Pregnancy care package

If both you and your wife are HK ID holders, there is a more economical option, although not as posh as going to Dr. Choy's. It will, however, cost you next to nothing compared to what you have to pay for to see Dr. Choy, which does not include your hospital stay, your pediatrician on standby during delivery, and anaesthesiologist. I'm sure many people can tell you how much it will cost to have the baby including all those extra things and it's not a pretty number, especially if you do not have insurance.


If you search on this post, you will find many discussion of public vs. private hosptials, horror stories at both, and the benefits and drawbacks of both. I also did not have prenatal coverage during the birth of my first, and instead used HK's public hospital system, which ended up costing very little. (I think my final costs, including everything were under $1000 HKD - that's right, only 3 zeros.) For your wife, she'll need to register at Tsan Yuk hospital, and she will deliver at Queen Mary hospital. I had an excellent birth experience, and although I did spend some time waiting around for my prenatal care, it was worth it for me in the long run. I pocketed that money and put it straight into my daughter's college fund. She's $10,000 USD richer for college already, because I put up with a little less luxury during my pregnancy.


I've had close friends do the private route as well, and loved it and I can't say anything bad about their experience. Some people, even without insurance, opt to go for private doctors as well. SO talk to your wife about it - my husband left it totally up to me to choose which route I wanted to go, and ultimately I just chose the public hospital route. There are many threads on this topic if you search - so give it some thought.


Good luck! Congratulations!

4000 is expensive!! I went to my regular gp and had blood tests done there and consultation and tests were 1800. I use dr ghosh at the shui on centre at wanchai-it normaly costs 1300 for scan and consultation fee.

Jeffasia -


She would probably only go to Queen Mary for delivery - unless she had a high risk pregnancy and then she would be asked to attend Queen Mary for her prenatal care. Otherwise she would go to Tsan Yuk, or one of the satellite clinics. Again - it's not posh like the private doctors, but the CARE is very very good. (My father is an Ob/Gyn and I checked everything that they were doing against what it standard in the US and he said that it was all good, if not better.) Progesterone treatment would be offered by the public hospital route as well, at a fraction of the cost. But again, it's not luxurious or pampering at all. You wait in rooms with lots of people, locals, domestic helpers, but I had an amazing birth expetience with midwives and would go the public route again if I could. (I've moved from HK recently.)

Hi Jeffasia

I agree with hkchoichoi, If you go private with Dr Choy or any other Dr the total constof delivery would be around HKD80,000.00 or above including every thing. The cost is only if every thing go as per expectations. If any problem or they have to do C-sec then the cost would be almost double. In hongkong public hospitals are very good, ofcourse, you can not compare with private hospitals see the cost difference HKD1000.00 and HKD 80,000.00.All of our freind have medical insurance which covered devery thing, but still most of them opted for public hospitals. I know its a very importatnt deceision for you, you can discuss with other freinds and will also get no of options by this thread

Best Luck

Tsan Yuk is in western midlevels on Hospital Road. Your other choice of public hospitals are Pamela Youde and there are a few other ones but not convenient if you live in midlevels. The public hospital route is different from private in that your doctor would constantly change, unless you have been identified as a high risk pregnancy. At Tsan Yuk, ultrasounds and visits with the doctor are standard. After a few visits establishing medical history, you then go to one of the satellite clinics where you meet with midwives and nurses for your care. There you have your standard urine tests, body weight, blood pressure check and visits with midwife and nurse. They give you some short details about your pregnancy and answer any questions you have about your pregnancy. Their English is very good, as I speak no cantonese and had no problem with understanding them. They will also encourage breastfeeding and talk to you about breastfeeding at these visits. If they notice any abnormalities, they will refer you to the doctor who resides at the clinic. (I had a situation where in my 7th month I did not gain any weight due to severe diarrhea - and so they I was referred to the doctor on site.) If there is further need for alarm, you will be asked to go to either Tsan Yuk or Queen Mary. I had a relatively problem free pregnancy with no issues - if you have any complciations during your pregnacy you are asked to immediately check into Queen Mary.


If you forsee this as being a stressful pregnancy (as you have shared that this has been a hard one coming) perhaps the public route may not be the way to go as you have to be sort of independent and proactive to get what you want. There isn't a lot of room to "cater" to special needs and wants, and if you anticipate having a lot of questions or queries, and want to know that a doctor is always nearby to answer your questions and stuff, public can't offer that kind of service.


THat being said however, Dr. Choy, although she is your Doctor, will probably only be present at the last 10 minutes of your wife's birth. THis is standard for most OB/GYNS here. Between their patients and deliveries, they aren't really present at the birth. (My friend used private both times and the doctor BARELY showed up to deliver the baby.)


