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Tuen Mun Hospital. Is it good?

  1. #1
    indie is offline Registered User
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    Tuen Mun Hospital. Is it good?

    Hi! I've just moved to HK and my baby number 2 is due in February. We live in Gold Coast and zoned to Tuen Mun Hospital. I tried to find any recent information about it, but found only old threads of 2009.

    Any new feedback on this hospital? The old information is disappointing. And I still didn't understand what is that terrible things why nobody wants baby delivery there


  2. #2
    thanka2 is offline Registered User
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    Tuen Mun hospital.....hmmmm....let me try to explain.

    The reason why Tuen Mun hospital is not the best hospital in Hong Kong to give birth to a child basically stems from overcrowding. The catchment area for TMH stretches all the way down the Western New Territories which means everyone from Fanling to Tuen Mun in that valley is designated to go to TMH to give birth. Tin Shui Wai is nearby and consists mostly of public housing units. Tin Shui Wai is a "stopping off" point for many lower-income families both from Mainland China and also from Southeast Asia. The doctors at TMH are truly overworked and underpaid. So much so that earlier this year the doctors threatened "industrial action" (like a strike). Here is an article from the SCMP and one from The Standard but if you search you can find A LOT of information on the working conditions at TMH.

    I've even heard private doctors joking about how most doctors in Hong Kong--in the public system see TMH as a war zone hospital. I certainly got that feeling when I was hospitalized there for complications from a miscarriage in 2010. In triage it really looked like a war zone. There were a couple hundred people waiting in the triage station and the sign that displays wait times read something like 8-10 hours.

    My experience in TMH obstetrics ward after experiencing a traumatic miscarriage was traumatizing in itself. In fact, it's such a trigger for me that I don't even want to go into details here. I will just give one example. I was left to sit alone in the cold corridor and they never communicated what was going to happen or how long I would have to wait even though I asked. Then at some point a woman with the blood draw cart came by, and roughly grabbed my arm, without introducing herself and just took my blood--bruising and injuring my arm--again, without even looking me in the face or saying anything at all. I felt really like they treated people like animals at that hospital. I have two friends who gave birth there who also had terrible experiences.

    Anyway, I am also in the catchment area for TMH but I told myself I would never darken their doors in labor and would do all that I could to avoid it so I figured out a way around having to go there. Unfortunately, I don't think much has changed since February in that hospital. Personally, I avoid that place.

    “Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a
    spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware …
    To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory.
    She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”

    ~ Grantly Dick-Read (Childbirth Without Fear)

    Mother of Two
    JMW, boy, born November 29, 2007, 9:43 pm, USA
    MJW, girl, born March 17, 2011, 4:14 pm, HK

  3. #3
    JayJay is offline Registered User
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    It's interesting that your bring up the topic of Tuen Muen Hospital today. Coincidentally, there's an article today in SCMP about it.

    Summary: A 69-year-old man with a history of heart disease was admitted after having a heart attack and hitting his head from falling. He was given a brain scan. Three specialists failed to identify signs of internal bleeding. The man died 4 days later. When doctors looked at the initial scans again, they found signs of bleeding.

    The article also included a list of recent incidents at the same hospital:

    October 13 A premature baby had to have his right leg amputated after suffering a damaged artery during insertion of a catheter.

    September 15 A substitute cleaner at the nuclear medicine unit accidentally sent a refuse bag of radioactive material to the Tsing Yi chemical waste treatment centre two days before the end of its radioactive cycle.

    August 4 A 13-year-old boy died after an operation on his spine. The family accused the authority of not telling the full story.

    May 21 A 12-year-old girl who fainted twice but was found to be healthy by doctors died in her sleep two days later. Her parents criticised the earlier diagnosis.

    May 13 Bacteria-tainted radioisotope including a 14-year-old with leukaemia.

    May 11 A 60 year-old patient died after having an operation to remove kidney stones. The family criticised the hospital for not removing all the stones, while the hospital claimed the patient died of heart disease.


  4. #4
    AmyH is offline Registered User
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    I was supposed to have my daughter at Tuen Mun hospital as I also live at Gold Coast but I read lots of bad things and didn't want to go there. I explained my fears to my OB and he wrote me a referral letter for QMH and PWH. Queen Mary hospital would not take the referral and told me to register at Tuen Mun but luckily PWH (Shatin) had no issues with it so I delivered there instead.


  5. #5
    indie is offline Registered User
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    thanka2
    thank you for reply! I am ready to move to another area)))


  6. #6
    indie is offline Registered User
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    AmyH, if it is possible to go to another hospital, I'll do my best for it. Thanks for good idea

    JayJay yes, I also read it today and scared very much...


  7. #7
    thanka2 is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by JayJay View Post
    It's interesting that your bring up the topic of Tuen Muen Hospital today. Coincidentally, there's an article today in SCMP about it.

