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The Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, today (April 4) called on private hospital operators to review their existing practices regarding the admission of Mainland pregnant women, so as to ease the pressure being imposed on obstetric and neonatal services in the public sector.
At a meeting with representatives from 10 private hospitals that offer obstetric services, Dr Chow said the capacity for maternity services in Hong Kong had reached its maximum in 2010. Among the 88,000 new born babies last year, some 45% were born to Mainland women.
Dr Chow pointed out that medical staff from the public sector had voiced their concern over the overwhelming demand for obstetric and neonatal services in recent years due to the upsurge in Mainland women giving birth in Hong Kong.
"The situation in public hospitals is particularly serious. The Hospital Authority (HA) has seen an increase in the turnover of obstetric doctors, nurses and mid-wives due to the booming private obstetric market," Dr Chow said.
Echoing the views of public obstetric doctors that the number of deliveries in 2012 should be capped at the 2010 level because of the manpower situation, Dr Chow said the problem would become even worse if the parties concerned did not make immediate and concerted efforts to rectify the current situation.
Private hospitals must take into account the general maternity services and neonatal intensive care capacity in Hong Kong when offering services to Mainland pregnant women, Dr Chow said.
"To cap the number of births within the capacity of our system would be a starting point for further discussions among all the parties concerned.
"It would not only prevent further pressure on the obstetric and neonatal services, but also ensure the safety of local and non-local expectant mothers and their babies," Dr Chow said.
There is already a self-imposed booking limit for each of the private hospitals. Any means of intervention by the Government would only be considered if a balanced capacity figure cannot be agreed.
"It is good to see that the private medical sector has realised that apart from keeping a reasonable market share, they need to keep the whole health care system sustainable and offer high quality services to the patients.
"The meeting has agreed that a healthy and balanced development on medical services in both the public and private sectors would bring the greatest benefits to patients and medical staff," Dr Chow said.
"It is encouraging to learn from the meeting that the private operators had unanimously agreed not to expand their maternity services in the short term, thus reducing the need to lure medical and nursing staff from the public sector.
"The HA and the private hospitals will also review their respective training programmes for nurses at obstetric and neonatal services so as to ensure that they can catch up with the real demand of the community in the medium and long term," Dr Chow said.
He thanked the private hospitals for making a positive response to the appeal from the public sector.
Further meetings with the public and private hospitals would be arranged to work out a multi-pronged solution with details to address the issue within the next two months, he noted.
Ends/Monday, April 4, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:20
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