Expensive Antenatal Package

hi slee,
who is dr ho? can you give me his/her full name?

hi jomom,
your paediatrician fee of 15k seems quite high. was that refered by milton leung or hospital? would it have been possible to choose your own?
As for the pricing package, i did receive two different prices for dr doo depending on which room i choose. but maybe dr leung just has a fixed price as he is already more expensive than the others.
 
Hi Avi,
The pediatrician was referred by Dr Leung. The staff at his clinic did ask me if I had one in mind. As I was new to HK, I did not know anyone.
Up to now, I still wonder if the pediatrician's charge should have been cheaper since he was not present during the birth.

As for the anaesthetist, I was also asked by Dr Leung & the hospital and at the end the hospital recommended one. He was a good one. My husband and him did chat in the operating theater :)
 
Dr. Philip Ho. There is a review of him on the geobaby homepage along with his contact details. He has delivered 6 babies of four friends now and as I said before they all found him great - very unusual for a group of women to be in concensus! Another great thing about him is that her will deliver at Adventist and Canossa which are a lot cheaper than Matilda and aren't known for adding hidden costs to your final bill.
 
Slee said:
Another great thing about him is that he will deliver at Adventist and Canossa which are a lot cheaper than Matilda and aren't known for adding hidden costs to your final bill.
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Slee the hospitals are in the business of making money. So yes, they will charge you for everything that is not included in their maternity package.
 
I didn't have insurance either. I cut down on the costs by visiting my dr (Sally Fergusson) for the first few monthly appointments. Then when I needed more regular check-ups I registered with a public hospital, which is completely free apart from $60 if you need any tests or scans done. I went back to Sally occasionally, just because I found seeing a Western dr quite reassuring as she would explain things differently to me. However, on the whole I was very impressed with the public health system.
I got a antental classes, doula and post-natal package from annerly midwives for about $12,000 and I ended up giving birth at Queen Mary's, which cost just $260.
Was ever so impressed with the public hospital. I arrived almost fully dilated and my boyfriend stayed with me throughout the birth. They let him cut the cord and took pictures of us, then left us alone with the baby for half an hour. The wards were bright and clean and I got a reasonable amount of rest. If I had another baby in Hong Kong I'd do the same again.
Kerys x
 
Registration Process.

Hi Keri,

Thanks for the info. I had my 21st week scan/checkup with my private doctor yesterday. Since he suggested me on delivering my twins in the Queen Mary Hospital, I inquired about the registration process. Is it true that you need to register in the Tsan Yuk Hospital (public-Hospital Road) first and then only can deliver in Queen Mary? or did you go to Queen Mary straight? Please suggest

I have made an appointment in Tsan Yuk Hospital (just in case).
 
Hi Avi
That does sound expensive, although I do agree that it's very important to be comfortable with your obs. - especially if it's your first birth.

If you're not that fussed, however, and you are really concerned about the cost I wouldn't worry too much about changing at such a late stage.

With my first baby I was in the public system, so had a different doctor (different sex, different seniority, different attitude!) at just about every appointment and had no idea who would actually deliver my baby until he turned up. Looking about twelve years oldhttp://forum.geobaby.com/misc.php?action=getsmilies&s=#.

It certainly made me more nervous about the birth but was fine in the end.

This time I thought I was sorted as I decided to go private (despite lack of insurance), but my doctor decided to skip the country last month so I've changed obs. at 32 weeks. I saw Sally Fergusson yesterday and she was lovely - she's at the Shui On too - and I feel that I still have plenty of time to get to know her before the birth. Remember that your antenatal appointments will be much more frequent and intense in later pregnancy, so you'll actuallly be spending more time with your doctor at this stage.

I think you have plenty of time to make the change, in other words!

Bernard
 
Hi Avi
That does sound expensive, although I do agree that it's very important to be comfortable with your obs. - especially if it's your first birth.

If you're not that fussed, however, and you are really concerned about the cost I wouldn't worry too much about changing at such a late stage.

With my first baby I was in the public system, so had a different doctor (different sex, different seniority, different attitude!) at just about every appointment and had no idea who would actually deliver my baby until he turned up. Looking about twelve years old.
It certainly made me more nervous about the birth but was fine in the end.

This time I thought I was sorted as I decided to go private (despite lack of insurance), but my doctor decided to skip the country last month so I've changed obs. at 32 weeks. I saw Sally Fergusson yesterday and she was lovely - she's at the Shui On too - and I feel that I still have plenty of time to get to know her before the birth. Remember that your antenatal appointments will be much more frequent and intense in later pregnancy, so you'll actuallly be spending more time with your doctor at this stage.

I think you have plenty of time to make the change, in other words!

Bernard
 
Rani, good point but if you're paying your own way I'd definitely recommend Adventist and Cannossa over Matilda solely because from friend's experiences it seems the best way to keep control of the final cost of the whole experience.

Personally, I have insurance so have no problem with Matilda recouping my premiums and some :-) Yes, a very selfish attitude but the whole reason I took out super douper insurance.
 
