I've just had my first natural cycle IUI. This is my experience with Central Health (Grace Cheung) and Women's Clinic (May Mok and M Leong). I started with fertility tests with my GP at Central Health, who then referred me to Grace Cheung for HSG. The HSG was done at Matilda, and I found the nurses there very friendly and warm. Central Health is super busy at all hours whether you are seeing a GP or the OB. It pays to call around 30 mins prior to your appointment to see if your doc is running late. I've never experienced an on time appointment at Central Health (CH), usually waiting around 45 mins after my scheduled appointment time. There will be times when you arrive at the clinic but your OB is still not there. Ambience wise, CH is rather chaotic, there's patients coming in and out and the waiting area is crowded. That said, they have a separate pharmacy and cashier, which means after your appointment, you can get out of there fairly quickly (in contrast to Womens Clinic which I'll talk about later). Whilst Grace was professional, I sensed an impatience with her when I was asking questions about IUI. So I thought I should at least try another OB, and after much researching, decided to make an appointment with May Mok. Apparently Milton Leong is the famous OB at the clinic, but May Mok is not as busy and therefore her appointments tend to run on time (or within reasonable waiting period). The Womens Clinic has a much nicer ambience, spacious waiting room, and generally less chaotic than Central Health. That said, Central Health has both a general practice and OBs and a paediatrician, meaning there's usually screaming babies/kids around. May Mok is professional and I decided to proceed with my first natural cycle IUI with her. What I wasn't aware of is that in HK, to conduct any ART, you need to sign consent forms and produce your marriage certificate. Having packed up all our belongings back in our home country, I had some trouble getting a duplicate issued by the official registry back home. That delayed things a little. Then we had to undergo the blood tests, which nobody calls you to tell you the results, you have to ask. During the routine follicle tracking scans, not a lot is explained to you. I had to pretty much do my own research as to what is a 'good follicle size', and I still don't understand what the semen analysis numbers means. The most frustrating thing is the way checkout works at Womens Clinic. They have 2 cashiers (also the pharmacy) and you wait in a small room to pay/collect meds if any. The wait is around 20-30 mins, this is after having to wait for the OB!! Completely unacceptable. The nurses do not seem to be in any hurry to get the patients out fast.
As Dr Mok was unavailable when the timing for IUI was right, Dr Milton Leong took over. My first IUI appointment was 1 hour late, though I did call beforehand and knew this. However, if you did not call, you would be sitting in the waiting room for 1 hour. If you work, this makes things more stressful if you did not take leave and need to be back in the office. The actual procedure is simple, painless (except slight twinge when they insert the sperm) and you lie down for 15-30 mins. Though the nurse forgot to come get me afterwards and some random guy (presumably another OB/husband?) accidentally walked in my room as I was lying down after the IUI.
Dr Leong was friendly and explained what he was doing along the way, but he didn't have time to explain the semen analysis to me.
Cost wise: Each scan costs HK1500, the IUI $2000 (they recommend back to back IUI, 2 days in a row) and semen washing $1,100. In total, 4 scans plus 2 IUI costs HK12,000, no medication. This is for 1 cycle. Bloodtests and lab tests pre-IUI cost around $5,500.
It would've been nice if the OB can spend time explaining the reports, progress etc with you, but they are really busy and are in and out of the room in 5 mins. I found out more through google. That said, I think all OB are busy in HK, especially the more 'famous' ones. My conclusion is that you have to accept the waiting periods, the lack of personalised care, and do your own homework on the procedures you want done.
