***********************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Christoper Chung and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (November 18):
Question:
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held last month put forward the full implementation of the policy allowing one couple to have two children (two-child policy), in order to tackle the problem of ageing population on the Mainland. There are comments that the two-child policy, upon implementation, may impact on Hong Kong. For instance, people may once again flock to shops to snap up baby food and products such as powdered formula and diapers, and the demand for healthcare services, education, housing, etc in Hong Kong may also be affected. Some university scholars have also pointed out that the two-child policy may give Mainlanders more incentive to come to Hong Kong to give birth. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(1) it has assessed if the implementation of the two-child policy will trigger a new wave of mainland pregnant women coming to Hong Kong to give birth; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the authorities' corresponding measures;
(2) it has assessed the specific impacts of the two-child policy, upon implementation, on the supply of and demand for powdered formula and other products for infants and young children, as well as on the demand for public and private healthcare services, education, housing, etc in Hong Kong; if it has assessed, of the details; whether the authorities will discuss with the mainland authorities the ways to minimise the impacts of the policy on Hong Kong; and
(3) it will conduct a study to identify the benefits to and business opportunities for Hong Kong which will be brought about by the implementation of the two-child policy, such as whether it will give a boost to the development of the education and medical services industries, promote the growth in the retail industry and slow down the pace of population ageing; whether the authorities will join hands with the business sector to consider formulating relevant policies and measures promptly, so as to take advantage of such opportunities?
Reply:
President,
The Government has been monitoring the development of various policies of the Central People's Government and assessing the impacts of relevant policies on Hong Kong. As regards the Mainland's announcement of the full implementation of the policy allowing one couple to have two children ("two-child policy"), the Government will closely keep in view the possible impacts of such policy on Hong Kong. The Hon Christopher Chung's question straddles various bureaux and departments, the overall response of the Government is as follows:
(1) To ensure that local pregnant women are given priority for quality obstetric service, the Government has implemented a series of measures to limit the use of obstetric services by non-local pregnant women to a level that can be handled by the healthcare system in Hong Kong. Since the implementation of the "zero quota policy" on January 1, 2013, all public hospitals have not accepted any delivery bookings by non-local pregnant women, and private hospitals have also unanimously agreed to stop accepting delivery bookings from non-local pregnant women (including Mainland pregnant women) whose husbands are not Hong Kong residents since 2013.
For Mainland pregnant women, whose husbands are Hong Kong permanent residents or Hong Kong residents who came to Hong Kong on the Permit for Proceeding to Hong Kong and Macao (commonly known as "One-way Permit"), hope to give birth in Hong Kong, there is a consensus in the community that the Government should provide assistance to this group of expectant mothers as far as possible. In this connection, the Government has established a special arrangement with private hospitals to allow this specific group of women to make delivery bookings at local private hospitals on the production of the required supporting documents. Under the special arrangements, private hospitals may issue a Confirmation Certificate on Delivery Booking based on the documents submitted by the couples concerned and the availability of obstetric services. The identity and martial relations between couples will be subject to stringent verification by the Government in order to forestall anyone posing as spouses of Hong Kong residents for delivery in Hong Kong. As for immigration and other complementary measures, the Immigration Department, the Office of the Licensing Authority of the Home Affairs Department and other law enforcement agencies will step up interception and enforcement actions against Mainland pregnant women whose husbands are not Hong Kong residents. The measures include strengthening immigration examination of all Mainland pregnant women, combating illicit agency activities assisting Mainland pregnant women to give birth in Hong Kong, and stepping up inspection and enforcement against suspected unlicensed guesthouses. These measures aim to deter Mainland pregnant women without prior delivery bookings from entering Hong Kong and gatecrashing the Accident and Emergency Departments (A&EDs), or entering Hong Kong early in order to evade immigration examination, and going into hiding and waiting to gatecrash A&EDs.
Since the implementation of "zero quota policy" in January 2013, the total number of Mainland women giving births in Hong Kong has significantly declined from the highest of 43 982 babies in 2011 to 6 024 babies in 2014, of which the number of live births born to Mainland women whose husbands are not Hong Kong permanent residents (including Mainland people with less than seven years' residence in Hong Kong or non-Hong Kong residents) dropped from 35 736 in 2011 to 823 in 2014.
