The medical services in HK are highly subsidized. And, the pregnant ladies from China take advantage and plan their delivery in Hong Kong.

In order to curb their entry The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government plans to adopt new medical and immigration measures from February 1 to minimize the number of pregnant mainland women giving birth in the city.

Under the new system, a mainland woman has to fix an appointment with a Hong Kong hospital in advance and undergo pre-delivery tests before she can avail of the maternity services.

Further, following rules will be enforced:

1. The Hospital Authority (HA) will raise the minimum fee for a 3-day, 2-night labour package for non-local women to HK$39,000 from February 1. And those who don’t make prior arrangements with the hospitals have to pay a surcharge of HK$9,000.

2. All fees must be paid at the time of the booking, and will not be refunded under any circumstances. The HA will issue a certificate to non-local women after their bookings are confirmed.

3. The Immigration Department, for its part, will closely monitor non-local women in an advanced stage of pregnancy, at the arrival points.
4. To minimize disputes, women pregnant for seven months or 28 weeks or more will be considered to be in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

5. Non-local pregnant women will have to pay
the fee in full even if their husbands are Hong Kong residents.

The Hong Kong government departments announced that the government would ensure local pregnant women get proper and priority treatment.

Expectedly, the new booking system and priority treatment for local pregnant women have the full support of private hospitals in Hong Kong.

Source : China Daily