Impact of birth tourism on health caresystems in Calgary, Alberta
2022/02/19 Leave a comment
This is exactly the kind of detail that is needed for regions and hospitals that have high numbers of non-resident births.
Some highlights of the study from my perspective:
- 102/227 patients were identified as birth tourist (45 percent)
- 83% of patients stated they came to Canada with a Visitor Visa
- Country of origin: Nigeria (25%), Middle East (18%) China (11%), and India (8%) and Mexico (6%), none from Western Europe or Australia
- 77% stated that their primary reason to deliver their baby in Canada was for the the baby to be eligible for Canadian citizenship, while only 8% stated their reason to deliver in Canada was to access better health care
- Almost a third of women had a known preexisting medical condition
- 29 mothers and 17 newborns had unpaid invoices, $290,000 and $404,000 respectively at the time the report was written.
More kind of this detailed analysis by medical professionals and researchers is needed rather than the legal and policy analyses that diminish the issue (disclosure the researchers and I have been in contact over the past few years).
Hospitals where studies would be useful would be for the top ten hospitals with the largest percentage of non-resident births:

Funding should be provided for these kind of empirical studies rather than for more ideological studies such as the one underway by Megan Gaucher, Jamie Lieu and Amanda Cheong (Insight Grant 2021 Birth Tourism and Citizenship):
Background: Birth tourism refers to non-resident women giving birth in a country outside of their own in order to obtain citizenship and/or healthcare for their newborns. We undertook a study to determine the extent of birth tourism in Calgary, the characteristics and rationale of this population, and the fnancial impact on the healthcare system.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of 102 women identifed through a Central Triage system as birth tourists who delivered in Calgary between July 2019 and November 2020 was performed. Primary outcome measures were mode of delivery, length of hospital stay, complications or readmissions within 6 weeks for mother or baby, and NICU stay for baby.
Results: Birth Tourists were most commonly from Nigeria (24.5%). 77% of Birth Tourists stated that their primary reason to deliver their baby in Canada was for newborn Canadian citizenship. The average time from arrival in Calgary to the EDD was 87 days. Nine babies required stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and 3 required admission to a non NICU hospital ward in frst 6 weeks of life, including 2 sets of twins. The overall amount owed to Alberta Health Services for hospital fees for this time period is approximately $694 000.00.
Conclusion: Birth Tourists remain a complex and poorly studied group. The process of Central Triage did help suport providers in standardizing process and documentation while ensuring that communication was consistent. These fndings provide preliminary data to guide targeted public health and policy interventions for this population.
Source: Impact of birth tourism on health care systems in Calgary, Alberta