A pregnant woman has complained to the Department of Health after being told she won’t be able to have her baby at Adventist Hospital in Hong Kong even though she had earlier been assured of a bed.

"The hospital had told my doctor that my booking was no problem," Ms Ip said. "That is why I had not booked with another hospital. I was shocked that the hospital turned me away."

She said the news had caused her and her family a great deal of stress.

"I’ve had insomnia since receiving the bad news. I had three weeks of depression when my daughter was born last year, now I am so worried that I can’t sleep well. I don’t know how to handle it," she said.

"It is a complete black-box operation. We don’t know why suddenly there is no place for local mothers. I suspect some of the places have been given to mainland mothers, because hospitals can earn more from them."

Ms Ip, 33, said she had saved for the past year to cover the HK$60,000 to HK$80,000 cost of having her baby at a private hospital.

She gave birth to a daughter last year at Adventist Hospital and said she preferred private hospitals because of better service and privacy.

"Some of my friends have had very bad experiences in public hospitals. There are no doctors to do the deliveries and when they were breastfeeding, several men just peeped through the curtains. They were very scared."

Ms Ip said the department had responded to her complaint, saying the hospital denied passing maternity bed places to mainland mothers.

"But I think it is an issue which demands serious concern," she said.

"I wonder why there is no policy in Hong Kong that hospitals should give priority to local mothers.

"It is our home and yet we cannot enjoy good services."

Get used to it, last I heard Hong Kong was part of China not the other way round. Local media reports this case as a concern and the whispers in town are that "Mainland mothers" are taking away space for local mothers. If Mainland mothers will pay more, then why is that a problem? I didn’t hear anyone complaining coming to Hong Kong and spending "Mainland money" in Hong Kong a few years ago. Mainland tourism is fueling the Hong Kong economy, you don’t get to pick and choose, without China would Hong Kong be as prosperous as they are today? This type of xenophobia is the reason why Hong Kong will not become an open society if we cannot even open our doors to our own!