The Hospital Authority (HA) says it hopes programmes allowing mainland doctors and medical professionals to work in Hong Kong can be regularised, and that it can build on the success of an existing scheme which has allowed 10 doctors from the Greater Bay Area to work in the SAR.

Over 80 healthcare professionals arrived in Hong Kong in April under the Greater Bay Area Healthcare Talents Visiting Programmes, and are working at public hospitals in departments, including those for infectious diseases and cardiology.

Dr Kuang Yu-kun from the GBA, who is working in the Medicine and Geriatrics department at the Princess Margaret Hospital, said mainland hospitals can learn from Hong Kong's comprehensive system in managing patients' medical records.

And the deputy chief of service of the department, Dr Yeung Yiu-cheong, said local doctors have been able to learn more about the mainland's medical system through the programmes.

A chief manager with the HA, Dr Gladys Kwan, said she hopes such programmes can be expanded and regularised.

"This programme actually gives us a very good opportunity to have collaboration or professional exchanges at a clinical level, so that we [can learn their skills]. In return, they also know how the system works in Hong Kong, so I think this is a win-win situation," she said.

"Most importantly is how we make use of these [experts] as well as the manpower to support our public system at the moment when we are facing quite a significant shortage of manpower."

Dr Kwan added that these programmes should be two-way, as local doctors can benefit from working in mainland hospitals.

Officials earlier said the second batch of healthcare professionals under the scheme is expected to arrive in Hong Kong at the end of this year at the earliest.