Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ2: Measures in response to Mainland's "two-child policy"
Following is a question by the Hon Christoper Chung and a reply by the Secretary
for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (November
18):
Question:
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party
of China held last month put forward the full implementation of the policy
allowing one couple to have two children (two-child policy), in order to tackle
the problem of ageing population on the Mainland. There are comments that the
two-child policy, upon implementation, may impact on Hong Kong. For instance,
people may once again flock to shops to snap up baby food and products such as
powdered formula and diapers, and the demand for healthcare services, education,
housing, etc in Hong Kong may also be affected. Some university scholars have
also pointed out that the two-child policy may give Mainlanders more incentive
to come to Hong Kong to give birth. In this connection, will the Government
inform this Council whether:
(1) it has assessed if the implementation of the two-child policy will trigger a
new wave of mainland pregnant women coming to Hong Kong to give birth; if it has
assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the authorities'
corresponding measures;
(2) it has assessed the specific impacts of the two-child policy, upon
implementation, on the supply of and demand for powdered formula and other
products for infants and young children, as well as on the demand for public and
private healthcare services, education, housing, etc in Hong Kong; if it has
assessed, of the details; whether the authorities will discuss with the mainland
authorities the ways to minimise the impacts of the policy on Hong Kong; and
(3) it will conduct a study to identify the benefits to and business
opportunities for Hong Kong which will be brought about by the implementation of
the two-child policy, such as whether it will give a boost to the development of
the education and medical services industries, promote the growth in the retail
industry and slow down the pace of population ageing; whether the authorities
will join hands with the business sector to consider formulating relevant
policies and measures promptly, so as to take advantage of such opportunities?
Reply:
President,
The Government has been monitoring the development of various policies of the
Central People's Government and assessing the impacts of relevant policies on
Hong Kong. As regards the Mainland's announcement of the full implementation of
the policy allowing one couple to have two children ("two-child policy"), the
Government will closely keep in view the possible impacts of such policy on Hong
Kong. The Hon Christopher Chung's question straddles various bureaux and
departments, the overall response of the Government is as follows:
(1) To ensure that local pregnant women are given priority for quality obstetric
service, the Government has implemented a series of measures to limit the use of
obstetric services by non-local pregnant women to a level that can be handled by
the healthcare system in Hong Kong. Since the implementation of the "zero quota
policy" on January 1, 2013, all public hospitals have not accepted any delivery
bookings by non-local pregnant women, and private hospitals have also
unanimously agreed to stop accepting delivery bookings from non-local pregnant
women (including Mainland pregnant women) whose husbands are not Hong Kong
residents since 2013.
For Mainland pregnant women, whose husbands are Hong Kong permanent residents or
Hong Kong residents who came to Hong Kong on the Permit for Proceeding to Hong
Kong and Macao (commonly known as "One-way Permit"), hope to give birth in Hong
Kong, there is a consensus in the community that the Government should provide
assistance to this group of expectant mothers as far as possible. In this
connection, the Government has established a special arrangement with private
hospitals to allow this specific group of women to make delivery bookings at
local private hospitals on the production of the required supporting documents.
Under the special arrangements, private hospitals may issue a Confirmation
Certificate on Delivery Booking based on the documents submitted by the couples
concerned and the availability of obstetric services. The identity and martial
relations between couples will be subject to stringent verification by the
Government in order to forestall anyone posing as spouses of Hong Kong residents
for delivery in Hong Kong. As for immigration and other complementary measures,
the Immigration Department, the Office of the Licensing Authority of the Home
Affairs Department and other law enforcement agencies will step up interception
and enforcement actions against Mainland pregnant women whose husbands are not
Hong Kong residents. The measures include strengthening immigration examination
of all Mainland pregnant women, combating illicit agency activities assisting
Mainland pregnant women to give birth in Hong Kong, and stepping up inspection
and enforcement against suspected unlicensed guesthouses. These measures aim to
deter Mainland pregnant women without prior delivery bookings from entering Hong
Kong and gatecrashing the Accident and Emergency Departments (A&EDs), or
entering Hong Kong early in order to evade immigration examination, and going
into hiding and waiting to gatecrash A&EDs.
Since the implementation of "zero quota policy" in January 2013, the total
number of Mainland women giving births in Hong Kong has significantly declined
from the highest of 43 982 babies in 2011 to 6 024 babies in 2014, of which the
number of live births born to Mainland women whose husbands are not Hong Kong
permanent residents (including Mainland people with less than seven years'
residence in Hong Kong or non-Hong Kong residents) dropped from 35 736 in 2011
to 823 in 2014.