Once the "two-child policy" is in effect in the Mainland China, Mainland residents can give birth to two babies. We therefore believe that the incentives for Mainland pregnant women to give birth in Hong Kong will be reduced. We also noticed from local news commentary that, some Mainland residents come to Hong Kong to give birth to their second child due to the restriction of the "one-child policy". With the implementation of the "two-child policy", Mainland citizens can give birth to one more child in their home country, which would reduce their incentives to labour in Hong Kong. Couple with the fact that the "zero quota policy" has successfully prevented Mainland pregnant women whose husbands are not Hong Kong residents to come to give birth in Hong Kong, we believe that the "two-child policy" of the Mainland will not trigger a new wave of Mainland pregnant women coming to Hong Kong to give birth. The Government will continue to closely monitor the utilisation of local obstetric services by non-local pregnant women, and will take actions to tackle the situation as appropriate.
(2) On the supply of powdered formula in Hong Kong, the Government has established a regular mechanism to monitor the demand and supply of local powdered formula. In face of the market situation, the Government will also continuously review and improve the supply chain with the industry and the relevant stakeholders to ensure efficient operation.
Hong Kong is a free, open and market-oriented economy. In general, the demand and supply of various commodities, including baby products, will be adjusted automatically to achieve an equilibrium.
As regards public healthcare, as our public healthcare services are heavily subsidised by the Government, it is necessary to ensure that our public healthcare services can meet public demand and at the same time can sustain in the long term within the limited financial resources. Therefore, we need to draw up eligibility criteria for receiving the heavily subsidised public healthcare services and accord priority to taking care of the needs of Hong Kong residents. Besides, the ageing population has further posed tremendous pressure to the demand of local healthcare services. Therefore, non-Hong Kong residents may only seek non-emergency public healthcare services when there is spare service capacity upon the payment of a fee at the rates of charges applicable to non-eligible persons.
As mentioned above, the "zero quota policy" can ensure that local pregnant women are given priority to local obstetric services. According to the estimates of Hospital Authority (HA), the estimated number of delivery is 41 720 in 2015, representing an increase of 5.4 per cent over the number in 2014 (39 575). And the occupancy rate of the beds in the neonatal intensive care units in the HA is estimated to exceed 100 per cent. Given the continuous high demand from local pregnant women for obstetric services and neonatal intensive care unit services in public hospitals, there remains no spare capacity in public hospitals to provide obstetric services to non-local pregnant women.
The Government will, on the one hand, continue its investment and commitment to the public healthcare sector so that it will remain strong and robust and continue to perform its role as the cornerstone of Hong Kong's healthcare system. On the other hand, we will promote public-private partnership to strike a balance between public and private healthcare services.
On education, children born to Mainland couples in the Mainland are not Hong Kong permanent residents. Under the existing policy, Chinese residents of the Mainland generally will not be issued with a visa/entry permit to enter Hong Kong for study at kindergartens, primary and secondary levels. We thus do not see any direct impact of this new "two-child policy" on planning for provision of public sector school places or supply of private kindergarten places in Hong Kong.
On housing, according to the "Long Term Housing Strategy" promulgated in December 2014, the Government will conduct annual updating of the long term housing demand projection to take into account changes over time, and make timely adjustments on the rolling ten-year housing supply target where necessary. Any possible impact of the "two-child policy" on future housing demand will be reflected in future updates of the housing demand projection.
(3) Hong Kong thrives as a market economy. Developments of various industries, as well as the performance of retail business, are subject to market forces. The impact on different industries and retail sector in Hong Kong from the "two-child policy" will mainly depend on the magnitude of the increase in the Mainland's fertility rate, the economic development of the Mainland and the corresponding changes in the consumer patterns on the Mainland, which are difficult to predict at this stage. We will keep an eye on the potential impact on Hong Kong's economic activities. On the medical front, as mentioned above, the Government's policy is to ensure that the public and private healthcare systems can cope with emerging service needs.
Besides, attracting talent from outside helps tackle the challenge of an ageing population. Our policy is to round up talent with skills and expertise that are not readily available in the local market to work and settle in Hong Kong. There are currently a number of talent admission schemes targeting different talent groups, including the "Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals" for those from the Mainland. Upon a review of the existing schemes, the Government introduced refinements to these schemes in May this year to attract and retain talent more effectively. For the time being, we do not have plan to review our talent admission arrangements in light of the "two-child policy".
Ends/Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:25
NNNN
