Need advice please!

E

eos

Registered User
Hello

I have been in HK 3 months and have realised I am pregnant! Help! This is my second pregnancy - have 18month old - so I'm not too worried about the pregnancy but I have no idea how the medical system in HK works. I am used to the good old national health in the UK!

What do I need to do? (It is early days so far - only 4 weeks, I think - but things are only going to get bigger) We have medical insurance through hubby's job but I have no idea where/which doctor to see. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Hello, gosh this takes me back I posted the exact same question about 16 months ago and now have an 8 month old daughter!!! I got some great advice it may be worth doing a search on my name if possible for my post. I can tell you what I did. I went to the OB GYN Dr Ghosh who was recommended to me by my GP, everyone has their own opinions on Ob Gyns here but coming from the UK I had never used one before and I found him absolutely fine. All my prenatal care was with him and he delivered my daughter. I was actually suprised how easy it was. I suppose your options depend on where you live, where you may want to deliver etc etc. I wish you luck!
 
Do you have insurance or will you be using the public system? Our insurance doesn't cover maternity so I'm using the public system, which so far has been a positive experience. I'm just 14 weeks pregnant so have a long way to go yet.
 
Thanks Noella and Polly,

It is good to know I am not alone in feeling a bit out of my depth! I'll look into the OBS you suggest (I didn't even know the correct term for a baby doctor. How thick am I!!!) We do have maternity insurance, I think. Better check our policy. If not, it is good to know the public system is ok. Are you going to a doctor in Mid levels Polly? Who are they? Are they good? The GP I've used when my daughter had a cough did not speak great English. Can you recommend one in Mid Levels?

Thanks for the advice.
 
Hi Anne01,

Congrats on your pregnancy! Dr Dawkins is from Australia and obviously you will have no problems conversing with him in english. Dr Dawkins is located in Central in Jardine House level 7 number: 27154577. I went to see Dr Dawkins when I was 7 weeks pregnant and he confirmed my pregnancy via internal ultra sound. He has has a 3D/4D machine so you get amazing pictures and he will also record the ultra sound on a DVD for you.

Another Doctor I would also recommend is Dr Patrick Chan. He is also located in Central in Lane Crawford house on Queen's road central, number25222500. I am currently with Dr Chan as Dr Dawkins will be on leave during the time i am scheduled to give birth. Dr Chan is very good and takes the time to explain all the little details to you. He is very re-assuring! And he also has the 3D/4D machine!

Good luck!

Maria :crib
 
Dr Dawkins is excellent, we are currently using him for all check ups. I too arrived here in HK 4 months ago to find out I was pregnant and also had my first child in UK. The system here is v different.

We have limited insurance cover up to a certain amout which will not cover all the costs so check with your insurance company.

What I find the most confusing is all the extras that no one tells you about when you first venture down the private route.

You obviously have to pay for all your ob appointments, on top of that you have the scans and blood tests to pay for. When you go into hospital you pay the ob for the delivery only, you have to have a pediatrician once baby is born who then takes over. The private hospitals do packages for the number of days your require. I recently found out though that this only kicks in once the baby is born, you have to pay for the delivery room seperatley. If you have an epidural then the anethetist is separate as well.

I think (but don't quote me) that if you find your ob/gyn they will then recommend a pediatrician and anethetist if you need one.

Once baby is born again there are conflicting methods, some people just use the doctors for their vaccinations and see a health visitor / midwife (ie someone like annerly midwives or in DB DB Babies) for check ups. Other people use a pediatrician. Personal choice.

Hope this helps if you have any further questions send me a message.
 
Hi, I'm relying soley on the Public Health System for all my maternity related matters. My usual GP is Dr. Edmund Cheong of Quality Health Care in Princes Building (No. 25238166). He is a wonderful Doctor and has excellent English. They do have Western Doctors there if you prefer and they have obstetricians and pediatricians as well as all the other usual suspects.

Hope that helps.
 
public

Polly said:
Hi, I'm relying soley on the Public Health System for all my maternity related matters. My usual GP is Dr. Edmund Cheong of Quality Health Care in Princes Building (No. 25238166). He is a wonderful Doctor and has excellent English. They do have Western Doctors there if you prefer and they have obstetricians and pediatricians as well as all the other usual suspects.

Hope that helps.
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Hi Polly

Just read your thread.

I wondered where you intend on having the baby - which hospital that is? You seem as though you're identical to me - I too am 14 weeks. I have just had a 12 week OSCAR scan but don't have another appt scheduled until 20 weeks, which makes me a bit uneasy. I've seen on other threads that most are visiting their doctor every 4 weeks.

