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    Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 8):

Question :

    The number of Mainland women (non-Hong Kong residents) giving birth in local public hospitals has surged and the amount of medical charges they have defaulted on is enormous. On the other hand, the authorities have proposed to introduce a minimum package fee of $20,000 for obstetric services in public hospitals, in order to address the problems that the existing charges of public hospitals are substantially lower than those of private hospitals and even below the Hospital Authority's own cost for obstetric services, and that the existing fee structure encourages non-eligible expectant mothers, including those from the Mainland, to deliberately minimise their length of stay in hospitals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)  if it knows the number of Mainland women (non-Hong Kong residents) who gave birth in local public hospitals over the past three years, its percentage in the total number of child-delivery in-patients, the types of identity documents held by such women (for instance, entry documentations such as Hong Kong Identity Card, One-way Permit, Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau (commonly known as "two-way exit permit") and that for travellers under the Individual Visit Scheme), the number of cases in which they defaulted on payment of medical charges and the amount involved, the percentage of such amount in the total amount of defaulted medical payment, as well as the number of cases in which the authorities succeeded in recovering the outstanding medical charges and the amount involved, broken down by individual hospitals;

(b)  how the authorities calculated the cost to be recovered when determining the proposed fee of $20,000; whether they have taken into account the costs relating to the additional health care personnel required in the hospitals for the provision of such services, the extra medical services arising from the emergency medical consultations sought by expectant mothers from the Mainland who tried to minimise their length of stay in hospitals, and the medical incidents during delivery; and

(c)  whether it will consider strengthening the co-operation with the Central Government on deterring Mainland women from coming to Hong Kong for giving birth; as well as the reasons for the Hong Kong authorities not establishing an inter-bureau working group to jointly examine various feasible measures and iron out the possible legal issues involved, thereby formulating effective and lawful measures to resolve the problems caused by such women coming to Hong Kong for child birth?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a)  The numbers of Mainland women (non-Hong Kong residents) who gave birth in a public hospital in Hong Kong over the three years, their percentage of the total numbers of child deliveries in these hospitals, and the amounts of medical fees outstanding broken down by hospital, are set out in the Annex. The vast majority of these Mainland women were holders of Exit and Entry Permit when they entered Hong Kong.  

(b)  The proposed Obstetric package charge of $20,000 for Non-Eligible Persons (NEP) giving birth in a public hospital is calculated on the basis of average inpatient cost of Obstetric services, which covers the full costs of the relevant staff, operation, procedures and consumables. The late presentation of expectant mothers at public hospitals would not significantly increase the costs of medical services provided to them, although medical staff would be put under great pressure to perform the relevant tests and investigations within a short time period.  

(c)  We understand that there are difficulties for Mainland authorities to prevent pregnant women from coming to Hong Kong. There is no legal basis for Mainland authorities to refuse exit applications from Mainland women solely on the ground that they are pregnant. Furthermore, there would be practical difficulties for the authorities to ascertain whether the individual applicants are pregnant or not. According to the relevant regulations in the Mainland, the validity period for the exit endorsement on the Exit and Entry Permit to visit Hong Kong is usually three months. It would be feasible for pregnant women to file their exit application during the early stage of their pregnancy.

    The Health, Welfare and Food Bureau, the Security Bureau and relevant Government Departments have been working closely to address the problem of the increasing use of public medical services by NEP pregnant women. We would explore all possible measures, give due consideration to the relevant legal issues, and brief Members of the Legislative Council when the results are available.

Ends/Wednesday, June 8, 2005

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