Giving Birth In Public Hospitals

[taysty]

@ cathryn

I remembered that one of my director's boss whom is a mainlander came to stay at QM before. As she does not hold a HKID she need to pay $100K as refundable deposit also the room rates are very high. I remember she said it's equalivent to shangri-la HK per night or even more than that.

 

[carang]

yes, mainlanders have to pay that fee. it's because they were coming over the border in droves to give birth, many times without any pre-natal care and were costing the hk gov't so much money. they had to stem the flow somehow.

 

[rani]

The Gov't now has a package for non-local Mums. Packages start at $39K

http://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/conjoint/131030e.pdf

 

[charade]

I delivered at United Christian in Kwun Tong and did not have the baby with me round the clock for the first two nights. I have to say i was grateful because I was zapped after the delivery and maybe because my milk hadn't come in or something my baby would gnaw away at my nipples for TWO HOURS! The practice there seemed to be to take the baby away adn bring him in for scheduled feeding times for the first couple of days, and for the third day encourage mums to keep the baby with them. I guess it depends which hospital...but I have to say they are very pro-breastfeeding. After two hours (which really I think was a stretch) the nurses would come and ask if I wanted to feed the baby formula. If I said yes, they would cup feed him so there is no nipple confusion. The first time I said no, and they accepted that.

 

[nicolejoy]

Thanks for all the info Nicole. I was going to look into the Adventist Private Hospital, can you tell me why you would particularly go for Matilda? Do you know anything about Adventist?

Thanks

It's mostly because Adventist is not significantly cheaper than Matilda but I've heard overall MUCH better things about Matilda. I'm not 100% sure if the baby is able to room in in a shared room at Adventist, but the baby is definitely allowed to room in in a shared room at Matilda. To me, that is a "make or break" issue though. I think probably Adventist is the "next best" to Matilda from what I've heard though.

I know someone who had a poor experience at Adventist though. She delivered by C section but the maternity ward was full so she had to be in the surgical ward and was therefore separated from her baby. I know that is an unusual situation and it's not the norm for Adventist, but still it puts me off.

For me personally, rooming in is THE main issue in what I look for in a hospital, particularly over here, and it is practically guaranteed at Matilda and public hospitals (except for medical issues, which public hospitals tend to be more cautious about, putting the baby in special care over some relatively minor things in my opinion), but not so much in most of the private hospitals (although if you get a private room in a private hospital, I think many places will allow you to room in - just not in shared rooms...)

 

[thanka2]

It's mostly because Adventist is not significantly cheaper than Matilda but I've heard overall MUCH better things about Matilda. I'm not 100% sure if the baby is able to room in in a shared room at Adventist, but the baby is definitely allowed to room in in a shared room at Matilda. To me, that is a "make or break" issue though. I think probably Adventist is the "next best" to Matilda from what I've heard though.

I am registered at Tsuen Wan Adventist and the baby is taken away from you and placed in the nursery. This is their protocol to avoid cross-contamination as the wards are public wards. To avoid this you can book a private room and pay a lot more for it but then the baby is only allowed to stay with you and can't go back to the nursery. I don't know about the other Adventist hospital--possibly the same.

 

[cathryn]

Thank you everyone for all your information and help. Nicole - I have decided to try the Matilda first after what you have told me to see if I can get in there first, esp as I had a c-section with my first child so I may well need one with the 2nd, so your friends experience didn't sound good.

So I contacted the Matilda and they have told me I need to book an appointment with an obstetrician first who will then try to arrange the booking in. They have given me a list of obstetricians who frequent the hospital, so can anyone recommend any of the following)

Dr. Chan Patrick Sai Lock
Dr. Cheung Grace Wai Yan
Dr. Doo Alexander Kenneth
Dr. Ferguson Sally Anne
Dr. Ghosh Arabinda
Dr. Lord Lucy
Dr. Stevenson Robert

Thanks alot

 

[taysty]

My baby was delivered by Dr Patrick Chan. Experience with him is quite pleasant though I'm uncertain if the sunction bruise on my baby's head is caused by him? However, thinking deeply it might be just to do with what I prefer. I told him I had strong preference for a vaginal delivery. Anyway, I'm a bit off topic. He is a very nice man, spend time on consultation, answer all your questions and etc. He always give you stats like the percentage of this occurring and so on. When I'm due and page him he return my calls like less than 2 minutes. Only once, it takes him more than 15 minutes. Guess, his caught up on something. He didn't stress me out during my whole pregnancy which is quite important as I had miscarriage before.

To make things short. I highly recommend him.

 

[nicolejoy]

I also highly recommend Dr Patrick Chan. I saw him with my second daughter and he was fantastic with me. He is also good for if you deliver public, some private doctors don't like to see public patients but he treated me just as well as if he was delivering the baby. I can't speak highly enough of him!!

 

[RileyC]

yes, mainlanders have to pay that fee. it's because they were coming over the border in droves to give birth, many times without any pre-natal care and were costing the hk gov't so much money. they had to stem the flow somehow.

Yes, and some (though not all) mainlanders would leave without paying their already low public hospital fees.