The head of one of Hong Kong's medical schools says that while bringing non-local doctors to the SAR could be a solution to a manpower crunch in the public sector, it will take time to yield long-term results.

Speaking to RTHK on the sidelines of Beijing’s “two sessions”, the dean of medicine at the University of Hong Kong, Wallace Lau, said the shortage of medical staff had long been an issue of concern.

Lau said that while a government proposal to bring in non-local dentists and nurses is “much needed”, more should be done to attract medical practitioners from overseas.

“This will take time. First, we need to promote ourselves to the outside world to attract these people to come to Hong Kong. Second, these are not local graduates and they have not been used to the local healthcare system, and they will need a bit of time to adjust themselves,” he said.

He also hailed the government's focus on preventative healthcare, saying the ageing population in both Hong Kong and on the mainland made it essential to develop a better primary healthcare system.

“It is important that we do our utmost best to prevent some of the common chronic disorders. All these could be preventable if we have a system to screen these conditions at a very early stage and provide treatment at a very early stage,” he said.

Lau, who’s attending the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference as a deputy for the first time, also called on medical practitioners to work with their mainland counterparts on the integration of Chinese and Western medicine.

“Hong Kong is at a point where we should really be seriously thinking about the development of integrated medicine,” he said.

“Hong Kong Western medicine is very well-developed. We have a very good system that helps us understand the mechanism of disease and drugs… So we should really be using all of these on Chinese medicine.”