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Official:
Pregnant Chinese women flock to Hong Kong to give birth
Pregnant women from China's mainland are flocking to
Hong Kong to give birth so their children can get residency rights here, and
officials may raise hospital fees for nonresidents to deter the trend.
Despite China's stunning economic growth, Hong Kong
still has a higher standard of living and many mainlanders want to live in this
former British colony, which was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 but still has
its own administration.
Children born to Chinese citizens in Hong Kong
automatically receive residency rights here.
Pregnant mainlanders accounted for a quarter of the
women who used Hong Kong public hospitals' obstetrics services last year, Hong
Kong Health Secretary Dr. York Chow told lawmakers.
He did not give a numerical breakdown, but official
statistics show that 8,727 mainland women gave birth in Hong Kong public
hospitals in the 2003-4 financial year.
Chow said authorities are thinking about raising
hospital fees for non-Hong Kong residents to discourage pregnant mainland women
from giving birth here.
He did not say how much fees might be raised.
Nonresidents now pay 3,300 Hong Kong dollars (US$420;
euro 330) a day to stay in a Hong Kong public hospital, while having a baby can
cost up to HK$14,000 (US$1,800; euro 1,400), Chow said Wednesday.
Hong Kong maintains separate political, legal and
economic systems from the mainland, which controls travel and immigration to the
territory.
The pregnant Chinese women also pose a burden on Hong
Kong hospitals' finances because many don't pay their bills.
Nearly 900 mainland women who gave birth here
defaulted on their payments in the previous two financial years, forcing Hong
Kong's Hospital Authority to write off HK$6.7 million (US$860,000; euro 670,000)
in unpaid fees for those two years. -
11 Nov 2004 Yahoo!
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