Non-resident deliveries: Health Bureau says new prices just half market rate

The proposed new charges for expectant mothers who hold non-resident status represent “just half the market price,” according to the Health Bureau, though the supervising government department behind the proposal has not clarified how the “market price” was calculated.

The response comes after a backlash against the bureau’s proposal to increase the charges for non-resident mothers giving birth at the Conde S. Januário Hospital. Under the proposal, delivery charges would be hiked ninefold from MOP975 to MOP8,775 for natural births and from MOP1,950 to MOP17,550 for caesarean sections.

A spokesperson for the Health Bureau said late last week that the charges had not been updated for nearly 20 years.

However, the spokesperson also mentioned that the ninefold increase is not expected to raise the hospital’s financial revenues. That is because non-
resident deliveries in Macau account for just 8 percent of total births.

Nor was there any suggestion that the increased charges would allow the hospital to invest in new equipment. Instead, the Health Bureau said in a statement that the updates would “ensure provision of quality services for residents.” The Bureau did not elaborate.

According to the terms of the new proposal, expectant mothers holding Macau resident identity cards or wives of Macau residents who are not themselves residents will not be subject to the new charges.

Meanwhile, tourists would have to pay approximately double the non-resident charges, regarded by the Health Bureau as market rates.

According to the bureau, there were a total of 3,371 babies born at the Conde S. Januário Hospital between 2015 and 2017. Of this number, 20 percent were born to mothers with tourist status, while 8 percent were born to mothers with non-resident status.