HONG KONG: Of 58,126 babies born in Hong Kong in the first nine months this year, 45 percent were born to mainland moms. Thirty-six percent of the fathers also were non-residents. Is Hong Kong ready for this?

The question was raised at a child welfare forum hosted by the non-government organization Against Child Abuse (ACA) Friday.

Bill Chan, chief of service at the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, United Christian Hospital, cited many concerns over health risks to the newborns. Those concerns range from the inadequacy of prenatal examinations to conflicts in health care beliefs and practice.

The current 3-day-2-night maternity package available at Hong Kong public hospitals to mainland moms costs HK$39,000. Many moms and babies on that package take early discharges, Chan pointed out.

An additional day in hospital would cost a non-resident HK$3,000. Many mainlanders try to wait until the last minute before admitting themselves. That incurs risks to both the mom and the baby, he said.

Zeng Haibo, from Maoming, Guangdong, a woman married to a Hong Kong technician, said she was one of those mothers.

It would take some five years before her application to become a Hong Kong resident would be approved. She's staying in Hong Kong on a visitor's permit. That means she would have to pay HK$3,000 every day if she had to remain in hospital more than the three days allowed by the package, she said.

"My husband earns HK$9,000 a month. We can't afford it," she said.

She didn't call an ambulance until her labor pains became unbearable. A son was born less than two hours after she was admitted. "I didn't realize how dangerous it was," she said.

She said she ran a fever after the birth and had failed to pick up any baby care skills - skills that Chan said are critical.

"The most important thing for a new mom to learn is breast feeding," Chan said. "If not, they must master bottle feeding so at least the baby won't suffer from dehydration."

As volunteers of ACA can testify, these basic skills don't come naturally.

One mom tried to feed rice powder to a newborn infant, who was crying non-stop from hunger. The problem is, in fact, the nipple on the milk bottle was too small for the baby to get enough milk, said Amy Ng, who participated in a home visit program of ACA. Another mom covered her baby with heavy, long-sleeve clothes in high summer.

The typical profile of mainland parents having babies in Hong Kong underwent a change after the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong implemented the HK$39,000 charge since 2007.

Before that, the parents were often poor and tried to evade the medical bills. After it became necessary to pay a HK$39,000 deposit to book the maternity package, those coming to Hong Kong increasingly are the wealthy ones.

This has offered business opportunities for private hospitals. Bucking the trend of declining birth rates, Hong Kong private hospitals have been beefing up obstetric services and even re-opening maternity wards that have been closed for years.

But this doesn't mean the impact on public hospitals has been diminished.

"If there were complications for the newborn infants, they were transferred to the public hospitals. They were entitled to free service in public hospitals because they're born in Hong Kong and hence Hong Kong residents," Chan said.

(HK Edition 12/12/2009 page4)