In a bid to deter the expecting mainland women from giving birth in Hong Kong, the Hospital Authority (HA) will increase the hospitalization fees by almost a double from next month.

The Immigration Department will also tighten up the entry policy by refusing pregnant mainland women if there is reason to believe they are not entering Hong Kong in accordance with the visa conditions.

The SAR government disclosed the above arrangements at a motion debate session in the Legislative Council (LegCo) last night. After a more than four hours of debate, legislators passed a motion, asking the government to adopt appropriate measures, including more resources for the HA, to deal with the growing number of mainland women giving birth in Hong Kong and to ensure proper, prioritized treatment for local mothers.

Responding to the motion, York Chow, Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, admitted the number of local children born to mainland women rose by 158 percent from 2003 to 2006. Although the hospital fee was raised in September 2005, it had only a fleeting effect to check the growing trend.

To combat the situation, the HA has recently decided to further increase the fee from HK$20,000 to HK$39,000, while those who do not register for pre-natal examination will be subject to a HK$9,000 surcharge.

At the same time, the HA will recruit more midwives and nurses for the intensive care wards. "We hope the fee increase will be a deterrent as they will be required to settle the payment in full upon the first registration," Chow said. "The new measures will be enforced by February. If necessary, we will expand the obstetric services to ensure priority treatment of the local mothers."

Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee added that immigration officers, with the assistance of healthcare workers, would check mainland women especially those who have been pregnant for a few months at the control points. "The Immigration Department has the right to refuse entry if they cannot properly explain that they are coming to Hong Kong to have holiday or visit their relative. If they are giving birth in Hong Kong, they must prove that they have registered with local hospitals," he said.

"The specific operational details are being finalized and will be announced as soon as possible," he said. "But the syndicates that provide one-stop services to mainland mothers are not necessarily unlawful unless they are found aiding and abetting people to overstay, illegally enter Hong Kong and provide false information to immigration officers."

Joseph Lee Kok-long, who represents the health services constituency, moved the original motion and said the surging number of mainland pregnant women coming to Hong Kong has put an insurmountable burden on the local healthcare system, as well as on other areas such as welfare, education and housing.

He questioned: "Does the government welcome or not welcome those mainland pregnant women and what is the government's population policy? If the government now expands the hospital services rapidly but the children do not come to Hong Kong when they grow up, would it result in a mismatch of resources in the future?"

Medical constituency legislator Kwok Ka-ki said the number of children born to non-Hong Kong permanent residents in Hong Kong hospitals has increased almost 100 times from 2001 to the first 10 months of 2006, yet the government was unaware of the magnitude of the matter.