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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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