Recently had a caesar at Adventist. Stayed in one extra night (6 nights in total) due to jaundice. Total cost was $117k!! Paediatrician was $2000 per day - I paid a total of $14k for this (Dr Joseph Pang) - visits at his office are $700 each (just had one for a checkup and included $200 for hep b vaccination). Don't have the breakdown of fees in front of me but each item (eg anaes, ob/gyn) ended up costing more than quoted. Ob/gyn charged $1500 per visit in hospital (6 visits = total of $9k).
 
Hi Avi and Lia,

We had our baby at Matilda in Dec 2003. No insurance either! Our paed is Dr KN Chan and he charged us $900/day to check in on the baby immediately after birth and twice a day, plus all initial meds/ vaccines before leaving hospital. We still see him now and it's $560/ visit. Vacc range from $200-1200, depending on what it is. This was the cheapest deal we found at that time and we've been really happy with him.

Avi, our Ob was Dr Dawkins, and he was about $22,000 regardless of the type of delivery or the room you have. How shocking that someone would increase their fees just because you have a private room!!!

We had a 3bed at Matilda (only 2 of us were in there, and it was very private) and all in we paid $33,000 for Matilda and $22,000 for Dr Dawkins (including 6wk postnatal checkup). We had a natural - used delivery room for 3 days and epi.

Also, our midwife - Yvonne Heavyside - has a package, can't remember exactly how much, but it was less than $3000 for 5 or 6 hour long visits, and that included 4 sets of tunnel charges per visit which we offered to pay her for.

Hope this helps in some way!
 
Doula & Co.

Hi Everybody,

I'm going to give birth for the first time at the beginning of may and I'm trying to get as much information as I can about hospital costs in order to decide where I will deliver!
I wrote down an estimation of total costs for natural delivery in a 4 bedroom at the Adventist and it turned out being a little bit cheaper than 40,000 HK$. Of course my gyn is not too expensive compared with others: he charges 10,000 HK$ for the delivery. Is this price correct? Can anyone who gave birth in the Adventist in a 4 bedroom confirm this quotation? Our insurance only covers 50,000 Hk$ and I'm afraid of the hidden charges that always come out in the final bill.

Also, are the gyn and the obstetrician the same thing? A friend of mine had to pay for both separately when she gave birth but I cannot figure out the difference -she paid 2,800 $ for the ob + 25,000 for the gyn! My gyn only mentioned the anestethist and the pediatrician fee, but he never told me about any ob. fee.

Last question: could someone please tell me what is "Doula"? I read about it a couple of times in the forum but I have no idea of what it is!

Thanks in advance for you replies!
Fio
 
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High prices

It was high prices like those that led me to become a private patient at a public hospital. Everything included cost about $25 K, which matched my medical benefit. If I ever had another child, I would go for the public system the whole way - antenatal checks at Maternal Child Health Centre (free!) and birth in a public hospital and stay on a public ward (I think HK$100 per day now...).

HK$ 76,000 or HK$ 100,000 - that's your kid's entire pre-school education right there - or almost 2 years of a domestic helper's salary.

- MiserMama
 
loupou,

How long ago did you have your baby. Cos I understand this system is no more and if you go private you've got to pay for everything all way long....
 
fio9372 said:
Hi Everybody,

I'm going to give birth for the first time at the beginning of may and I'm trying to get as much information as I can about hospital costs in order to decide where I will deliver!
I wrote down an estimation of total costs for natural delivery in a 4 bedroom at the Adventist and it turned out being a little bit cheaper than 40,000 HK$. Of course my gyn is not too expensive compared with others: he charges 10,000 HK$ for the delivery. Is this price correct? Can anyone who gave birth in the Adventist in a 4 bedroom confirm this quotation? Our insurance only covers 50,000 Hk$ and I'm afraid of the hidden charges that always come out in the final bill.

Also, are the gyn and the obstetrician the same thing? A friend of mine had to pay for both separately when she gave birth but I cannot figure out the difference -she paid 2,800 $ for the ob + 25,000 for the gyn! My gyn only mentioned the anestethist and the pediatrician fee, but he never told me about any ob. fee.

Last question: could someone please tell me what is "Doula"? I read about it a couple of times in the forum but I have no idea of what it is!

Thanks in advance for you replies!
Fio
Click to expand...



Hi!
10k for normal delivery seems quite reasonable. Would appreciate if you could share who your Dr is?
 
Private patient at public hospital

My second child was born 7 years and 4 days ago. I have a friend who used this system about 2 years ago. I called PWH and was told at present only 1 OB is authorized to have private patients. If you want, you can pm and I will give you the telephone number to book w/ his secretary (that is, if you want to deliver at PWH).
 
I am seeing Dr Dawkins now, but he no longer offers the packages as previously mentioned. He is on a "pay as you go" system now.
 
I noticed that Dr Dawkins is no longer in the Central QHC practice. Where has he moved to? I always found it an oxymoron that he charged such reasonable fees but will only deliver at the most expensive hospital!
 
Trying to find Dr Dawkins

Does anyone know where Dr Dawkins is nowadays? He isnt at the number on the ob list anymore?

I am expecting baby 2 now and want to try him out!
 
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