Chief physician Xie Dongping, who specializes in respiratory and heat illness, and associate chief physician Wu Guangping of the intensive care unit at the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine are at Queen Elizabeth Hospital to provide clinical training services and participate in research.

Their arrival under the Greater Bay Area Chinese Medicine Visiting Scholars Program came months after they joined a mainland medical support team at the makeshift Covid isolation facility at the AsiaWorld-Expo in March.

The program is part of a broader push by the Hospital Authority to introduce more high-level medical talent from the mainland under the GBA Healthcare Talent Visiting Programs.

The two physicians obtained approval from the Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong before arriving last Tuesday.

Over the past week, they have been familiarizing themselves with local healthcare operations. They visited the HA's Major Incident Control Center, conducted case analysis exercises at Princess Margaret Hospital, and analyzed critical care cases with local Chinese medicine physicians.

Asked whether they experienced any difficulties while transitioning from the mainland healthcare system to the Hong Kong system, Xie said his prior experience in the city had prepared him for the assignment.

"I received adequate training during my time at the AsiaWorld-Expo isolation center, so we're quite familiar with how things work here," he said.

HA chief manager of Chinese medicine Rowena Wong How-wan said at least one more Chinese medicine expert from the mainland would be joining Xie and Wu as visiting scholars later.

Under the program, four local Chinese medicine practitioners have joined an "elite research team" led by the mainland experts to develop the HA's Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine service model.

Hong Kong saw about 8.3 percent of healthcare staff resign this year.