Chinese maternity tourists swamp Hong Kong hospitals

Jan 6, 2012, 4:33 GMT

Hong Kong - The number of heavily pregnant mainland Chinese women turning up at the emergency wards of Hong Kong hospitals to give birth doubled year-on-year in 2011, a news report said Friday.

The influx comes after the city limited the number of appointments for non-local women to give birth in public hospitals, as more mainlanders seek the benefits of Hong Kong citizenship for their babies.

In 2011, 1,656 non-local pregnant women turned up at emergency wards about to give birth, twice as many as 2010 when 796 arrived at hospital without appointments, the Hong Kong Standard reported.

In December alone, 203 pregnant mainland Chinese women went to accident and emergency departments compared to just 88 in December 2010, the newspaper said, quoting government statistics.

At least 700 pregnant mainland women were turned away at border checkpoints from October to December as Hong Kong immigration officials crack down.

Hong Kong has imposed quotas and non-resident fees to try to stem the numbers of maternity tourists giving birth in the city of 7 million, which maintains border controls with mainland China.

Pregnant women from China have arrived in increasing numbers since cross-border travel restrictions were substantially eased from 2003 onwards.

Women from China like to give birth in Hong Kong as their children are then entitled to claim citizenship along with education and social welfare in the wealthy former British colony.

Giving birth in Hong Kong can also exempt some women from financial penalties imposed on families with more than one child in breach of China's one-child policy.

In 2010, Hong Kong dealt with 40,000 births to mainland women, accounting for around 45 per cent of all births in the city.

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