Anthony T Y Wu, chairman of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, said Saturday that pregnant women from the mainland are welcome to give birth in the SAR, which is facing the challenge of a population aging.

Babies born there become 'permanent residents' of Hong Kong, entitled to rights such as subsidized medical care and free visas to many countries.

"However, to ensure safety and health of pregnant women and the newborns, they have to book a bed at a Hong Kong hospital, either public and private, and go through all medical check-ups before delivery," Wu noted.

Previous reports said that giving birth in Hong Kong costs more than HK$100,000 (S$18,000), over 20 times of the average cost of giving birth on the mainland.

In recent years, more mainland women of well-off urban families have chosen to give birth in Hong Kong for its social welfare or to circumvent the mainland family planning policy which limits most urban couples to one child.

Among the 60,000 births in Hong Kong last year, at least one-third were to mainland mothers.