Giving birth in HK - hospitals overbooked?

[fmincon]

For those of you who have or are planning to give birth in Hong Kong, or know someone else in this situation, has it been easy to book an appointment at a hospital for childbirth? I am curious about the effects of the influx of mainland women givin birth in HK on the expat community in regard to this aspect.

[100LL]

As already said, I believe it depends on your obsteotrician for private hospitals like the Matilda. If he has "a big face" at the hospital, or lives there, your chances are probably higher. We had no problem at 9 weeks to get a confirmation, but we know from other people at Geobaby that they were not so lucky (and I can now confirm they are very busy these days)!

Somehow I also have the feeling that if you select an expensive option (C-section and private or VIP room), your chances are higher, but this is just speculation.

The earliest your doctor can send the booking is 9 weeks and with blood work results and ultrasound.

For us it only took around a week to get confirmation from the hospital, but I've heard others say it took a month to get rejected. If that is true, that is indeed worrying.

[PDLM]

But, just to be clear, there isn't any problem at all for those HK residents who wish to use the public health system is there?

[fmincon]

There shouldn't be too much of a problem for locals using public hospitals now since the Hospital Authority banned mainlanders using obstetric services at public hospitals until the end of this year. They are planning to implement a quota, especially for next year, the year of the dragon. However, obstetric services are still under heavy strain in the public sector since private hospitals keep hiring them directly from public hospitals, resulting in overall poorer service for the locals.