Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ12: Obstetric services in public hospitals
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
NNNN