MCHC - what do they do?

A

Aquarian

Registered User
I went through the public system for the birth of my son, and have since attended the MCHC in Hang Hau. Our first appointment was great, the doctor really took her time to give my little one a thorough check up and the wait wasn't that long.

We went again last week for what I had been told was his 'one month check'. We ended up there for 3 hours, during which time he had is weight checked by one nurse, his head measured by another nurse, his jaundice level checked (at our request) by a doctor and was finally given his Hep B jab by a 3rd nurse.

When I expressed surprise to the doctor that she wasn't going to do a proper check up (lungs/heart etc etc), she said that the clinic "only does vaccinations" and I should talk to a private doctor if I wanted to discuss my baby.

I was really surprised - I thought the MCHCs did check ups as well as vaccinations, or have I misunderstood?
 
It's not like seeing a pediatrician, they deal more with developmental stuff. So they do vaccinations as well as height/weight checks. They also will do milestone checks at regular intervals and if there are any red flags, you can get referrals to public doctors or therapists to help with those things. They also give breastfeeding advice/support, as well as weaning advice/support... they can also give family planning advice (some clinics, mine does for sure) and can give birth control virtually for free. I think if you were expecting pediatrician check ups, maybe you did have the wrong idea - but I still think they are valuable and are under-utilised particularly by expats. I've been to ours heaps over the years and think it's fantastic (although I've never had to wait more than about an hour!)
 
excellent summary by nicole. they do some very in depth checks at various developmental stages and the vaccinations, but they are not pediatrician visits in the least.
 
thanks both, I would of course go to a doctor if my baby was sick, but I guess I thought the 'one month check' would be more than just a head and weight measurement.

Also I asked the receptionist about the wait and she says it would always be 2-3 hours, and I would see a nurse not a doctor.

So overall I was quite disappointed compared to our first check there and I'm not sure whether just to go private from now on.

Have you found the developmental checks they do are frequent enough?
 
yes, their developmental checks are frequent enough. the vaccinations are free of charge and the longest i waited was about 2 hours... but that was years and years ago...
 
I go to Anne Black MCHC in North Point - I've never waited for more than about an hour. I do think that the developmental checks are frequent enough - if a child is "borderline" with something, they will do another check a few months later just to follow up. I've had friends who through their MCHC check ups have had referrals to public physio, occupational therapy and speech therapy or other developmental check ups. My younger daughter has dwarfism so we have done a lot of the developmental check ups through Duchess of Kent Childrens hospital (where children who have developmental delays are often referred) and they have been fabulous. Through Duchess of Kent, the 18 month developmental check up was about 90 min long and very thorough (at the MCHC, it is also probably the most thorough developmental check up, but much shorter than that for most typically developing kids). While I have my frustrations about the public health care system here, this is one area where I think they are VERY good at. The waits are the most annoying but if you know, you can take snacks and entertainment and bear with it. You can't beat the price either.
 
I agree the MCHCs are great. Though I guess I'm pretty lucky as I'm usually in and out in under 45 minutes.
 
Hang Hau MCHC is particularly busy so try to make an appointment first thing in the morning. Also, my personal observation is that I tend to wait a bit longer than the locals, perhaps because they try to find me an English speaking nurse, I don't know. Either way, the nurses are good.

My only negative comment is that when they had to do two jabs on my child, they only do it one at a time. So by the time the pain of the first jab sinks in, my child would be bawling & would be scared of the next one naturally. It was ridiculous. In my child's previous vaccinations overseas, they do one jab in each leg at the same time.
 
Thanks everyone, I checked my little book and it says we'll get a developmental check up at 2 months, so I'm not sure why the doctor told me they only do vaccinations at that clinic.

Not looking forward to him getting more jabs though - just getting one done was upsetting enough... I cried more than he did!
 
My MCHC has been fabulous and really helped me with breastfeeding and when my baby wasn't gaining enough weight they asked us to come back for every week for 2-3 weeks just to make sure she was fine, usually the nurses see you but if there are other concerns then they refer you to the doc.... Wait has been anytime between 30min to 45min but if you are doing a few things on that day, eg weight then see nurse then jabs you have to wait in between.
 
For my last visit I turned up 30 minutes before my appointment time so I was number 3 in the queue. He had his first 'developmental check' (they looked at his hips) and 2 jabs but we were out within an hour this time, so much better.
 
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