Once the "two-child policy" is in effect in the Mainland China, Mainland
residents can give birth to two babies. We therefore believe that the incentives
for Mainland pregnant women to give birth in Hong Kong will be reduced. We also
noticed from local news commentary that, some Mainland residents come to Hong
Kong to give birth to their second child due to the restriction of the
"one-child policy". With the implementation of the "two-child policy", Mainland
citizens can give birth to one more child in their home country, which would
reduce their incentives to labour in Hong Kong. Couple with the fact that the
"zero quota policy" has successfully prevented Mainland pregnant women whose
husbands are not Hong Kong residents to come to give birth in Hong Kong, we
believe that the "two-child policy" of the Mainland will not trigger a new wave
of Mainland pregnant women coming to Hong Kong to give birth. The Government
will continue to closely monitor the utilisation of local obstetric services by
non-local pregnant women, and will take actions to tackle the situation as
appropriate.
(2) On the supply of powdered formula in Hong Kong, the Government has
established a regular mechanism to monitor the demand and supply of local
powdered formula. In face of the market situation, the Government will also
continuously review and improve the supply chain with the industry and the
relevant stakeholders to ensure efficient operation.
Hong Kong is a free, open and market-oriented economy. In general, the demand
and supply of various commodities, including baby products, will be adjusted
automatically to achieve an equilibrium.
As regards public healthcare, as our public healthcare services are heavily
subsidised by the Government, it is necessary to ensure that our public
healthcare services can meet public demand and at the same time can sustain in
the long term within the limited financial resources. Therefore, we need to draw
up eligibility criteria for receiving the heavily subsidised public healthcare
services and accord priority to taking care of the needs of Hong Kong residents.
Besides, the ageing population has further posed tremendous pressure to the
demand of local healthcare services. Therefore, non-Hong Kong residents may only
seek non-emergency public healthcare services when there is spare service
capacity upon the payment of a fee at the rates of charges applicable to
non-eligible persons.
As mentioned above, the "zero quota policy" can ensure that local pregnant women
are given priority to local obstetric services. According to the estimates of
Hospital Authority (HA), the estimated number of delivery is 41 720 in 2015,
representing an increase of 5.4 per cent over the number in 2014 (39 575). And
the occupancy rate of the beds in the neonatal intensive care units in the HA is
estimated to exceed 100 per cent. Given the continuous high demand from local
pregnant women for obstetric services and neonatal intensive care unit services
in public hospitals, there remains no spare capacity in public hospitals to
provide obstetric services to non-local pregnant women.
The Government will, on the one hand, continue its investment and commitment to
the public healthcare sector so that it will remain strong and robust and
continue to perform its role as the cornerstone of Hong Kong's healthcare
system. On the other hand, we will promote public-private partnership to strike
a balance between public and private healthcare services.
On education, children born to Mainland couples in the Mainland are not Hong
Kong permanent residents. Under the existing policy, Chinese residents of the
Mainland generally will not be issued with a visa/entry permit to enter Hong
Kong for study at kindergartens, primary and secondary levels. We thus do not
see any direct impact of this new "two-child policy" on planning for provision
of public sector school places or supply of private kindergarten places in Hong
Kong.
On housing, according to the "Long Term Housing Strategy" promulgated in
December 2014, the Government will conduct annual updating of the long term
housing demand projection to take into account changes over time, and make
timely adjustments on the rolling ten-year housing supply target where
necessary. Any possible impact of the "two-child policy" on future housing
demand will be reflected in future updates of the housing demand projection.
(3) Hong Kong thrives as a market economy. Developments of various industries,
as well as the performance of retail business, are subject to market forces. The
impact on different industries and retail sector in Hong Kong from the
"two-child policy" will mainly depend on the magnitude of the increase in the
Mainland's fertility rate, the economic development of the Mainland and the
corresponding changes in the consumer patterns on the Mainland, which are
difficult to predict at this stage. We will keep an eye on the potential impact
on Hong Kong's economic activities. On the medical front, as mentioned above,
the Government's policy is to ensure that the public and private healthcare
systems can cope with emerging service needs.
Besides, attracting talent from outside helps tackle the challenge of an ageing
population. Our policy is to round up talent with skills and expertise that are
not readily available in the local market to work and settle in Hong Kong. There
are currently a number of talent admission schemes targeting different talent
groups, including the "Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals"
for those from the Mainland. Upon a review of the existing schemes, the
Government introduced refinements to these schemes in May this year to attract
and retain talent more effectively. For the time being, we do not have plan to
review our talent admission arrangements in light of the "two-child policy".
Ends/Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:25
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