Also, I haven't registered at the local maternity health care centres yet - the hospital gave me a list and quite frankly, I'm not sure what they are for. What do they offer that I won't be getting at the hospital.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Hi tutor1

When I was in the UK having my first child I only saw the doc/midwife at 12 weeks, then 20, then 30, then every week(for about 5 mins) until the birth. If things seem normal - no probs - they tend to leave you to get on with it. Perhaps it is same here.

Anne01
 
tutor1 said:
Hi Polly

Just read your thread.

I wondered where you intend on having the baby - which hospital that is? You seem as though you're identical to me - I too am 14 weeks. I have just had a 12 week OSCAR scan but don't have another appt scheduled until 20 weeks, which makes me a bit uneasy. I've seen on other threads that most are visiting their doctor every 4 weeks.

Also, I haven't registered at the local maternity health care centres yet - the hospital gave me a list and quite frankly, I'm not sure what they are for. What do they offer that I won't be getting at the hospital.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hi, I'm planning to have the baby at the Queen Mary Hospital but actually I've never been there so far. I will sign up for a hospital tour at some stage but I registered directly with Tsan Yuk Hospital, who manage all Queen Mary's ante-natal care. I had my first ante-natal appointment there at 13 weeks and because my pregnancy is regarded as low risk my next appointment is at the Sai Ying Pun Maternal & Child Health Centre, which is just next door. That appointment isn't until 4 December, which is a pretty long time. My scan isn't booked until 18 December, when I'll be 5 months pregnant, which seems really late. But I figure I'll go with the flow, thousands of other women go through this system and have beautiful, healthy babies, so I'm not stressing about it. It would have been nice to have a scan already and, I suppose, if I really wanted to I could pay and have one done privately, but I'm happy enough.

What's been your experience? Where about do you live?
 
Oh, tutor1, should have added that I'm not familiar with registering directly with the hospital so I can't really comment on what the differences might by, maybe none. Which hospital will you be using, maybe they do things differently?
 
scans n' things

Hi Polly

I had the OSCAR at 12 weeks. I can have an amnio next, I think at 16 weeks, but I'm not sure if I should or shouldn't. While I'm over 35 and therefore considered "advanced maternal age" my test results came back low risk (or they said 'no risk' but I don't understand how they are saying no risk when they give you a 1 in whatever figure). So my next scan, apart from the unscheduled amnio, is on 20 December when I will be 20 weeks. This is when they apparently do the more extensive 'structural' scan and they said, "Be careful to make sure you are at this appointment because it's very hard to get another." I'm at PWH at Sha Tin by the way.

So, as I said, haven't registered for any maternity centres yet. I better get on to it but they are pretty far away from the Sha Tin hospital.

It was great to see the scan at 12 weeks though. If this is your first, it's worth seeing.
 
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anne01 said:
Hi tutor1

When I was in the UK having my first child I only saw the doc/midwife at 12 weeks, then 20, then 30, then every week(for about 5 mins) until the birth. If things seem normal - no probs - they tend to leave you to get on with it. Perhaps it is same here.

Anne01
Click to expand...

If you go the public route I believe it is pretty much the same as uk with scans at 12 and 20 weeks and then midwife appointments. If you go private you get a scan everytime here - which is lovely but obviously you do pay for it.

One thing I have been told is that regardless of whether you go private, if there is something wrong or complications which the private hospital cannot deal with then you will be sent to Queen Mary anyway.
 
when i was pregnant, i went both private and public for check ups. I think most of the HK women do so.

Millerwhisk said:
One thing I have been told is that regardless of whether you go private, if there is something wrong or complications which the private hospital cannot deal with then you will be sent to Queen Mary anyway.
Click to expand...

this is what i have been told as well, at none of the private hospital has the child ICU.
 
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Dear tutor1,

The amnio increases the risk os miscarriage by quite a large margin. Since your OSCAR test came back as 'low-risk', don't do the amnio. I'm sure that's what your OBGYN would suggest too.

The OSCAR test does not have positive or negative test results, it's not straightforward like that. If your risk ratio is 1:250 to 1:300 you are considered high risk and that's when an amnio is recommended. Anything like 1:301 and so on is considered low risk and no amnio is needed.

The ratio changes with the age, so check your OBGYN's chart. That ratio I quoted above is for the age of 30.
 
Millerwhisk
Have PM'd you again. sorry for late response. was sightseeing with guests!!!

anne01
 
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