Kong’s two medical schools don’t solely teach in English, and Chinese is very often used in clinical settings.

He suggested the government review whether English as the medium of instruction should be a prerequisite when deciding which medical schools are included in the scheme.

In response, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau stressed that there is no restriction on having doctors from any specific location to come and practice here.

“I think there are doctors of very high calibre from any place. I’ve encountered many great doctors from the mainland," he said.

The chairperson of the Special Registration Committee, Grace Tang, meanwhile, said it's a legal requirement for recognised medical schools to be ‘broadly comparable’ to the two medical schools in Hong Kong.