hospitals FULL in June

[Konradsmom]

my obs advised me to book as soon I knew I as pregnant, but not having decided whether I will deliver natural or c-sec, I have not done so yet. But yesterday I was told again that the popular hospitals are full until August........so got me a bit worried.

its true its never been the case before, its partly due to mainland mothers who wants to have a second child and the only way to do this without being penalised by the mainland govt is to have them in HK. Also this entitle their kids ( and possibily themselves later on) to HK social benefits. I was also told these are mainland parents who can spend and are prepared to spend, hence even private ones are now working at full capacity.

 

[kellyst]

My own theory on this, is that ever since the government raised prices to give birth for mainland mothers at public hospitals, the price tag for them is 39K (i think something like that) now for the delivery. that does not make much difference cost-wise for them to give birth at private vs. public hospitals, then of course they would choose the private route. with the same theory, that's how the numbers for mainland mother deliveries at public hospitals dropped so significantly, it basically just moved people from the public system to the private system. there's really no decrease of the influx of mainland pregnant woman, but that's my guess.

i wonder if that's the case, but if so, has anyone seen any media report picked this up? i'm curious. i was worried about this when i heard the government raising fees to public hospital for mainlanders... it's very depressing to see such horrible policy making...

 

[Konradsmom]

All the hue and cry earlies about mainland mothers have died down now, you can hardly find any media coverage of this issue. You are probably right in that there is no decrease of the influx of mainland mothers, just a shift.

i also did inquire with a public hospital, the official response is that yes in theory priority is given to HK residents, but then again, it all boils down to who is there before you.

 

[KatBoo]

I've been hoping there'd be something in the SCMP about this (they seem to cover much more trivial stuff!), but haven't seen anything.

I guess I should pick up the phone to them myself but haven't really had the time or energy!

Good theory about the swicth from public to private though. I had assumed that Private hospitals would have put their fee's up for mainlanders too, but maybe not.