Maternity wards only have room for locals
All eight public hospitals offering maternity services will for the first time temporarily stop accepting childbirth bookings by mainland women from next month amid a surge in demand from expectant Hongkongers, the Hospital Authority said.
The suspension of bookings from September to December would ensure adequate provision for local mothers during the peak obstetric season, a spokesman said.
With private hospitals also reporting filled quotas for those four months, mainland women who are 28 weeks or more pregnant might have nowhere to go.
A total of 3,570 booking certificates for deliveries from September 1 to December 31 had been issued to non-local mothers, the authority said.
'It will be the first time that we have suspended bookings for such a long period - four months - and to such an extent as to cover all eight hospitals,' the spokesman said.