Macau resident Mrs Chan visits Hong Kong at least four times a year, for appointments with a dentist, gynaecologist, dermatologist or other medical professional. The public relations officer consults doctors in her hometown only for minor ailments, such as a cold, she says. That’s because medical professionals she encounters in Macau speak Cantonese with a mainland Chinese accent, and that worries her.

“I might see a specialist in Macau, but for a second opinion I always go to Hong Kong. A Kiang Wu gynaecologist told me I needed to get a fibroid removed,” Chan says, referring to the former Portuguese enclave’s largest private hospital. “After getting a second opinion from a doctor in Hong Kong, I had surgery performed there.”

Chan (who does not want to reveal her full name) is typical of many Macau residents, who distrust the city’s hospitals and seek specialist treatment in Hong Kong. The majority of doctors working in Macau’s hospitals are graduates from medical schools in mainland China.