While it may be normal policy for hospitals not to allow patients to check in early for no medical reason, it is not normal policy everywhere in the world for hospitals to:
1. Require patients to confirm their hospital booking extremely early (before 12 weeks and sometimes as early as six weeks) and put down a deposit.
2. Pay a deposit based on a given price sheet and then be informed the prices have gone up but no refund if they choose to withdraw
3. Be bumped up to a more expensive room and be asked to pay not only double the cost for the room, but also double the cost for the doctor, and everything else. If you choose to not go with the more expensive room, you lose your deposit (which in the case of Adventist is HKD20,000), not a small amount. It is a tought call for awoman who has started labour may to do a u-turn and find her way to a public hospital having reached the private one and been told of the extra costs.
4. To charge people extra if their baby so happens to be born on a public holiday.
5. After all this expense, if there is a complication to ship people off to the nearest public hospital because the private hospital is not equipped.
Overall, this sitution is unfair and ridiculous. Yes, people can always go public but that the private hospitals seem to be on shaky ethical ground.
This is a completely normal policy at any hospital anywhere in the world. Why on earth would a hospital allow a healthy person to check into a hospital room FOR NO MEDICAL REASON a day before a planned procedure (assuming you are having a c-section)?
You seem very preoccupied and worried with the cost of this delivery and should perhaps consider booking through the public health system. The quality of care is high, if a c-section is medically necessary for mother or child it will be performed, otherwise you will have a natural birth (supported by appropriate pain management, including an epidural if you request it) at almost no cost if you are a HK resident.
