Is dr. Alfred Tam good?

My friend recommended him and said she trusts him with her life, so I thought I give him a try. He saw my baby for about 5 minutes (we took her for her vaccination) and then asked a nurse to to do it. His consultation fees are not cheap and I expected him to do it. I also felt that he was rushing us as well. That was the first and last time we saw him.

Hope that helps
 
My experience of Dr Tam is quite different. We were sent to him when our eldest son had suspected pneumonia. He was very calm, though showed a definite concern for our son's health. He hospitalised him, as it turned out to be pneumonia. His care whilst he was in hospital was excellent. He is obviously an extremely busy doctor. My husband was out of the country at the time and flew back as soon as he heard the news. Dr Tam spoke to my husband on the telephone for over half an hour explaining everything about our son's illness and treatment, also answering the myriad of questions that my husband had. He was also wonderful with me, as he could obviously see that I was frantic, having a sick child and no husband to lean on. He did his rounds every day and one afternoon, telephoned to say that he may be a little late, as he was giving a lecture that evening. He actually did his rounds at 11pm that night and still had time to discuss things fully with me. I think that's complete dedication, especially when you consider he has a family of his own.
The following year our son caught type A influenza and was again hospitalised. Our GP tried to recommend another paediatrician, but I had no hesitation whatsoever in going back to Dr Tam. His calm, caring, knowledgeable manner was exactly what we needed when our son was having a medical crisis. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending him to anyone and should we need a paediatrician in an emergency again he will be the first one we call (hopefully we won't ever have to).
Just something to think about-at home in the UK our health visitors do the immunisations of babies and you wouldn't take your child to see a doctor to do it.

I hope that helps.
 
We see Dr. Tam too. My DD had jaundice when she was born and had to be rehospitalized due to the severity of it. In hindsight, we now know it takes time for the bilirubin to leave her body but we were very worried then and Dr. Tam was very reassuring and caring during the time. He called both me and my husband to explain to us and took the time to answer all our questions.

Yes, he is very busy and his clinic is always full, but I just feel he has that extra touch with my DD and he is friendly and caring towards the kids. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him.

I agree it's not uncommon for nurses to administer vaccines.
 
My son, who is now 3-1/2, has seen Dr. Tam since birth. And we requested him to be our doctor since my daughter was born in the hospital, she is now 2-1/2. He has always been responsible, responsive, informative, professional, and good with babies/toddlers. He came to see my daughter everyday for the 4 days that we were in the hospital. When she was nearly 1, she was admitted to Canossa for Rotavirus, and we spent 2 nights (including Christmas eve) in the hospital. Again, Dr. Tam came to see us twice a day even though it was holiday season. Throughout the years I have paged him several times, he always returns my calls promptly, and I have even spoken to him while we were out of town on holiday when the kids came down with something.

He is a very popular doctor, you'll see him on TV and magazines, etc. but I do feel he takes the time to see us properly. Especially at the Canossa baby clinic, I feel he is far more relaxed about time when he's seeing the well babies.

Several times we've not been able to get an appointment with him because he's fully book, in which case I speak with the nurses who then relay the situation to Dr. Tam, and then he either decides to squeeze us in or to tell me to pick up some medicine either at his clinic or at Canossa.

Even with an appointment, it's not uncommon to wait for over an hour as he usually gets delayed or called away. The nurses do their best to keep you informed, and it's always a good idea to call (several times) before you leave the house to check how late he will be.

Overall, I think he's a great doctor and a nice person. Recently we've started seeing less of him as I'm trying to go a more natural path instead of relying on western medicine all the time. Sometimes I do feel he's a bit liberal with the medicine, but I feel better taking the medicine home with me and deciding not to use it, rather than not taking the medicine and making another appointment with him when the kids get worse (both situations have happened to us before).

He's very well-dressed, and on first impression, he seems too stylish to be good with babies, but he's actually very gentle and quite good at baby talk!

Every mother and child will prefer a different style (and price range). I think Dr. Tam is a good doctor to give a try.
 
In HK, I understand that every time a doctor visits the patients in the hospital, he charges at least $800-$2000 bucks (PER VISIT). Could that be a reason why some doctors "don't mind" visiting their patients, doing their rounds a couple of times a day? I would only say those that don't charge every single visit with an astronomical price tag are nice doctors. Otherwise, what is so ultra nice about them coming to visit you, it's their professional responsibility to look after you when you engage them to be your doctor.
 
And that is exactly what they are doing. I fail to see your point. That they get paid for doing their job, what else would you expect. That they get paid alot of money for doing their job-so they should do, on the two occasions that Dr Tam looked after my son, his life was literally in his hands. My point is that he did his job and more. The original question was 'Is Dr Tam a good Doctor?' I would say his manner, his knowledge and the fact that he is willing to spend time explaining things (when he could be onto the next patient making more money) makes him a good doctor.
 
Yes doctors get paid to visit the patients at the hospitals but there are other factors involved in deciding whether he is nice. My grandpa had a stroke and went in a coma a few years ago and the dr. who came to visit him at Canossa just spent about 3 mins with us each time. He sounded patronizing and condescending.

I also forgot to mention that once I called Dr. Tam at 11:30 pm because my DD came up with a 105 fever and he returned my call within a minute. In my opinion, he is a great doctor and I trust him.
 
I'm sorry to hear about the treatment that your grandpa received, that was unforgiveable. I can see why you would feel critical of some doctors. But as you have said Dr Tam is not like this, he is a great doctor, as you have agreed and that was what the original poster was asking.
 
Thanks everyone for the experience sharing!! Will give Dr. Tam a try. hopefully can schedule an appointment with him this week...
 
Jools ~ I was just responding to the poster who said that docs who don't charge astronomical prices are nice doctors. I gave an example where a doctor who charges this price tag but was impatient and not nice to his patient and family members.
 
My sister's doctor told her that they usually get the nurses to administer the vaccinations so that the child does not associate pain with the doctor (so hopefully can have a friendly relationship with the doctor as opposed to being scared of seeing the doctor).

I thought that made a lot of sense and just wanted to share that point of view.
 
Went to see Dr. Tam today. He is awesome!! He is expensive indeed but I think he's worth it.

He is good with baby, thorough in his examination and explanation, and is approachable and patient.
 
Alfred Tam

Dr. Tam is very good but too busy. My son threw up 6 times within several hours and I could not get him to call me back. I ditched him and went for Dr. Dannie Ting instead. She is SO great.. you can always see her on the same day if there's an urgent problem.
 
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