How much does it cost to have a baby in HK?

J

JohnO

Registered User
I just found out that my wife is pregnant, and would like to get an idea of how much it will cost to give birth so that I can prepare accordingly.

I am here in HK on a work visa, and my wife has a dependant visa. I have heard from some that the cost could be as high as 50k and some have said the cost could be as low as 500 dollars - but they weren't sure if that applied only to permanent residents, or anyone with an ID card.

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
John
 
Does anyone know what the story is for kids if they have health problems then. Are children of people with visas resident- I thought that was only after 7 years, or is the difference that is permanent residency. I am surprised if they make children pay but not the adults?

Just curious:thanks
 
Hi Rani,

I took a look at a couple of threads and came close to jumping out of the window after seeing some of the prices :-) I am assuming those costs are for a private hospital, right?

This child is a little unexpected so I have found myself quite unprepared financially. Do you know if public hospitals are ok, or am I a naive and awful father-to-be for even considering it?

Thanks again,
John
 
:haha: I know what you mean!

Public hospitals are absolutley fine. You'll see a lot of members go the public route.
 
Hi JohnO

Yep, pretty darn expensive if you go private all the way, and are not covered by insurance. When I was doing my costing, total fee (hospital stay, OB-GYN's delivery charges, paed, anesthetist, ante-natal checks) would have come up to HK$150k.

If you opt for private, check out packages offered by the hospitals (also check hospitals on the Kowloon side - no need to restrict yourself to hospitals on HK island). The packages do cover the full range of ante-natal check ups, ultrasounds, and hospital stay. Make sure you BOOK A PLACE now.

If you decide to go with public health care, I heard Queen Mary is pretty good.

:)
 
Thank you. You've been extremely helpful. Now I just have to face the reality that I am going to be a father. And for someone who can barely tie his own shoes, this is not going to be the easiest of tasks :-)

John
 
Hi John-

If it helps at all, I'm an expat married to a HK Chinese, I am here on a dependent visa as well. If you and your wife have HK ID cards, you should be able to use the public system with no problem. That's what we are doing because like you said, the costs for private hospitals are insane. My baby is due in one week and we are planning to go to Queen Mary Hospital. We also have a 4 year old daughter (born in the US, though), and though she's not old enough to have her own ID card, we have had no problem taking her to local doctors and getting the "local" price.

As for costs, if you do the maternity check ups and everything through the government/public system, the costs are very low. Pretty much every appointment is free, except for special tests, the ultrasound and things like that. The hospital stay is also very inexpensive. I've heard that the hospital bill won't be more than about $500.

If you opt to go to private doctors, of course the cost will be much higher. Also, when you need to take your kid to the doctor, you can always ask what their costs are before deciding on actually using that doctor. If you ask a lot of other expats they will probably tell you about their doctors that charge upwards of $500 or more per visit (but I'm assuming they have insurance???), but if you go the local route, it's usually between $200-300. And that includes medicine.

I hope that helps some.
 
Doesn't matter if you have permanent ID card or not, all you need to use govt. health system is a HK ID card regardless of your nationality.
 
Hi JohnO,

I'm an expat, here on a dependants visa.
I delivered at Queen Mary Hospital last September and it was excellent.
It cost a grand total of $250.

I opted for a private obstetrictian for my pre-natal care, which cost just under $10,000.

The pre-natal care in the public system is fine, just a little inconvenient with long waits.

Your baby is automatically covered under the public system, and is entitled to free checkups and vaccinations.
 
Very helpful and reassuring news about the costs and whose entitled to use the public health system. Thanks all.

John
 
Queen Mary was great. Delivered 2 babies there. With the second one we checked out after less than 24hrs so only got charged one night's bed and I think the bill was only 100 or 200 bucks... Unless you have company health package which pays for private, you would be crazy to consider private.

If you do a search for public hospitals or QMH on this forum you will find lots of previous threads with information on public hospitals, many of which I have contributed to profusely!
 
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