public vs private?

M

matrix1

Registered User
Hi,
my wife is pregnant and we are considering private vs public.
My latest thoughts are to go public but with some extra private scans.
We dont have a lot of spare cash but are not so badly off.
I know a friend who went public, she had a bad time with it, with not getting an epidural, BUT she cant speak any cantonese and also whe is not married and public hospitals i dont believe give equal access rights to unmarried partners.
So, as we are married and my wife can speak some fair cantonese, that should help?
Im a westener, my wife is indonesian.
Then also, i have friends who went 100% private, they got pushed into a CS, and the hospital they chose would not let the husband hold the baby in the first 3 days! so private doesnt always sound perfect to me.

any suggestions?
 
which public hospital are u looking at? I went to QE and had fairly good experience there. I had c-section. Ppl who went to Kwong wah speak highly of it, so.. it really depends , I guess. Which area u r at and which public hospital you are looking at. Good luck!
 
I am booked in for Queen Mary in Pokfulam. I am going public with some private scans / appointments. I am English and speak no Cantonese. So far, im happy with my experience with the public system.
 
I can only speak for Matilda (private) and is was great if you have insurance/are willing to spend your own money. No issues with husband holding the baby (in fact he was offered the option of cutting the cord and went with the baby for the weigh in etc straight after the delivery). I had two normal deliveries at Matilda - no pressure to have a CS although I think that would come down more to the obstetrician rather than the hospital.
 
QM is good - but like sazzy i would definitely follow up up with private scans/appointmnets. I am with QMH private and even if I am willing to pay, they are so busy I will probably only be seeing my Dr twice - max. 3 times before I give birth! Scary! but my outside OBGYN is great in a sense I have the "best of both worlds"
 
I gave birth at QMH but back in 2008 but will definitely be going back later this year. Last time I did do some extra antenatal appointments with my private Dr. and will do so again this time.
Both my husband and I are western and speak next to no chinese, but I had an epidural at my request despite my original birth plan stating I didnt want one (little did I know when writing it!)! There was never any question/issue about my husband not being in the delivery room with me.

Short story: I found QMH respected my wishes and I had no problems getting any medical assistance I required. If your looking for a hospital with staff that 'hold your hand' then perhaps the public system is not for you but otherwise I would highly recommend it.
 
I went public too at Queen Mary with checkups starting around week 28 at Tsan Yuk hospital. I was pretty happy with my experience. Just be assertive but respectful when you've been admitted. I also didn't want an epidural in my birth plan, but asked for one in hour 40 with back labour. The staff are professional and most are nice. I had one crappy nurse who wasn't so great...she looked 18 and told me that labour is supposed to be painful...thanks for letting me know. Anyways, best of luck! We did our checkups with the private system (less waiting time). And everyone speaks at least a bit of English at QMH. They're used to having foreigners there.
 
i gave birth in QMH last year too and as the above posters, i agree that QMH is ok at handling foreigners. they were mega busy while i was in the labour room but the doc stayed with me (and hubby) throughout the 3 hours and only got one nurse to help her at the final stage. i got offered an epidural without me asking for it but one of my friends didn't get it even when she asked for it...i dont know what happened there!

definitely better to get some extra private checkups done along with tsan yuk appointments.

@banane76, a nurse told me the same thing - labour is supposed to be painful...!!?!!
 
I had my baby in Prince of Wales in 2008 and I cannot speak highly enough of the staff there. My partner and I speak not Cantonese and the care was excellent. They tried to follow my birth plan to the letter, dimming the lights and making sure I didn't have an episiotomy. They helped me with breastfeeding and I was allowed to have my baby with me for the duration of my stay in hospital. (You can have your baby taken to the nursery if you wish to rest but I didn't want that) I had private ob visits before hand mainly for the scan pictures and lack of waiting time but was very pleased with the service offered by POW except at the front desk where they can be a bit abrupt.
The thing that swung it for me is that both POW and Queen Mary have the neo natal units. If you go private and something happens to the baby and it needs neo natal care it will be taken to one of these hospitals and you will pay private prices for all the care it receives there as well as your own hospital bill ! No Thanks. My whole birth cost $150 - the car park fees were more $180 !! and I was confident throughout that we were both very well looked after. The only thing missing was the private luxury room....and my choice of Dr for delivery.
 
"The thing that swung it for me is that both POW and Queen Mary have the neo natal units. If you go private and something happens to the baby and it needs neo natal care it will be taken to one of these hospitals and you will pay private prices for all the care it receives there as well as your own hospital bill ! N" interesting to hear...
...many thanks to everyone, its been great to hear everyone's responses on this forum
 
we are deciding between private or public as well... currently more incline to go the public route due to minimum insurance coverage

one main concern is i would love to stick with my private obgyn but she will no longer be able to take me as private patient for checkups if i decide to deliver at public...


* lesliefu, will you deliver at QMH or private hospital as you are seeing both the private doctor at QMH and outside? and you mean the private doctor @ QMH won't see you on regular basis like what they do through the public system?
 
Blessed: Really? I had a private doctor for my checkups and he was ok with us going the public route. You would think it didn't matter, but I guess they can do whatever they wish.

Aava: Was the nurse very young looking? She looked about 18 to me when she told me that and quite rude to me and my husband. Almost everyone else at least tried to be sympathetic.