However, anaestehsiologists, pediatricians are all part of the standard care at the public hospital route. you can get all the same pain management that you would get at a private. There is no additional charge as you would get with the private route.


Go with what makes your wife comfortable. i'm an advocate of the HK public health care system because I think that the private route is exhorbitantly expensive and outrageous, and even the best insurance in HK only covers 80% of the birth, but I sometimes feel that doctors are gouging their patients, because they feel that they CAN. You'll find out a bit more about this when you discover that doctors charge MORE for the delivery charges based on if you choose a ward room, semi private or private room. (this also applies at Queen Mary.)


I recommend taht you go see the Queen Mary Maternity ward and see what is there. IT is different from the other sections, and in a different area. It may be worht a second look - but make your wife comfortable. If she is opposed to the public route, she will be miserable for 9 months.

Jeff -


looked at my old receipts. All my ultrasounds two years ago cost me $60 HKD. However, if I wanted a PICTURE of the ultrasound, it cost $248 HKD. (I opted not to.) I had the downs nuaahl test screening - it was free. (because they use it for their research data.) It was the same test you get at the private doctor's office.


My blood tests were $60 HKD also.


All my medicines after labor were taken care of in the entire fee of $580 for three night stay, delivery, shots for my infant, and a ward room. (Not a private room - prices shoot up for those.)


I talked to my friend, to see a top HK doctor, for C-section, her costs TOPPED $120,000 HKD. That was total. (she opted for private room at Adventist Hospital.) My other friend, who also saw a top doctor in HK, her medical fees topped $100,000 HKD, and she had a private room at the Matilda.


The other thing that I forgot to mention, that in case of complications or emergency, (God forbid) and you and your wife choose to deliver at either Adventist or Matilda, you WOULD end up at Queen Mary anyway, as neither hosptial is fully equipped to deal with severe complications.


This is an exciting and scary time for the two of you. I have to say that I initially really didn't want to go the public route - I had fully intended on going private with all the trimmings - until I discovered that I didn't have maternity coverage under my husband's insurance, and how much it would cost us. But I don't regret it and I thought that the care was truly outstanding.

Dear ....

You are welcome to come in and have a quick chat with one of our midwives about your options. We can give you some advise regarding both the financial side and also what the difference between hospitals is. If you let us know a time that suits you, we can make sure someone is in and can give you some time. Will not take too long and should give you a good start.

Feel free to call us, 6291 7400, Hulda

I delivered at Queen Mary - the birth experience wasn't great, but honestly, the whole thing (labour and then staying in the hospital) was over in 3 days. To shell out $100K for a private delivery would equate to well over 3 months work in my job (which I hate). I just couldn't bring myself to spend the $.

But, the waiting around for a 5-minute check-up once a month was a real pain. Next time (hopefully) I will use both systems for check-ups (Tsan Yuk for blood tests, nuchal scans, etc, but a private doctors for routine check-ups), and then I expect I'll be back in Queen Mary for the birth.

Wow Jeffasia, I'm really sorry to hear that. But take heart, you are right, at least you both can get pregnant, and it will happen. I should know, I had to m/cs and now am happily pregnant at 20 weeks, so this too shall pass!


The first few weeks of this pregnancy I was mortally afraid I'd lose it, every cramp, every symptom was terrifying. Only once I crossed the three month mark did I really breathe easy, but I'm still very very careful.


So good luck for next time, and don't stress too much!


PS: for my first m/c I went to Dr. Choy, she has a great bedside manner, but with the expense and other factors, I moved on. There are many good private doctors who are much much cheaper...


Cheers!

Hi Jeff,

So sorry to hear the bad news. But as my doctor said, at least this proves that there is no major fertility problem. Give it a couple of months rest then good luck on TTC again. I am in my early stage of pregnancy too and knows miscarriage is pretty common so decided not to "go public" until I am 3-4 month down the road. I read several websites on symptons and causes of miscarriage and they all say it's often not what you did to you body but simply nature's way to reject an unhealthy pregnancy. So all the best!

Yes Jeff, we are very excited and as a couple we are having so much fun with this, I guess the two m/cs made this experience all the more precious. Maybe I would've taken it for granted otherwise. Well, maybe not, but who knows?

I had a private doctor and delivery in Matilda Hospital. Altogether I paid something around 65.000. I would do the same again for a second baby as you feel really cared about. How many babies are you going to have? I don't think it is luxury to opt for the private doctors/hospitals.


However, at the end of the day everyone needs to decide what feels right for them.


Good Luck!

Looking for jeffasia...I would like to know what package you went for please. We are in the same circumstance as you are financially and would appreciate your comments. The Dr. Choi package does not include tests etc, find pediatrician...all seems to add up so much that I don't think we can afford Dr. Choi's package anymore. Don't wanna be in a financial rut after but I may be a high risk pregnancy and need to be looked after.