Hong Kong hospitals yesterday started to turn away women from mainland China arriving to give birth in an attempt to stop a flood of cross-border “maternity tourists” costing the former British colony millions of US dollars.
The territory has imposed a three-month ban on childbirth bookings by mainland mothers, many of whom cross the border heavily pregnant to give birth in the wealthy city’s public hospitals.
Giving birth in Hong Kong not only guarantees them world-class health care but in many cases secures citizenship of the city of 6.9 million for children who would otherwise be entitled to only a Chinese passport.
LOTTERY
Hong Kong citizenship entitles them to free education, health care and other benefits throughout their life, the equivalent of winning the lottery for children from poor families in southern China.
The easing of cross-border restrictions in 2003 led to a flood of women crossing the border to give birth, sometimes arriving by the coach-load in “maternity tours” organized by enterprising middle-men.
More than 12,000 women from China gave birth in the territory in 2006, often leaving without paying nominal maternity charges, putting an enormous strain on the city’s public health services.
In February last year, Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority imposed charges of up to US$6,000 for each non-resident birth, which initially led to a fall of almost 40 percent in mainland Chinese women giving birth in the city.
But mainland women kept coming and in the first half of last year one fifth checked out without paying their bills while one third paid only a portion.
Altogether, the cost of mainland mothers who have given birth in Hong Kong hospitals and then left without paying all or some of their bills totals around US$6 million a year.
Now, bookings for non-resident women have been suspended from September to December to allow local women to be given priority at the peak period for births in Hong Kong.
Hospital Authority spokeswoman Beatrice Cheng (鄭信恩) said the ban might be extended to peak periods next year as the problem of overburdened maternity services remained acute.
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