Non-local pregnant women must receive prenatal checkups in Hong Kong and receive a certificate proving their conditions are normal before giving birth in Hong Kong.

The measure and six other rules were put in place by the Hong Kong government to restrict the number of Chinese mainland mothers giving birth in Hong Kong and ease pressure on strained local medical resources.

York Chow, secretary of the Food and Health Bureau, introduced the new policies when meeting representatives of private and public hospitals on Thursday, Nanfang Daily reported yesterday.

Other measures included assigning a special work team to decide the annual number of non-local pregnant women who can deliver babies in Hong Kong and unifying prenatal check up standards among hospitals.

They will also crack down on illegal brokers to prevent private hospitals from taking in too many pregnant women, Chow said.

The annual quota will be decided by the work team at the beginning of each year.

Mainland women usually have prenatal checkups on the mainland before going to Hong Kong to deliver babies, which entitles the children to Hong Kong citizenship. This puts a big strain on medical personnel and facilities in Hong Kong, the report said.

Brokers who introduce women to Hong Kong hospitals have also boomed to meet the rising demand.

The number of babies born to Chinese mainland mothers in Hong Kong rose from 13,000 in 2004 to more than 40,000 in 2010, 45 percent of all newborns.

The influx of mainland pregnant women forced the government to ban non-Hong Kong women from giving birth in public hospitals for the rest of this year.