As many as one-third of about 50 students to be admitted initially to Hong Kong’s third medical school will be non-local, the city’s health minister has said, adding that a proposal on its establishment will be submitted to the chief executive before his coming policy address.

Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said on Saturday that the new medical school was expected to be developed without vicious competition in terms of faculty and student sources with the two existing ones.

He said the school would mainly recruit second-degree students, including those from outside the city.

“The initial number of students admitted to the new medical school will not be very large. Our preliminary estimate is about 50,” he said on a television programme.

Lo said authorities would consider suggestions raised by the three universities interested in opening the school, but the ratio of non-local to local students might be 1-2 or 1-3 in the initial stages.

“In other words, one-third or one-quarter of the students will be non-local,” he said.