Remarks by S for Health at media session on third medical school
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Reporter: In the programme, you mentioned that your Bureau is aiming to submit your final recommendations to the Chief Executive by the end of this year regarding the third medical school, could you share with us the update on the Bureau's work of reviewing the recommendations submitted by three universities? What are the key criteria that your Bureau has considered?
Secretary for Health: The Task Group on New Medical School has already reviewed the proposals by the three universities. We looked at the curriculum, staff recruitment, student recruitment and all other criteria. We met the three universities twice - once in May and the other in June. We met on July 31 for a very detailed discussion. Now, the proposals are at the stage of assessment on the capital requirement as well as financial sustainability. We want to make sure that the proposals would not only fulfil our requirements and expectation for the best medical school, but also in terms of the cost effectiveness and performance, so we are looking at the financial aspect, and will be submitting the final proposed recommendation, incorporating the financial aspect, to the Chief Executive before the end of the year.
Reporter: Could you also reveal a bit to us on the financial aspect? Earlier in the programme, you mentioned that there has been quite a huge difference between some university proposals and their financial arrangements.
Secretary for Health: We are very grateful to the three universities for their wonderful proposals based on their advantages and the edges. The three proposals, I would say, are very different, not only in their curriculum design, staff recruitment, student recruitment, etc, but also in terms of the capital requirement as well as financial aspect. One of those proposals' financial implication is rather low. But on one hand, there is a proposal which is much more costly. So we have to look into the details before making the final recommendation to the Chief Executive.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
Ends/Friday, September 26, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:47
Issued at HKT 12:47
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