Rush of mainland mothers has put us under stress too, says community midwife Midwives providing pre- and post-natal care in the community appear lukewarm about helping out hard-pressed colleagues working in public hospitals, which are seeing a surge in mainland mothers giving birth. One community midwife says the health centres where they work are also understaffed and that they, too, are feeling the strain from the influx of mainland mothers. Even the lure of being taken off night shifts in return for helping out in hospitals - for as little as two hours a day - has largely failed to sway the 308 community midwives. Fewer than 10 have shown interest in hospital work since they were asked to consider the idea last week, the Department of Health admits. The Health, Welfare and Food Bureau and the Hospital Authority are considering several measures to reduce the number of mainland women giving birth at public hospitals and to raise staffing on obstetric wards. The proposals included charging non-resident mothers more, importing midwives and training more midwives. A veteran community midwife, who asked not to be named, said: 'It is natural that many of us are not interested in secondment to the public hospitals. The situation is so stressful there. 'In fact, the maternal and child health centres are severely short-staffed as well because we have to deal with more mainland mothers now. They account for about half the cases.' The midwife said the department was quite desperate to encourage staff to volunteer. It suggested that those who would be willing to join the programme would not need to work on night shift and proposed they could work on a part-time basis, for as little as two hours a day. A senior midwife at United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong, Chu Hor-bo, said she and her colleagues had come under increasing pressure. She said mainland mothers usually lacked basic knowledge of hygiene and health issues, which made midwives' work increasingly complicated. 'All they care about is delivering the baby and getting the birth certificate,' Ms Chu said. 'But many of them didn't come to us until they were about to deliver their babies, so we have no time for preparation and they often gave us inadequate information, as many have had little examination on the mainland.' A 25-year-old from Dongguan, Guangdong, who gave birth at a Kowloon public hospital last month, said even if the Hospital Authority raised the price of giving birth - currently HK$20,000 - it would still be worthwhile coming to Hong Kong. 'I would still go if they asked for HK$50,000 because everything is better in Hong Kong,' she said. 'But I would reconsider if it's HK$100,000.' There are 4,600 registered midwives in Hong Kong, of which 640 work in public hospitals. The number of babies born to mainland women in Hong Kong rose from 7,810 in 2001 to 19,538 last year.