(1) Whenever the formation of a hospital authority is desired, a petition or petitions stating (a) the general location of the hospital to be maintained by such proposed authority, (b) the territory to be included within it, which territory shall be contiguous, (c) the approximate number of persons believed to reside within the boundaries of the proposed authority, and (d) the names of five or more, but not exceeding eleven, proposed trustees, who shall be electors residing within the boundaries of the proposed authority, to serve as a board of trustees until their successors are appointed and qualified, should the authority be formed, together with a prayer that the same be declared to be a hospital authority under the Hospital Authorities Act may be filed in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the proposed authority is situated.

(2)(a) Each hospital authority established in a county having a total population of four hundred thousand or more, as shown by the most recent federal decennial census, shall encompass an area in which at least forty thousand persons reside, (b) each hospital authority established in a county having a total population of one hundred fifty thousand to four hundred thousand, as shown by the most recent federal decennial census, shall encompass an area in which at least thirty thousand persons reside, (c) each hospital authority established in a county having a total population of twenty thousand to one hundred fifty thousand, as shown by the most recent federal decennial census, shall encompass an area in which at least twenty thousand persons reside, and (d) no hospital authority shall be established in any county having a total population of less than twenty thousand, as shown by the most recent federal decennial census, unless the hospital authority encompasses the entire county which it is to serve. Such petitions shall be signed by at least one hundred electors who appear to reside within the suggested boundaries of the proposed authority.