LCQ8: Services of Maternal and Child Health Centres
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     Following is a question by the Dr Hon Pan Pey-chyou and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (February 1):

Question:

     It has been reported that the problem of mainland pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong is worsening with no improvement over the years, causing serious impact on the provision of obstetrics and gynaecology services in public and private hospitals, and the problem has already extended to Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs), exerting heavy pressure on the services of MCHCs as well as affecting the use of such services by local babies.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the respective numbers of newborn babies receiving services in various MCHCs in Hong Kong in the past five years, together with a breakdown by baby born to parents who are both Hong Kong permanent residents, only one of whom is a Hong Kong permanent resident and who are both not Hong Kong permanent resident;

(b) given that it has been reported that recently there are agencies which bring a large number of mainland women and their newborn babies to MCHCs every time to use the services, but quite a number of them have not made appointments in advance, and some of them even behave in an unhygienic and inconsiderate manner in MCHCs, which adversely and seriously affects the hygienic conditions in MCHCs and substantially increases the workload of healthcare staff in MCHCs, whether the authorities have any targeted measure in place to rectify the problem; if they have, of the specific details and time of implementation; if not, the reasons for that; and

(c) whether the authorities have any formulated administrative measure to ensure that the use of child care services of MCHCs by newborn babies of parents who are both Hong Kong permanent residents or those born to parents one of whom is a Hong Kong permanent resident will not be affected by the aforesaid situation; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     It is the Government's policy to ensure that Hong Kong residents (both pregnant women and infants) are given priority for services and care.  The Government is very concerned about the surge of demand for obstetric services in Hong Kong by non-local women (including Mainland women) in recent years, which have caused tremendous pressure on the overall obstetric and neonatal care services.  Since mid-2011, we have launched further measures to ensure that adequate obstetric and neonatal care services are available in Hong Kong, and local pregnant women are given priority for obstetric services.  The number of non-local pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong in 2012 will be limited to 35 000 (including 3 400 delivery places for non-local women in the Hospital Authority and around 31,000 planned number of deliveries in private hospitals), representing a decrease of nearly 20 per cent as compared with the number of deliveries by non-local women in 2011 (i.e. some 43 000).  We will carefully plan the number of deliveries by non-local women for next year to ensure that obstetric services for local pregnant women will not be affected.

     With an increase in the number of newborn babies, there has been a surge of demand for maternal and child health services.  We will continue to monitor the situation closely and adopt appropriate measures to ensure that children born in Hong Kong will continue to enjoy quality and professional services.

(a) The numbers of newborn babies receiving services in various Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs) in Hong Kong with the breakdown of their parents' residential status in the past five years are set out in the Annex.

(b) MCHCs under the Department of Health (DH) are always committed to serving the community and maintaining their service quality.  To provide quality services, reduce waiting time and maintain good order at MCHCs, we require all users to make prior appointments.  Information hotlines have been set up for users to make appointments and enquire the opening hours of various MCHCs.  In addition, we require users to wait in an orderly manner and keep quiet in MCHCs.  Posters have also been put up at MCHCs to remind users to pay attention to their personal hygiene and keep the environment clean.  DH will continue to monitor the situation and adopt appropriate measures to maintain the service quality.

(c) We must ensure that children born in Hong Kong will continue to receive quality and professional services.  MCHCs will strive to maintain the current arrangement for newborn babies to be seen within one to two working days after registration to ensure that they receive appropriate health assessment and neonatal services.

     In the wake of a continuous growth in the number of newborn babies in recent years, we are exploring allocating more resources for MCHCs to cope with the service demand, including expansion of the Fanling and Hung Hom MCHCs.  We will continue to monitor the demand for the services of MCHCs and deploy resources according to the utilisation of individual MCHCs to ensure that the standard of services provided to babies in Hong Kong will not be affected.

Ends/Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Issued at HKT 14:43

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