“We have a natural advantage in developing a medical school, as we have [academic] programmes including nursing, physiotherapy, optometry and medical laboratory science – everything but a medical school,” PolyU president Teng Jin-guang said.

“The Northern Metropolis will need a hospital as it will accommodate a population of 2.5 million,” Teng said.

The bay area scheme is Beijing’s plan to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an economic powerhouse.

The Northern Metropolis development project, close to the border with the mainland, proposed by the previous administration in 2021, will cover 30,000 hectares (74,131 acres).

It will be home to an international innovation and technology hub and provide housing for 2.5 million people in 500,000 flats.

The university town in the metropolis will cover 60 hectares and be designed to accommodate the expansion of public and private educational institutions.

“We could not launch the medical school in our existing Hung Hom campus as it is too small,” Teng said.

He added that PolyU, if it got the go-ahead, hoped to admit about 100 medical students in the first year’s intake.

University chief hopes to launch Hong Kong’s third medical school by 2027

Medical training quotas are determined by the government’s projections for healthcare staffing levels. There are at present 295 new undergraduates a year at each of the existing medical schools at the University of Hong Kong and Chinese University.

Teng highlighted that medicine already used artificial intelligence (AI) and its deployment would increase in the future. He said PolyU had focused heavily on the new discipline and aimed to set up a faculty of AI-related studies this year.

The hotel development would be similar to the Hotel Icon near PolyU’s main campus, which is owned and operated by the university and used for teaching and research.

Lam Tai-fai, chairman of PolyU’s governing council, said he hoped the hotel could offer large-scale conference and exhibition facilities, which the existing one could not do, to serve tourism development in the region.

Lam added PolyU had outlined its proposals to the government last year after authorities asked local universities to submit their “wish lists” for the Northern Metropolis, but it had not had a reply yet.

“We planned to set up a ‘smart’ hospital which will make heavy use of innovative technology and artificial intelligence to cater to future needs,” he added.

“The rehabilitation service which PolyU has a strength in is also important in our ageing society. Our medical school would not only train surgeons or internists, but also professionals in rehabilitation.”

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology proposes setting up medical school

But Lam said the proposal submitted to the government was “very preliminary and brief” and that PolyU was still waiting for its approval.

He added it was also hoped to set up large-scale research and development facilities and move research and doctoral students to the academic town.

A spokesman for the Health Bureau said it had not received a proposal or inquiry from PolyU, but he added it had an open mind on proposals designed to nurture medical students and increase the supply of doctors in Hong Kong.

City University also revealed a plan last month to set up an institute of digital medicine with the medical school of a Singapore university, which it did not name, and the Israeli Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

CityU president Freddy Boey Yin Chiang said the idea was inspired by the need for teleconsultation during the coronavirus pandemic, and the institute was expected to develop apps that could enhance remote medicine.

A spokeswoman for the Education Bureau said it had asked a variety of tertiary institutions for their proposals for the Northern Metropolis.

“We will actively review the distribution and demand for land for postsecondary education, maintain close contact with institutions which are interested in participating in the development of the Northern Metropolis,” she said.