Some public hospitals have cut pre-natal checks for mothers because of staff shortages.

And doctors and nurses have complained of long hours, heavy workloads and the lack of prospects for promotion.

The turnover of public obstetricians rose from 6 per cent in 2008-09 to 8.3 per cent in 2009-10.

The situation has got worse, with 13 of 210 - or 6.2 per cent - quitting between April and October alone.

Most head for the lucrative private sector, where many are earning HK$200,000 to HK$300,000 a month.

Some so-called star doctors are even thought to be pocketing more than HK$1 million a month

And the turnover rate for 2010-11 is expected to reach double figures, compared to an average of 6.8 per cent for all other specialists.

New Hospital Authority chief executive Dr Leung Pak-yin said a scheme would be announced later this month to hire obstetricians from the private sector on a part-time basis as an interim measure.

The authority does have a policy on the recruitment of part-time doctors, but many hospitals have been hesitant to hire them.

They fear losing numbers on their permanent headcounts or paying extra from their own budgets to fund them.

But Leung said: 'The new plan is a pilot programme focusing on the obstetric services and may roll out to other departments in the future.

'The authority head office will co-ordinate the recruitment of part-time doctors from the private sector and provide extra resources for individual hospitals.'

Retired public doctors would also be asked to give a helping hand.

Leung said: 'We need experienced doctors to share our workloads. Private doctors are welcome to come back to the public hospitals for one or two outpatient sessions a week.

'We believe that some want to come back because they can have a different exposure in the public sector and a chance to use different equipment.'

But doctors say well-established private obstetricians may not be interested in returning to the busy and crowded public wards.

Private obstetrician Dr Robert Law Chi-lim said hiring part-time doctors was a good idea.

He said having the authority head office co-ordinate the recruitment could cut red tape.

But Law warned that pay rates for part-time doctors must be set at the right level. He said: 'If the hourly rate is set too low, it will not be attractive to private practitioners.

'If it is too high, public doctors may all go private and return to public hospitals for the higher pay. So it must be a good balance.'

President of the Public Doctors' Association Dr Loletta So Kit-ying welcomed the measures but said a long-term solution to halt the exodus to the private sector is needed.

She said: 'The authority should review the work conditions of doctors or they will continue to leave.'

The nursing shortage at neonatal intensive care units, which take care of newborn babies with serious medical problems, is another 'pressure point'.

The authority has earmarked HK$30 million in the coming year to hire more nurses and promote at least 50 nurses.

The ratio of specialist nurses to general nurses has also been upgraded from 1:6 to 1:4. Medical equipment will be renewed to save nursing manpower.

But the turnover of neonatal intensive care nurses rose from 5.8 per cent in 2009-10 to 7.8 per cent so far this year, with more than 70 out of the 1,000 specialist neonatal nurses moving on.

Big turnover

Last year, 8.3 per cent of obstetricians left the public sector

Between April and October this year alone, the proportion of public obstetricians quitting was: 6.2%