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Following is a question by the Hon Paul Tse and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (May 16):
Question:
A newspaper used "$860 to turn doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women into singly ones" as its headline, and reported on its front page that some people gathered at Huaqiang Road in Shenzhen to sell forged mainland marriage certificates (false documents), provided information on Hong Kong people to act as husbands, and offered to find Hong Kong people to engage in bogus marriage or declarations so as to help pregnant Mainland women whose spouses are not Hong Kong permanent residents (doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women), with the use of false documents or by means of bogus marriage, disguise as pregnant Mainland women whose spouses are Hong Kong permanent residents (singly non-permanent resident pregnant women), thereby assisting "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" in reserving beds for delivery in private hospitals in Hong Kong. The degree of resemblance of the aforesaid false documents is so high that even the law enforcement officers in Hong Kong and individual Members of the Legislative Council found it difficult to distinguish them. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has assessed the seriousness and prevalence of false documents and bogus marriage, and assessed how many "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" have used or will use false documents and bogus marriage to give birth in Hong Kong under the disguise of "singly non-permanent resident pregnant women"; whether it has assessed the impact of the relevant situation on the Chief Executive-elect's (CE-elect) earlier proclamation that private hospitals in Hong Kong should adopt a zero delivery quota for "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" next year, as well as the Government's measures referred to in the newspaper report of establishing a checking mechanism for "singly non-permanent resident pregnant women" and liaising with four private hospitals for admitting such pregnant women;
(b) of the policies put in place to prevent the persistent influx of "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" to give birth in Hong Kong by making use of false documents and bogus marriage; and
(c) whether the current-term Government and CE-elect have communicated on the aforesaid issue to explore practicable and effective policies, which will not be affected by the change of Government, to stop "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" from giving birth in Hong Kong; whether they will, in the situation that it is difficult to solve the problem of "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" by administrative measures, choose the approach which causes the least harm and study the steps and timetable for seeking interpretation of the Basic Law by the National People's Congress, so as to solve the problem for the Government?
Reply:
President,
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is gravely concerned about the issue of non-local pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong and has been making every effort to address this issue. The Government's healthcare policy is to ensure that local pregnant women are accorded priority and are provided with quality service. We will only consider making obstetric services available to non-local pregnant women when we have spare service capacity. The number of non-local women (mainly Mainland women) seeking to give birth in Hong Kong has been increasing rapidly in recent years. It has caused tremendous pressure on the capacity of obstetric service in public hospitals and affected the provision of such service to Hong Kong residents.
To control the number of non-local pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong, we put forward and implemented a number of measures last year. These include capping the delivery places at public and private hospitals for non-local pregnant women in 2012 at the level of 35 000, and issuing a standardised Confirmation Certificate on Delivery Booking to non-local pregnant women who have made prior bookings in public or private hospitals for checking by officers of the Immigration Department when they enter Hong Kong. The Hospital Authority (HA) will stop accepting bookings for public hospitals once this service capacity is full or when more capacity has to be reserved to cope with an increase in service demand from local women. Furthermore, it is planned that all beds for obstetric services in public hospitals would be reserved for local pregnant women and urgent cases referred by private hospitals in 2013. As such, no bookings from non-local pregnant women will be accepted at this stage.
We understand that some Mainland pregnant women whose husbands are Hong Kong permanent 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. At the beginning of this year, we began to study the mechanism and detailed arrangements for effective verification of their identity. As what I announced on April 25, 2012, starting from April 26, 2012, Mainland pregnant women married to Hong Kong permanent resident husbands will be required to submit the following documents to private hospitals when making delivery bookings, if they intend to give birth in private hospitals in Hong Kong:
(i) a Hong Kong certificate of marriage; or a certificate of marriage notarised by notary public offices in the Mainland;
(ii) the husband's Hong Kong permanent resident identity card; and
(iii) an oath taken by the Hong Kong permanent resident husband to confirm the authenticity of the marriage certificate provided and/or their marital relationship.
The couple concerned also have to sign a consent form to authorise the authority to conduct checks with the relevant Mainland departments on their certificate of marriage issued in the Mainland as well as their identity.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) The new arrangement for pregnant women implemented by the HKSAR Government earlier will help distinguish and verify the identity of the Mainland wives of Hong Kong permanent residents. The HKSAR Government will closely monitor the operation of this new arrangement. According to the reports made to the Department of Health (DH) by private hospitals, following the launch of the new booking and verification arrangement on April 26, and up to May 13, a total of over 200 Mainland pregnant women whose husbands are Hong Kong permanent residents have made bookings for delivery service with private hospitals in 2012 through the new arrangement. DH will look out for and investigate suspicious cases. It will also conduct random checks on the other cases. Up till now, DH has not found any suspicious cases.
(b) Under the above new arrangement, the concerned couples have to submit a certificate of marriage notarised by notary public offices in the Mainland if their marriage certificate was not issued by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong. We understand that Hong Kong residents must apply for a Certificate of Absence of Marriage Record in Hong Kong and seek verification from the relevant Mainland authority before they can get married in the Mainland. As such, the verification work under the new arrangement can be conducted through a number of ways and will not just be based on the Mainland marriage certificate submitted by the couple concerned. If the couple were married in Hong Kong, the Immigration Department can verify their marriage certificate.
The couples concerned are also required to sign a document upon making a delivery booking to state that they know and understand clearly that it is a criminal offence to make a false declaration or a false oath, and to authorise private hospitals to pass their information and documents to the relevant government departments for verification. This serves to remind those concerned not to commit such an offence. DH will monitor the arrangements and conduct random checks. Suspicious cases, if any, will be referred to law enforcement agencies for follow-up action.
(c) We will closely monitor whether this aforementioned new arrangement for Mainland pregnant women married to Hong Kong permanent resident husbands can be in smooth operation. If this arrangement is proved feasible, the next-term of Government can draw reference from it when formulating policies relating to these pregnant women.
The Food and Health Bureau has been holding discussions with HA and private hospitals on the issue of delivery by non-local women in 2013. Since this issue is also a task which needs to be followed up and handled by the next-term Government, the current-term government has maintained liaison and discussion with the Chief Executive-elect on the policy for handling the issue of Mainland pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong. The Chief Executive-elect has indicated that before we can have a full picture of the impact on Hong Kong's social services such as healthcare, maternal and child health services and education caused by non-local pregnant women who give birth in Hong Kong and whose husbands are also non-Hong Kong residents, private hospitals should stop accepting these non-local pregnant women's delivery bookings in 2013. Private hospitals have also unanimously agreed to stop accepting their bookings for delivery services in 2013. At the same time, it is planned that in 2013, all beds for obstetric services in public hospitals would be reserved for local pregnant women and urgent cases referred by private hospitals. As such, no bookings from non-local pregnant women will be accepted at this stage.
The current policy of the Government is to resolve the issue of non-local pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong on the existing legal basis through administrative measures. We would continue to monitor the effectiveness of the measures. Moreover, the Chief Executive-elect has pointed out that legal solutions to the issue of non-local pregnant women who give birth in Hong Kong and whose husbands are also non-Hong Kong residents could be further explored.
Thank you, Mr President.
Ends/Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:31
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