I didn't originally want an epidural, but I eventually did after over 40 hours of back labour. It helped my sleep a bit and rest up for the actual pushing part. The midwives were GREAT! Doctor was only there for the checks after being induced at 4 hours and 8 hours after and then only to check in with the midwife after the delivery. We were glad we were at QMH because our baby had some signs of pneumonia and she had to stay in special care for a week. Our total bill for me and her was 800hkd, which is less than my antenatal check ups with a private doctor!
 
I recommend Dr Patrick Chan if you want to go to a private obgyn but still deliver at the public hospital. In my previous pregnancy, I went to a few different doctors and they always were obviously not happy with me going to them for check ups but not for the delivery - but Dr Chan was completely different, even wanting to work around my public hospital visits etc. I ended up being transferred to another doctor due to complications that were outside his realm of expertise - but I will definitely be going back to him for future pregnancies, and I recommend him wholeheartedly for anyone who wants to go public but with private prenatal visits.
 
Hello,

My husband, daughter and I will be moving to HK in early-mid May. At that time I will be 30 weeks pregnant. I am looking to find an OB/GYN or Lic. Midwife in Hong Kong so that I can set up an appointment now. Given our arrival time, it looks as though the Hong Kong insurance offered through my husband's company will not cover my "pre-existing" pregnancy. So, it seems that for us QMH would be best. Any suggestions for doctors/midwives, or tips for getting this all set up?

Any insight ill be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
 
Hi Nicolejoy, so did you deliver in a public hospital in the end, even with the complications? I am looking to go public also but I am in a situation where I will need a c-section because of previous pelvic injuries. The reason I am concernd about public is that you don't see the same doctor so I worry they will not know enough about my history and my particular needs on the day of delivery. Am I worrying unnecessarily?
 
blessed...

i was supposed to deliver at QMH under the private section because I wanted to be 100% I knew who delivered my baby (bad experience the 1st time with a substitute doctor). but the doctor (under the private section) doesn't give me regular check ups and could not guarantee she would deliver for me...saying she might be tied up with other scans at tsan yuk, etc. etc. to make things worse she is on holiday when I am due! so I have now changed completely and will deliver at sanatorium with Dr Lam - who has guaranteed that he will deliver for me whenever I am due! i have insurance, which helps, but the main reason I choose private from the beginning was so that I could guarantee who delivered my baby! i think it is ridiculous that if is stayed at QMH (paying private fees) that I might end up with a "substitute" doctor (don't care how good they are - I'm just not psychologically prepared to go through that again with number 2)...didn't think it was too professional on the part of the doctor....
 
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Liquorice said:
Hi Nicolejoy, so did you deliver in a public hospital in the end, even with the complications? I am looking to go public also but I am in a situation where I will need a c-section because of previous pelvic injuries. The reason I am concernd about public is that you don't see the same doctor so I worry they will not know enough about my history and my particular needs on the day of delivery. Am I worrying unnecessarily?
Click to expand...

liquorice...i would stick with one doctor if I were in your shoes...just to be sure and safe.
 
Liquorice said:
Hi Nicolejoy, so did you deliver in a public hospital in the end, even with the complications? I am looking to go public also but I am in a situation where I will need a c-section because of previous pelvic injuries. The reason I am concernd about public is that you don't see the same doctor so I worry they will not know enough about my history and my particular needs on the day of delivery. Am I worrying unnecessarily?
Click to expand...

I haven't delivered this bub yet (due in July) but I will deliver at QMH. Unlike your situation, the complications are due to the baby rather than me - I'm perfectly healthy, but the baby is not. I find that QMH does take very good care of complicated situations though, and I really believe that even if money was not an issue, that QMH would be the best place in HK for this bub to be born.

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't necessarily go private just because of your situation - I know that you may not have the same doctor, but I do think that they will take into account your history and all that. If I were you, I would schedule an appointment with both the public system and a private doc and see how you feel about both...

It's funny because in my situation with this bub, I have seen both public and private doctors, and I feel like the quality of care for me in this situation is better at the public hospital. I know that the comfort level will not be as high, but really the best thing for the bub is the medical care and that is better at QMH...
 
Hi Enza! Congrats and welcome to Hong Kong (when you get here). There's a private and a public system in Hong Kong. If you go through private, you would need your HKID and it's significantly cheaper than the private system. I just had my baby in Dec through the public hospital, but I did most of my checkups at a private clinic with an OBGYN. You can also do these checkups for free (except scans I think) at the public clinic...just longer waits. We went with Dr. Patrick Chan and he's located in Central. He's really great and didn't mind that we were going to have the baby in the public hospital (I guess some doctors aren't as happy when you go that way). He's very patient and we found that he was pretty reasonable with his fees. I wen to QMH and you don't get to choose your doctor or midwives. If you can hold out as long as possible til delivery, the less time you spend there...we went too early and had to spend a lot of time in the general ward. The midwives were wonderful there and unless you have complications, will deliver your baby.

We also went for a checkup with the midwives at Annerley. They have a doppler machine to hear the heartbeat and do everything but the ultrasound. They also do postnatal visits which are sooooo nice and you don't have to leave your home.

We were very happy with QMH. Our total bill (including my daughter's one week stay in special care) was 800hkd.
 
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