The pandemic has prompted policies that facilitate sharing of medical records, claims of subsidies by HK patients living on the mainland

Ronald Cheng Pang-cheung's wheelchair-bound 91-year-old grandmother, with a history of chronic illnesses, had to brave a mandatory 14-day quarantine in Hong Kong in early May after taking a six-hour car ride to the special administrative region for her regular medical consultations.

She would have been spared the hassle of having to cross the boundary had the SAR government implemented a ground-breaking initiative earlier that allows Hong Kong residents living on the Chinese mainland to seek subsidized medical services at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital in Shenzhen's Futian district.

The program, announced on Sept 15, came amid the coronavirus pandemic that has brought travel between Hong Kong and the mainland to an abrupt halt since February. Medical practitioners hailed the move as a major step in addressing some of the deep-rooted issues in cross-boundary medical services and ushering in a new phase in future collaboration.

Cheng's grandmother was driven from their apartment in northern Shenzhen's Longgang district to their Hong Kong home in Tseung Kwan O. The journey, which normally takes less than two hours, took about six hours due to the extra rules and precautionary measures in place at the checkpoints during the public-health crisis.

Although the pandemic in Hong Kong has stabilized in the past few weeks, having a vulnerable elderly person exposed to the crowd while queuing up at the checkpoints remains risky.

"As long as there's a second choice, we wouldn't have made the trip," said Cheng, a Hong Kong entrepreneur based in Shenzhen.

Due to the quarantine requirement enforced in Shenzhen and the SAR, up to 38,000 Hong Kong residents living in Guangdong province and in need of medical treatment in Hong Kong's public hospitals have encountered additional challenges in returning to Hong Kong for follow-up consultations.

To solve the problem, the SAR government announced the new initiative to offer subsidized medical services to Hong Kong residents living on the mainland through the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, with the Hong Kong government shouldering expenditure incurred.

The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, which opened in 2012, is one of the university's two teaching hospitals. Built and funded by the Shenzhen municipal government, it's described as the first "Hong Kong-style" public hospital in Shenzhen and a part of the overhaul of the mainland's healthcare system.

The SAR government applied to the Legislative Council Finance Committee on Friday for a HK$103.8 million (US$13.4 million) special fund for the program.

Although the details have yet to be revealed, Hospital Authority Chief Executive Tony Ko Pat-sing said the allowances for Hong Kong patients under the program will be equal to those they enjoy in Hong Kong.