China agent abandons disabled children in HK - paper

HONG KONG, Feb 11 (Reuters) A Chinese travel agent has been accused of abandoning three mentally disabled children in Hong Kong, where they could benefit from a better welfare system, the South China Morning Post said today.

The agent from the neighbouring Chinese province of Guangdong faced three counts of child abuse for bringing three boys to Hong Kong and leaving them in a carpark and a playground, it said.

''The nascent trend of mentally handicapped children from the mainland being abandoned here is ... a serious concern,'' the paper said in its editorial.

''There are allegations that the unscrupulous are bringing such children here for a fee ... There are unsavoury agents who are prepared to profit by exploiting the disparities between the two places' welfare provisions.'' Earlier this month Hong Kong introduced new rules to repatriate heavily pregnant women without prior hospital bookings at its borders aimed at stopping mainland Chinese women from crowding public maternity wards.

Attracted by the territory's cheap, modern and well-run public hospitals, an increasing number of pregnant women came to Hong Kong to deliver their child, causing shortages in man-power and beds in the maternity wards.

REUTERS AB PM0923