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LCQ12: Obstetric services in public hospitals
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    Following is a question by the Dr Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (November 15):

Question:

     It has been reported that the concurrent increase in the numbers of pregnant women of Hong Kong and those from the Mainland giving birth in Hong Kong has put pressure on the local population and on the obstetrics and gynaecology departments of public hospitals.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) apart from considering increasing the delivery charges for pregnant women from the Mainland giving birth in public hospitals in Hong Kong, whether government departments such as the Immigration Department will take measures to ameliorate the situation of pregnant women from the Mainland giving birth in Hong Kong; if they will, of the details of the measures; if not, the reasons for that;

(b) of the measures taken by the Hospital Authority ("HA") to cope with the increase in demand for obstetrics and gynaecology services, which has resulted in a corresponding increase in the workload for frontline hospital staff; and whether HA has, in planning for the manpower and services of the obstetrics and gynaecology departments in public hospitals, worked out the ratio of nursing staff to patients; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(c) given that the children born to pregnant women from the Mainland in Hong Kong will, in the long term, have certain needs for housing, education, social and medical and health services in Hong Kong, whether the authorities have examined if the projection of the demand for the above-mentioned services by the Census and Statistics Department through updating Hong Kong's population figures every two to three years can facilitate the formulation of future population policies; if they have, of the results?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) Under existing immigration policies, visitors who possess valid travel documents are normally allowed to enter Hong Kong as long as they meet normal immigration requirements (such as having adequate travelling expenses) and the Immigration Department (ImmD) is satisfied with the bona fides of their purpose of visit.  ImmD will not refuse entry of a visitor solely on the ground of pregnancy.  Even if rules were introduced to prohibit pregnant women from entering Hong Kong, there will be difficulties in the implementation of such rules.  Those who intend to give birth in Hong Kong may be prompted to enter Hong Kong at an earlier stage of pregnancy and overstay to give birth.

(b) Since the Hospital Authority (HA) introduced an Obstetric Package Charge of $20,000 for Non-eligible Persons (NEPs) in September last year, the number of such pregnant women who gave births in public hospitals in Hong Kong has decreased.  Between January and September 2006, there were a total of 8 388 NEP mothers who gave births in public hospitals, which represented a decrease of about 20% from 10 478 similar cases in the same period of 2005.  However, with an increase in the number of local pregnant women giving births in public hospitals, public hospitals handled a total of 28 830 child birth cases between January and September 2006, which was only about 4% lower than the same period in 2005 when there were 30 126 cases.  
 
     In the light of the demand for obstetric services by the local public and NEPs, the HA is closely monitoring the ratio between healthcare staff in obstetrics departments and the number of child birth cases handled by public hospitals.  Relief measures have already been taken with a view to lightening the work pressure of frontline healthcare staff.  These include increasing the number of training places for midwifery, recruiting more doctors to receive specialist training in obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G), filling vacancies in O&G specialist posts as soon as possible, and improving arrangements for shift duties of nurses through more flexible human resources management practices.  

(c) The Government is very concerned about the issue of Mainland women giving births in Hong Kong, but at this stage has not come to any conclusion on its long-term impact.  We believe that many of such babies will return to the Mainland soon after birth together with their mothers who are not Hong Kong residents.  If these babies remain in the Mainland on a permanent basis, statistically they will not be counted as part of Hong Kong's population.  If they return to settle in Hong Kong afterwards, they will be counted towards our population figures. Government bureaux and departments will make reference to the latest actual population figures in assessing the short-term demand for services. To better gauge the short-term and long-term population changes, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) conducts a population census for Hong Kong once every ten years and a by-census in the middle of the intercensal period.   The C&SD also updates the population projections of Hong Kong every two to three years.  This facilitates the assessment of all government bureaux and departments of the demand for services in areas such as housing, education, social services, and medical and health services.  The C&SD's population projections are an important source for planning the land and all community facilitates required by future development.  We will make suitable adjustment to the planning of these facilities in accordance with the latest population projections.  In this connection, the C&SD will release a set of updated population projections in mid-2007 based on the results of the 2006 Population By-census.  This set of population projections will adopt the latest population base and trend of births, deaths and population movement, and provide an objective basis for government bureaux and departments upon which to consider and plan the provision of various services.

Ends/Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:30

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