Interesting. Which vaccinations would you say are probably better in the private sector?
Baby vaccinations and check-ups at the MCHCs
- Thread starter RileyC
- Start date
JayJay, I hear you and I can totally understand your frustration. It's unfortunate your experiences have not been good and that the MCHC was unable to do more for you and your children. I can see why the Hung Hom MCHC would be more popular with the mainlanders than the other MCHCs given it's proximity to the train station. I guess it's the workload, the sheer number of patients that need to be seen and the limited resources available. It shouldn't be that way, but I guess that's a problem that's found all over the world these days.
As I'm weighing up the pros and cons of MCHCs vs private, I do want to hear all the positives and negatives.
As I'm weighing up the pros and cons of MCHCs vs private, I do want to hear all the positives and negatives.
Thanks for the link
nicolejoy
Registered User
Off the top of my head: the Prevenar vaccine offered in the MCHC is the "Prevenar 10" which protects against 10 different strains or something, but the private pediatricians give "Prevenar 13" which has an extra 3 strains. Also, we chose to immunise our daughters against HiB and chickenpox - those vaccines are not offered through the MCHC so we had to go through the private pediatrician for those ones as well. Everything else, I believe, is the same.
nicolejoy
Registered User
JayJay - I'm really surprised and sad that you've had such a negative experience. Like you, I have a daughter who has had special medical needs. It was detected at 17 weeks of pregnancy that she had a possibly lethal skeletal malformation. Since then, I was followed very closely by the public hospital system, having a 4D ultrasound every 3-4 weeks, meeting with a geneticist who travelled from QEH to Tsan Yuk to see me, and meeting with the neonatologist who would be in charge of her care in the NICU when she was born.
At birth, she had problems breathing and other complications and she spent her first four months in NICU at QMH. After discharge, she has been seen by many specialists and therapists in the public system. So far, the different specialties that she sees are neonatology, ENT, plastic surgery (for cleft palate), pediatric dentist, orthopedic doctor, physiotherapist, occupational therapist and medical social workers. Some of the doctors I like more than others, some are better than others, but none of them I can fault on their medical expertise. My biggest frustrations are the long waiting times (once I waited nearly 3 hours for an orthopedic appointment) and sometimes the lack of "personal care" (although some of the doctors are brilliant at that as well).
I have found that in general, the doctors take all my concerns seriously. At the ENT appointment recently, I mentioned that hearing loss was common in her condition and while I know she can hear, her speech development was slower than my older daughter's and I was wondering if we could get her hearing retested - and they arranged that for me rather than just blowing me off. Also at our latest neonatology appointment, I mentioned that she seemed to be allergic to dairy and they referred me to the immunologist (yet another specialty) who will perform allergy testing on her.
This is my 2nd child, my first had no health complications and we always followed up through MCHC and had an overall positive experience there as well.
I'm sorry you have had a poor experience with the public system - but for many people, it can be and it is a positive experience.
At birth, she had problems breathing and other complications and she spent her first four months in NICU at QMH. After discharge, she has been seen by many specialists and therapists in the public system. So far, the different specialties that she sees are neonatology, ENT, plastic surgery (for cleft palate), pediatric dentist, orthopedic doctor, physiotherapist, occupational therapist and medical social workers. Some of the doctors I like more than others, some are better than others, but none of them I can fault on their medical expertise. My biggest frustrations are the long waiting times (once I waited nearly 3 hours for an orthopedic appointment) and sometimes the lack of "personal care" (although some of the doctors are brilliant at that as well).
I have found that in general, the doctors take all my concerns seriously. At the ENT appointment recently, I mentioned that hearing loss was common in her condition and while I know she can hear, her speech development was slower than my older daughter's and I was wondering if we could get her hearing retested - and they arranged that for me rather than just blowing me off. Also at our latest neonatology appointment, I mentioned that she seemed to be allergic to dairy and they referred me to the immunologist (yet another specialty) who will perform allergy testing on her.
This is my 2nd child, my first had no health complications and we always followed up through MCHC and had an overall positive experience there as well.
