The Hospital Authority (HA) on Thursday said the non-locally trained doctors it gave job offers to in the United Kingdom will start joining the local workforce in the third quarter of this year.

Earlier this month, health officials visited London as part of a recruitment drive to address the acute shortage of doctors in the SAR’s public hospitals.

The HA's chief executive, Tony Ko, said over 600 doctors and medical students attended the recruitment drive.

He noted that among the more than 100 UK-trained doctors who had been offered positions conditionally, many are new graduates or are still undergoing training.

"During the recruitment meeting, we noticed that a vast majority of them come from very good medical schools, so they have very good training, and also they are very keen and eager to come back to Hong Kong to provide services," Ko said.

"We noticed that many of them have interests in many different subjects, which can fit very well with the need of what we have in Hong Kong."

Health officials will travel to Australia next to attract and recruit medical professionals to come work in the SAR.