Private OB with public system delivery.

[SarahinHK]

Hi all,

From reading the forums, and having seen a midwife already, I fully understand how the private vs. public health system works in HK in regards to pre and post natal care. I understand that in the public system there is no one doctor that you regularly see and that the baby will be delivered by whoever is on duty at any given time.

What I was hoping to do however, and I understand quite a few mums do this, is to see a private OB for the bulk of my pregnancy before registering at Tsan Yuk later in the pregnancy (say at 30 weeks or so) for a delivery at Queen Mary. The midwife told me however that a lot of private OBs in HK will not take on patients if they plan to deliver in the public system.

What I hoped was to get a few recommendations for private OBs that take on patients that will ultimately deliver in the public system, and any mum's experiences with these doctors. Hoping to find a nice doctor and nurse given I'm not too good with the medical stuff, ie. bit of a needle phobe!

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

 

[Dink]

Hi there - I am delivering at Queen Mary and see Dr Patrick Chan, he has a good manner, is reassuring, happy to answer questions etc. and seems to have no problem with us not delivering at a private hospital. He's also cheap compared to some (though I suspect that some of the doctors increase the rates once they know you have insurance, and since we don't have, maybe he keeps the rates low for us).

 

[hk1]

I'm delivering at Queen Mary and I see Dr. Ghosh as my private doctor. He is not cheap but I really like him.

 

[mariavh]

I delivered at Queen Mary last September and saw Dr Anne Fang in Causeway Bay. Each visit was around HK$900 excluding blood tests and downs syndrome test. Dr Fang is very professional, yet a little "motherly" sometimes! Lovely lady!

 

[nicolejoy]

I delivered at Queen Mary and I started out seeing Dr Phillip Ho - but I found him quite "dismissing" when we told him we wanted to deliver at QMH so I stopped seeing him - next time around, I want to look for someone else who is more willing to do all the prenatal stuff but not the delivery...

 

[mwong222]

my wife is seeing Dr. Ma in causeway bay. 600HKD per visit. Not so bad. Answers questions that i have but i don't have many questions. So doctor visit usually about 10 mins or less (not inlcuding the waiting time. Is this normal? Recommended by colleague. I already registered for QMH when i saw this doctor.

unless Tsan Yuk is far from where you live, it is probably better if you just do all the checkups in Tsan Yuk. we do both checkups with the private OB and at Tsan Yuk. the only difference i see is that the private OB always does the ultrasound. Depending on different reports, this is either bad or ok for the child.

if you are going public at QMH, the visits to Tsan Yuk are free (i am assuming you have HKID). So it would only cost you round trip taxi fare. i think the doctors there are fine. the only thing is that the wait times are very long compared to private OB.

 

[SarahinHK]

Thanks for the replies. I had been hoping to get a few recommendations together and make a few phone calls to different OBs but ended up with heavy bleeding on Friday night/Saturday morning so ended up ringing Dr. Stevenson in Central (I had heard that Dr. Sue Baldwin was great but as she is only a GP they recommended I see Dr. Stevenson the OB straight away) and got an emergency appointment for that day. He seemed nice enough and answered all of our questions so was the best I could have hoped for at such late notice. His nurse was just lovely, so that really helped. I expected a hefty bill but not the $2500 it ended up costing - ouch!

My husband is still not keen on a public system delivery so we are still in major discussions about what to do!

 

[goodbye kitty]

Does anyone know how many appointments (on average) are given during a pregnancy in the public system and at what stages?

 

[mwong222]

we started going through the public system at about 6 months (because i didn't know i was coming to HK until then), but it seems like once a month same as private OB (we always book then on back to back days). No idea if it is different on last month. I am hoping this month is the last time we have to see doctor before baby is born (due next month).

 

[Nic]

I delivered at QMH last March and unless things have changed your appointments become weekly for the last month in the public system at least.