The individual visit scheme, which since July 28 last year has allowed mainlanders to visit Hong Kong solo, has generally been regarded as a boost to the economy which does not create much of a social problem.
A frontline doctor in the Hospital Authority, I am letting the public know about brewing social issues which result from the scheme.
In 2002, the number of babies born to mothers visiting from the mainland was 8,739. In 2003, the number was 10,168, 21.7 per cent of all babies born in Hong Kong. In the first eight months of this year, 35 per cent of the babies born in one public hospital were born to mainland transients. While there is a public impression that the annual birth rate in Hong Kong is falling steadily, there was an increase of 11 per cent in births in that hospital last year over 2002.
In the government's reply to a legislator on July 7, it said that only 24.8 per cent of these mothers were the spouse of a holder of a Hong Kong identity card. In other words, about 75 per cent were mainlanders who might just be coming to Hong Kong to deliver their babies.
This is not difficult to understand. Some parents want to have a second child, which is not in line with the national one-child policy. Others feel that the health care delivery system in Hong Kong is more reliable. Also, the Basic Law stipulates that babies born to Chinese citizens in Hong Kong are permanent residents here.
There is every reason to believe that the number of babies born to mainland mothers in Hong Kong will increase, especially as the individual visit scheme was extended in July to cover 30 cities in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces with a total population of 250 million.
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong said in a written reply to a legislator that whether a visitor is pregnant or not is not part of the immigration requirements.