HONG KONG - About 700 pregnant Chinese mainland women use Hong Kong's public hospital accident and emergency services per year and the number is expected to increase, the city's Hospital Authority Chief Executive Leung Pak-yin said on Thursday.

If mainland pregnant women come to Hong Kong for delivery without antenatal check-up, the potential health risk would be high, he said, reminding Mainland expectant mothers to consider the safety of their babies carefully.

Meanwhile, he said Hong Kong's Hospital Authority posted advertisements to recruit overseas doctors last week. Inquiries about recruitment procedures have already been received. The recruitment exercise will run for four weeks.

Leung said the authority has 200 vacancies and he wants to recruit 20 doctors in the first phase of the exercise.