Baby No. 2

Hi,

My husband and I are keen on having another baby. Can anyone give me an idea of how HKs public health system works? We're eligible residents but we're looking at all options including going to public medical facilities during the pregnancy. Is this a bad idea? Should we rely on private health care instead?

Thanks!

i have 2 kids, both born in public hospitals..
wife and baby stayed almost a week in hospital as it was c-section both time
total spent approx 1000 HKD each,


private.. u cant afford it without insurance.. thats what i have heard.. but never used it so dont know.

I have had one baby in the public system and it cost me 200 bucks on my octopus card

I have no idea why people think its a horrible place or a horrific experience. You are in safer hands in the public system if anything should go wrong.

I used the Queen Mary and had nothing but a positive experience. I made sure I was well informed and was able to fight my corner on birrh plan choices etc, My husband was very invested in the whole process which helps a lot, and I laboured mostly at home and went to the hospital close to delivering.

If you want to chat offline for more info let me know and I can share with you.

I think the public system isnt for the faint hearted who needs to be mollycoddled along, however is an excellent option if you want to keep costs way down and you don't have insurance. I would never ever consider having a baby privately if I didn't have insurance. It can run into the hundreds of thouands

ANONYMOUS,
Had four kids in local hospitals (well my wife has). It’s functional not luxury, basic hospital food (although they may have Western and Chinese options), the ward may even have to have extra bed or two placed in the ward due to capacity and demand (forget private rooms, wards are shared). Depending where you live you may need to attend pre and post clinics in some out-of-the-way Jockey Club sponsored clinic (for instance a housing estate) where you are a number on a production line. If so if you have concerns on anything unless you raise them they will not ask you other than the basic questions, weighing you etc. Hospitals do vary, my last kid (8 years ago) they would not let the father attend the birth and I had to wait outside and could not even see the wife and kid until visiting time (they did not even tell me the kid was born and it was a girl or boy)! The other hospitals were not like that, depends I think on how busy they were, the case I mention was also when NT hospitals were swamped with mainland mothers, I understand it is better now. I had one kid who needed intensive care and that is when things changed – they really involved the parents and became much more ‘human’ with no strict visiting times etc. Same thing when one time my wife had complications pre birth and she was immediately admitted, could not fault the service. By the way you will get two bills, one for mother & one for child – something like $20,000 each with HK ID discount this dropped to $200 or so each, real bargin.