clarification on private and public hospital

N

NewBabyLA

Registered User
New to HKG and first pregnancy and just need clarification on booking hospitals. We have insurance. What is the difference between part public and part private prenatal checkups with doctors?

I have found a gyno - do we tell her which hospital we like to use, does she book it for us? Is it normal for her to deliver the baby or someone else.

First timers in HKG and pregnancy stories highly appreciated.
 
Hi NewBabyLA. I had my second child in Hong kong and I went with both private and public. I saw a private OB for my checkups and delivered in a public hospital.

What you do completely depends on your financial situation and your insurance cover. For a public hospital delivery it will cost you around $350HK but for a private delivery it can be $50,000 - $100,000HK.

I saw Dr. Doo for all of my checkups and then went to the hospital for my last month of check ups and then delivery. To go public you just get a letter to confirm you are pregnant and go to the hospital in your catchment area and register.

If you wish to go private you speak to your OB and they have specific hospitals that they deliver in so they will book you a bed in a private hospital and deliver your baby.

If you are choosing a private hospital you need to book quickly aparently because the beds get booked up qiute quickly.

For what it's worth I did not have any issues with the public system. I went overdue and ended up having a failed induction and an emergency c-section. My daughter was born healthily and we were in for 4 days. the total bill was $347HK.

The only issue you may have is visiting hours are very restrictive in public hospital compared with private hospitals.

If you have any specific questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Congratulations by the way!
 
if you elect to go private - make sure you don't do it through the public hosiptals (queen mary / prince of wales etc). since the doctors there are extremely busy and can't guarantee they will deliver for you (they are constantly on call, and they don't make a lot of money by offering their services to the private sector)....yes, that was my experience.

I was willing to pay for private services at the private section of the public hospital, by my doctor told me she can't guarantee she will be there if I am to deliver (personally wanted to guarantee 100% I knew the doctor that delivered for me as I had a bad experience with baby no. 1) when I was 33weeks! I guess I just "assumed" she'd be the one! Anyhow, want to make more people aware that there's no guarantee in the private section of the public hospital...they do their best, but they are always on call and may not be there.

good luck with everything!
 
Sure. the number is 2523 3007. It is the women's clinic in central. On the top of Geobaby there is also a directory. In there has the numbers of all the OBs, hospitals, GPs etc.

For what it is worth I found Dr. Doo to be fabulous. He is very supportive, caring and friendly and would go to him again if I had another baby. His English is fabulous also if that is a concern for you (I know it was for me because I had only just moved to hong kong 2 weeks prior to finding out I was pregnant and was nervous about not understanding the doctor)
 
Anyone know if Dr Doo delivers at QMH? And Cost of antenatal visits? I just want to make sure I'm financially equipped when I go see him.
 
No he doesnt. Private doctors are not allowed to deliver in QMH. You go for the visits private and then switch to public. Or if you have a private insurance or you are prepared to pay around 100k you can go private to Matilda, Adventist etc. Dr Doo was my OB and he was fabulous. He delivered my baby in Matilda hospital.He is one of the best ultrasound specialists in town. He charges around 2000HKD per visit with the scan - so it is pretty steep. I hear Patrick Chan is also very good but cheaper.
 
my appointments were $900 per consultation and $1000 for each scan I think. The bill was definitley $1900 per visit. I saw him every month for 7 months and my insurance covered that so it was not from my pocket. He has all the high tech equipment and the scanner is a 3D one where you really get to see facial features etc from early stages.
 
dr lam yung hang is also very good - great scans and very professional. he delivers private at the Sanatorium, matilda...costs about $1500 consultation and scan. his number is 2877 3280..no answering machine so you might have to ring for a while before a nurse picks up - they are extremely busy.
 
Thank you everyone - seems the cost is already piling up and I havent even seen anyone yet.

Has anyone just visited Dr Doo/Chan occassionally combined with public visit? Or do you visit several docs to balance the cost?

Thanks again
 
Dr Chan is great for if you want to deliver in the public hospital, and he's one of the cheaper "expat" doctors as well. I found him wonderful and would totally recommend him.
 
You need to decide first if you are going to deliver public or private. If public then only some private obs will take a patient who intends to deliver in the public system (Patrick Chan is one that does, plenty of others don't). I have friends who saw a private obs throughout their pregnancy (to avoid the LONG waits at the public hospital) and then delivered at QMH. Some did a combination to keep the costs down and only saw the private obs for the important scans at 12 weeks and 20 weeks.

If you are going for a private hospital delivery then, as above, you need to book very early (at 9 weeks) and your doctor will tell you which hospitals they can deliver in.

If you have full insurance then I would totally go for Matilda and then you can choose almost any of the obs.
 
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