HKU staff set for Shenzhen role

Seven professors from the University of Hong Kong will head sections at the university's Shenzhen hospital, due to open next month, the hospital's honorary chief executive announced yesterday.

Dr Leong Che-hung, who is also the university council chairman and an Executive Council member, said this would not lead to manpower losses at hospitals in Hong Kong as the university would be able to recruit extra medical staff in Hong Kong to compensate. The professors also work in hospitals in Hong Kong, including the university's teaching hospital Queen Mary, Pok Fu Lam, but each affected university department will be allowed to recruit at least three extra professors, funded by the Shenzhen government.

The hospital in Shenzhen's Futian district will be the largest public hospital in Shenzhen with a 3.5 billion yuan (HK$4.3 billion) investment by the municipal government.

After several delays, the hospital has scheduled its trial run for July 1, starting with outpatient services including health checks and family medicine. It would later provide services in five specialities on top of primary care, and will ultimately have 2,000 beds, Leong said.

He was still worried about differences in culture and practices between Hong Kong and the mainland - including corruption and sourcing of transplant organs - but hoped they would be solved in the trial period.

The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, funded by the Shenzhen government and managed by the university, has recruited 12 service chiefs, of which seven are the veteran professors. They include head of surgery Dr Lo Chung-mau and head of microbiology Professor Yuen Kwok-yung.

The dean of the university's faculty of medicine, Professor Lee Sum-ping, compared them to visiting conductors helping an orchestra of skilled musicians interpret pieces. 'They will not be there to teach mainland doctors how to do, but how to think,' he said. 'We want to bring to them the workflows and professional conduct [of Hong Kong hospitals].'