Hong Kong Children's Hospital will strive to resume services for its ear, nose and throat, or ENT, department by the second half of this year, according to the head of the Hospital Authority.

The Kai Tak institution earlier suspended operations of the ENT department due to a manpower shortage. More than 500 patients were redirected to other public hospitals.

Speaking on a radio programme on Sunday, the authority's chief executive Tony Ko said that staff resignations were stabilising.

"Usually there are only around 10 staff members from each hospital department, and less at the Children's Hospital. So when several staff members [from the ENT department] resigned within a short period of time at Children's Hospital ... operations had to be suspended," he explained.

"However, the overall resignation numbers are stabilising, and staff numbers are slowly recovering."

Ko also pledged to boost ENT services in different ways. These include encouraging medical staff outside the speciality to take care of less complicated cases, and allowing non-locally trained doctors to assist in cases.

Separately, he said the authority is prepared for a budget cut in view of the government's fiscal deficit.

"For example, through drugs and medical equipment procurement, we have been purchasing from more places such as the mainland. This helped us reduce our costs. In terms of efficiency, our colleagues are able to work more smoothly and see more patients with the help of technology," he said.

"We are seeing initial results."

Ko said the authority is also seeking to implement within six months dozens of recommendations set out by a committee tasked to systemically review public hospital operations and facilities.

Among the suggestions are enhancing top-level oversight for quality and safety incidents, and introducing a reward-and-penalty staff assessment system.

When asked whether such measures would affect morale, Ko said the ultimate aim of the review is to help both staff and patients.