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Mary Ann Benitez

Four public hospitals and six private hospitals have already filled their February quota for pregnant mainlanders - well ahead of the 'no hospital booking, no entry' policy that kicks in on Thursday.

Some of the hospitals are fully booked until the end of April,  as 697 pregnant mainlanders have rushed to get delivery bookings at public hospitals in recent days.

From Thursday, mainland women who are 28 weeks or more into their pregnancy and suspected by immigration officials of coming to Hong Kong to give birth will have to show a confirmed booking certificate issued by a hospital or they will be refused entry. The new policy was gazetted yesterday.

Public hospitals will not accept bookings from mainlanders unless there are spare beds after demand from  local women has been met.

The mainland women will be charged HK$39,000 if they have pre-booked, and HK$48,000 for last-minute deliveries.

Private hospitals will charge a HK$40,000 deposit. Hospital Authority director (cluster services) Allen Cheung Wai-lun  appealed to mainland women not to rush  to hospitals on the first day because 'there will be no additional advantage for them'.

'Since we have communicated the information, we hope that a lot of hiccups  can be avoided,' he said.

'But there is a possibility that on the first day there will be more pregnant  women who want to make the pre-payment and book appointments.'

He also urged  pregnant Hong Kong women not to worry about rushing  to hospital for bookings as   they had priority.

For planning purposes, the authority has set a quota of 1,800 deliveries by mainland women for the time being. This is expected to rise  if the new policy is effective.

Beatrice Cheng,  chief manager, said  the Immigration Department would be provided weekly with  the list of  bookings for mainland women.

'They [immigration officials]  can check on a 24-hour basis against our records as well as through a hotline. It is a double protection system,' she said.

The  eight  public hospitals together provide 800 obstetric beds - which are able to handle 42,000 deliveries a year comprising 30,000 locals and 12,000 mainlanders.

By June,  United Christian and Queen Elizabeth hospitals will add delivery capacity for about 2,000 babies.

A seven-month pregnant woman from Shunde , who did not give her name,   booked a bed yesterday at Baptist Hospital for the delivery of her second child. 'If I give birth in Hong Kong, I can spend less money and the baby can have the identity of a Hong Kong citizen,' she said.



Pregnant mainlanders rush to book beds