Delivering a blessing or a curse to Hong Kong?
It is absurd that our hospitals plan to increase the fees for pregnant mainlanders to give birth here ('Hospital chiefs offer answers to midwife crisis' and 'Private hospitals to raise birth fees', December 5). In what way will this help non-paying mothers become more proactive in attending to their bills? Equally disturbing is the horror and alarm these women are causing local politicians and residents alike. The influx of mainland women is only one of the many ways in which our inequitable 'one country, two systems' is subversively made more equitable.
China inherited a small but advanced territory almost a decade ago. Are the services on offer here not deserved by its people, especially the many women who are happy to have children and to raise them? With so many Hong Kong women showing various levels of contempt for both practices, perhaps we should see these mainland women as a blessing. Is not Hong Kong's population a bit top heavy with elderly people? This could be a wonderful way to even it out.
Finally, with so many Hong Kong entrepreneurs having grown rich off exploitation in mainland factories, such health services may be one way to redress the balance. Perhaps the whole issue is more rightly addressed in that explosive cocktail of anti-racist legislation recently gazetted.
WALTER BAUMAN, Happy Valley
Where is the hostility letter writer Nick Salisbury claims to discern in Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee's December 4 column 'The hordes at our gate' ('Hostility unbecoming', December 5)? I see nothing but restraint in her tone and reason in her arguments. He must have missed the news that dozens of furious local mothers-to-be hit the streets to demand a solution to the grave problem she described. While it is true that these women are infuriated at being crowded out by pregnant mainlanders, so what? What's wrong with being mad when tax-paying, law-abiding women are not receiving the health care they need and deserve? What's wrong with being worried that the disorderly influx of mainland women, and the residency granted to their babies, may have dire consequences for the city in which our children will grow up?
Given its small size and limited resources, Hong Kong should not allow for the prospect of welcoming an unknown number of migrants at an unspecified time in the future. I most certainly hope the government will take heed of Mrs Ip's recommendations.
IRIS CHAN, Hung Hom
On the one hand, we welcome new births to solve our problem of an ageing population; on the other, the influx of pregnant mainlanders has pushed our public health-care system to the brink of collapse.
Whether or not hospitals increase their fees and bill-collection mechanisms are tightened, a growing number of mainland mothers will return home with their babies without settling their bills. The most effective way to solve the problem is to stop them at the immigration control points. They should not be allowed into Hong Kong unless they can present proof that they have booked the services of a private hospital or paid a reasonable deposit to a public one. Also, considering that it is the quality of our medical services that draws many mainland women, we should consider exporting these to Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
In the face of our greying population, we should not close the door to all mainland mothers and mothers-to-be. Rather, we should adjust the Quality Migrant Admission and Capital Investment Entrant schemes to give priority to applicants with Hong Kong-born children. That way, we can attract some mainland parents to settle in Hong Kong, bringing their skills, capital and - most importantly - their children with them.
PHILIP KEUNG, Kwun Tong
