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Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Leung and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (January 30):
Question:
It has been reported earlier in the press that some mainland agents have abetted pregnant mainland women whose spouses are not Hong Kong permanent residents, commonly known as "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" (DNRP women), to apply for permission to land in Hong Kong on the grounds of study at a local university and apply for suspension once they have obtained Hong Kong identity cards, and then stay in Hong Kong to give birth as Hong Kong residents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the number of female mainland students landing in Hong Kong in the past five years to study in tertiary institutions (with a breakdown by tertiary institution) and among these students, the number of those who had applied for suspension; the criteria adopted by various tertiary institutions for vetting and approving such applications;
(b) whether it knows the number of attendances for public hospital services of mainland residents holding Hong Kong identity cards in the past five years and the medical expenditure involved; among such attendances, the number of those for obstetric services and the number of attendances of those who were granted permission to land in Hong Kong as students;
(c) of the authorities' measures to deter DNRP women from landing in Hong Kong on the grounds of study and then give birth in Hong Kong; and
(d) given that quite a number of countries require foreign students to take out medical insurance before entry in order to cover their medical expenses during the years of their study, whether the Government will consider introducing the relevant measures; if it will not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
It is the Government's policy to ensure that Hong Kong residents are given proper and adequate obstetric services. The Administration is very concerned about the surge of demand for obstetric services in Hong Kong by non-local women (mainly mainland women) in recent years, which has caused tremendous pressure on the overall obstetric and neonatal care services. To ensure that adequate obstetric services and neonatal care services are available in Hong Kong and local pregnant women are given priority for obstetric services, we have reserved all beds for obstetric services in public hospitals in 2013 for local pregnant women and urgent cases referred by private hospitals and hence no bookings from non-local pregnant women will be accepted. Private hospitals have also indicated that a unanimous consensus has been reached among them to stop accepting bookings for obstetric services in 2013 from mainland pregnant women whose husbands are non-Hong Kong residents.
My reply to the four parts of the question raised by Hon Andrew Leung is as follows:
(a) A breakdown of the number of female Mainland students and the number of those on deferment in local post-secondary institutions from the 2007/08 to 2011/12 academic years by institution is at Annex.
In general, post-secondary institutions have well-defined policies on handling deferment of study. Applications for deferment from both local and non-local students are processed according to the same set of standards. Applications for deferment will be approved under exceptional circumstances such as overseas exchange or internship, medical reasons, financial hardship, family emergencies or other special situations acceptable to the institutions. In assessing applications for deferment from individual students, the institutions will require the applicants to provide reasons for deferment and relevant information such as medical certificate. Approval will be given with due regard to the justification for each case. Under normal circumstances, the period of deferment approved by most institutions will not exceed one year.
(b) Under the existing policy, holders of Hong Kong Identity Card and children under 11 years of age who are Hong Kong residents are eligible persons entitled to use the heavily subsidised public healthcare services. The Hospital Authority (HA) does not have statistical figures on the types of identity cards held by the eligible persons. Hence, HA is unable to provide the number of cases involving the use of public hospital services by non-Hong Kong permanent residents and holders of student visa as well as the amount of money involved.
(c) After being admitted by a higher education institution in Hong Kong, mainland students can apply to the Immigration Department (ImmD) for an entry permit to enter Hong Kong for study according to the existing immigration policies. The applicants must provide accurate, complete and true information in their applications. In making such applications for entering Hong Kong, any person who knowingly and willfully makes a statement or gives information which he/she knows to be false or does not believe to be true commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $150,000 and to imprisonment for 14 years. Any such visas/entry permits obtained by the applicants through unlawful means shall have no effect and their right of stay in Hong Kong will be revoked according to law. The applicants will also be repatriated to their place of origin.
To complement the implementation of the "zero quota" policy, law enforcement departments will continue to step up their interception and enforcement actions against non-local pregnant women whose husbands are not Hong Kong residents, so as to combat cases of mainland pregnant women coming to Hong Kong to give birth through illegal means. In addition, the Government has established a liaison mechanism with the Guangdong authorities to enhance the exchange of intelligence in connection with the problem of mainland pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong in an effort to deter mainland pregnant women without delivery booking from gate-crashing the accident and emergency departments and to enhance enforcement measures against illicit intermediaries assisting mainland pregnant women to give birth in Hong Kong. The law enforcement departments will continue to closely monitor the situation and will follow up with any illegal act detected in accordance with the law.
(d) As mentioned above, under the existing policy, holders of Hong Kong Identity Card (including foreign students) and children under 11 years of age who are Hong Kong residents are eligible persons entitled to use the heavily subsidised public healthcare services. At the present moment, the Government has no plan to require foreign students to take out medical insurance before admission to academic institutions in order to cover their medical expenses during the years of their study.
Ends/Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:19
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