Press Releases
Private hospitals to provide obstetric services to Mainland expectant mothers married to Hong Kong residents
Following discussions with the Government, local private hospitals have
agreed to provide obstetric beds to Mainland expectant mothers whose
husbands are Hong Kong permanent residents, and who plan to have their
delivery in Hong Kong this year but have failed to secure a hospital bed so
far, the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, stated today (April
25).
Dr Chow reiterated that the Government began to study the mechanism and
detailed arrangements to effectively verify the identity of Mainland
pregnant women whose husbands are Hong Kong residents at the beginning of
this year. At the same time, the Government has maintained close
communication with private hospitals to discuss ways to provide obstetrics
beds to Mainland pregnant women whose husbands are Hong Kong residents.
The Government announced earlier that for obstetric services in public
hospitals, all beds would be reserved for local pregnant women and urgent
cases referred by private hospitals in 2013. As such, bookings for non-local
pregnant women will not be accepted. The Department of Health (DH) will also
stop issuing the "Confirmation Certificate on Delivery Booking"
(Certificate) to non-local women whose husbands are non-Hong Kong residents
for giving birth in Hong Kong in 2013. Private hospitals yesterday said that
consensus was reached to stop accepting delivery bookings from non-local
women whose husbands are non-Hong Kong residents next year.
Dr Chow said the Government knew that some Mainland pregnant women, whose
husbands are Hong Kong residents, hope to give birth in Hong Kong but are
unable to make their bookings in hospitals this year. There is a consensus
in the community that the Government should provide assistance to this group
of expectant mothers as far as possible.
"After discussion, up till now there are at least four private hospitals,
namely Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas), Union
Hospital and St Teresa's Hospital, that have agreed to provide obstetric
services for this group of Mainland expectant mothers this year," he said.
"According to our initial estimation, from now to the end of this year,
there are around one hundred similar cases. Private hospitals will have
adequate service capacity to meet the demand of this group of expectant
mothers. If necessary, the DH will allocate additional delivery quota
accordingly to private hospitals willing to provide obstetric services to
this group of women.
"For those Mainland expectant mothers married to Hong Kong residents who
choose to have their delivery in Hong Kong, we consider that the women
concerned and their husbands have the responsibility to prove their identity
and marital relationship," said Dr Chow.
To prevent non-eligible persons from taking advantage of such an arrangement
through false marriages, all Mainland women whose husbands are local
residents and who intend to give birth in Hong Kong will be required to
submit the following documents to private hospitals to verify their identify
when making the bookings:
(1) A Hong Kong certificate of marriage; or a certificate of marriage
notarised by notary public offices in the Mainland;
(2) The husband's Hong Kong permanent resident identity card;
(3) An oath taken by the Hong Kong permanent resident husband to confirm
that the marriage has actually taken place in the Mainland and the
authenticity of the marriage certificate provided; and
(4) A consent form signed by the couple concerned authorising the authority
to conduct checks with the relevant Mainland departments on their
certificate of marriage issued in the Mainland.
Based on the documents submitted by the Mainland pregnant women concerned,
the private hospitals will issue the Certificate. The DH will closely
monitor and conduct checks and refer suspect cases, if any, to law
enforcement agencies for follow-up action.
Regarding those Mainland pregnant women who expect to give birth very soon,
Dr Chow understood that they might not be able to submit all the necessary
documents to the private hospitals in the coming weeks. Hence, for expectant
mothers whose babies are due before end of May, the Government accepted that
they, together with their husbands, might first take the oath, present the
husband's Hong Kong identity card and the signed consent form, and obtain
the Certificate. Their certificate of marriage notarised by notary public
offices in the Mainland could be submitted later. For those Mainland
pregnant women who will give birth later this year and early next year, the
Certificate will be issued only after submission of all the necessary
documents.
In the meantime, the DH will issue letters to private medical practitioners,
in particular obstetrics doctors, reminding them that when approached by
non-local women for obstetrics services, doctors should state clearly that
booking of obstetric beds for Mainland pregnant women whose husbands are
non-Hong Kong residents will not be accepted in 2013. In addition, no
Certificate will be issued for entering Hong Kong.
"On average, we have handled 6,000 cases of delivery by Mainland mothers
whose husbands are local residents annually in the past three years. When
non-local women whose husbands are non-Hong Kong residents are barred from
giving birth in local private hospitals in the coming year, there should be
adequate manpower capacity and facilities for private hospitals, after
giving service priority to local pregnant women, to take care of the
Mainland wives of Hong Kong residents.
"We will closely monitor the situation and find out whether the measure can
be smoothly implemented. If it proves feasible, this arrangement can serve
as a reference for the next-term of Government when formulating policies
relating to Mainland pregnant women, whose husbands are local residents,
giving birth in Hong Kong," he added.
Ends/Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Issued at HKT 18:26
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