I'm sorry you have had a poor experience with the public system - but for many people, it can be and it is a positive experience.
solidstars
Registered User
we used the hung hom mchc too, longest wait was the first time, maybe about 2 hours? quickest record was about... 20 minutes, ran in, queue, jabbed, ran out.
the nurses were always friendly and very pro-breastfeeding. booking was easy since i always just booked when i was there for the next time, so i didn't really have to call in. my son had some issues when he was about 6-9 months old and we got a referral letter to the hospital in our area quite quickly too.
ps. maybe it's because we always pick weekday mornings to go?
the nurses were always friendly and very pro-breastfeeding. booking was easy since i always just booked when i was there for the next time, so i didn't really have to call in. my son had some issues when he was about 6-9 months old and we got a referral letter to the hospital in our area quite quickly too.
ps. maybe it's because we always pick weekday mornings to go?
I have been taking my daughter to the Lek Yuen (Shatin) MCHC for two years. Sure it's pretty busy but we have never waited more than 1 hour, apart from the very 1st appointment where we waited 3 hours for the paed to see baby. My husband and I would take turns to bring our daughter. It was workable for me to take 2 hours off work, bring her to the clinic at 9AM and be at my office at 11AM.
Yes there are mainland families there but none with trolleybags. They just look like regular families who live in the neighbourhood. The clinic is pretty busy but not chaotic. This is from 2 years of regular visits.
There were 3 vaccinations not on the MCHC list that I had done for my daughter at the GP: rotavirus, HIB & chickenpox. No big deal. I compared this against the vaccination package available at Union Hospital and realized how much I had saved in fees!
Yes there are mainland families there but none with trolleybags. They just look like regular families who live in the neighbourhood. The clinic is pretty busy but not chaotic. This is from 2 years of regular visits.
There were 3 vaccinations not on the MCHC list that I had done for my daughter at the GP: rotavirus, HIB & chickenpox. No big deal. I compared this against the vaccination package available at Union Hospital and realized how much I had saved in fees!
@nicolejoy
I'm probably as surprised as you are that you've had such a positive experience! I suppose it all boils down to luck and who gets assigned to your child.
Just like you, my children and I are no strangers to the public healthcare system. Due to prematurity, my twins spent time in the NICU. One spent 3 months while the other spent 5 months. The nurses and occupational therapists that looked after my children were brilliant and kind souls. The doctor assigned to my first-born was also great. She took initiative to reach out to us to update us. But everone else just made me want to pull my hair out.
I'm not going to hijack this thread with my rant but I'll say this. If you have any doubts at all about the quality of care in the public system, you're probably right and you would not be doing the wrong thing in seeking private healthcare.
I'm probably as surprised as you are that you've had such a positive experience! I suppose it all boils down to luck and who gets assigned to your child.
Just like you, my children and I are no strangers to the public healthcare system. Due to prematurity, my twins spent time in the NICU. One spent 3 months while the other spent 5 months. The nurses and occupational therapists that looked after my children were brilliant and kind souls. The doctor assigned to my first-born was also great. She took initiative to reach out to us to update us. But everone else just made me want to pull my hair out.
I'm not going to hijack this thread with my rant but I'll say this. If you have any doubts at all about the quality of care in the public system, you're probably right and you would not be doing the wrong thing in seeking private healthcare.
nicolejoy
Registered User
Can I ask which hospital your twins were at? We were at QMH and do most of our follow-ups at QMH and Duchess of Kent. We have also been to QEH (geneticist - oh I forgot him in that list of specialists before!), the Prince Phillip Dental Hospital (they were BRILLIANT, the best doctor's I've ever seen in HK. Although technically are they doctors or dentists??) and Pamela Youde.
I do agree with you that WHOEVER you are seeing, it's wise to get second opinions and do your own research about things as well - and if you're EVER in doubt that your child is not getting the care they need, go to every single doctor you can until you find one who will take you seriously - regardless of public or private.
I do agree with you that WHOEVER you are seeing, it's wise to get second opinions and do your own research about things as well - and if you're EVER in doubt that your child is not getting the care they need, go to every single doctor you can until you find one who will take you seriously - regardless of public or private.
We've had pretty good experiences with the public clinics as well. The first time is always longest because I guess they have to register you into the system and you usually need to see the doctor as well. We don't have insurance that covers immunizations either so we're doing most of the shots there and then got the HIB one with the booster at 18 months. With that one, my little one actually experienced the most pain from so it seems that the nurses at the MCHC are better at it 