    Summary: A 69-year-old man with a history of heart disease was admitted after having a heart attack and hitting his head from falling. He was given a brain scan. Three specialists failed to identify signs of internal bleeding. The man died 4 days later. When doctors looked at the initial scans again, they found signs of bleeding.

    The article also included a list of recent incidents at the same hospital:

    October 13 A premature baby had to have his right leg amputated after suffering a damaged artery during insertion of a catheter.

    September 15 A substitute cleaner at the nuclear medicine unit accidentally sent a refuse bag of radioactive material to the Tsing Yi chemical waste treatment centre two days before the end of its radioactive cycle.

    August 4 A 13-year-old boy died after an operation on his spine. The family accused the authority of not telling the full story.

    May 21 A 12-year-old girl who fainted twice but was found to be healthy by doctors died in her sleep two days later. Her parents criticised the earlier diagnosis.

    May 13 Bacteria-tainted radioisotope including a 14-year-old with leukaemia.

    May 11 A 60 year-old patient died after having an operation to remove kidney stones. The family criticised the hospital for not removing all the stones, while the hospital claimed the patient died of heart disease.
    One of our friends was just telling me about these and other incidents that have been reported recently. I hadn't really stayed up-to-date about things except I have a friend in TMH tonight that is supposed to be induced there and I was planning to visit her but because she was taken to the labor ward early I wasn't able to go. Was just down in TM this afternoon.
    “Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a
    spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware …
    To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory.
    She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”

    ~ Grantly Dick-Read (Childbirth Without Fear)

    Mother of Two
    JMW, boy, born November 29, 2007, 9:43 pm, USA
    MJW, girl, born March 17, 2011, 4:14 pm, HK

  8. #8
    Eva C is offline Registered User
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    My recent experience at TMH.
    Referred at 38 weeks by Yuen Long clinic as baby was floating. No other adverse indications.
    Spent 8 days there in ante natal. Intern or similar was main morning contact. He offered little or no information. They did the sugar bowl test at some point, checking for sugar issues. In general, nurses were brusque, taking blood samples and offering no information or bedside manner. Arm was quite sore from this. (Public ward). Doctor indicated that scan results showed baby may be big for 38/39 weeks. Baby eventually engaged at 39.2 weeks and I was discharged.
    38.6 weeks, water has a small gush and I went back in. Readmitted. No contractions yet.
    40 weeks. Doctor says baby is 4.1 kg and the choices are to induce or c-section. He says he wants to induce on 40.1. Goes through a long list of what may possibly happen in either option, making me anxious and fearful. Decide with husband that we will go (reluctantly) for c-section since we are now both alarmed at the constant insistence that baby is large and there could be increase risk of birth complications due to size.
    40.1 wait until 16:30 for available slot. Starved since midnight. Husband not allowed near me as visiting not allowed until 17:30. Baby is delivered under epidural and quite quickly. I see baby for a minute and not until 3 hours later as they are concerned about my blood pressure and keep me inside until 7:30 pm. Husband is allowed to talk to me on nurse mobile phone from outside delivery room after he rings the bell.
    Finally out and into post natal ward around 7:50. baby brought to me after getting an injection or hep B, husband not allowed near her until I arrive and have baby with me. We eventually have 15 minutes together before he is kicked out at 8:30. (he was in hospital since 2:30 and only got to see me at 8:15).
    40.1 night, told to get up and change my own baby in spite of post C-S pain.
    40.2 breastfeeding, changing baby and feeling quite sore holding her. nurses assist in bits and pieces.
    40.3. Told baby is much less than birth weight. Husband queries this with case nurse, pointing out that breast fed babies don't regain birth weight for up to 2 weeks. Told that I can be released on 40.4 but baby must stay in. We say no and I stay another night. husband "firmly" requests regular bottle supplements through the night.
    40.5 baby weight turns upwards, still 0.1 kg less than birth weight but upward curve due to extra feeds and now fully producing breasts. Discharged. A nurse refers me as the one who was complaining (reference to husband pointing out the weight loss in initial breast feeding).
    Nurses overall were un-empathetic robots apart from one who was nice. Got the impression that they just wanted me out asap.
    41.2 Baby feeding welI. Birth weight reganed and surpassed. (attending local clinic in Yuen Long). Doctor there indicates that she cant see uvula. Writes letter for TMH paediatrician. Husband later tries hard to see uvula and sees it.
    41.5 wound cleaning at clinic. Get a other doctor to check for uvula. She sees it.
    42.5 my C-S wound still not healing well one side. Suspect incompetence by some intern doing the sewing.
    Overall, I feel I was frightened into a C-S. The case notes show big baby and maternal anxiety as the reasons for the C-S. Baby was born at 3.7, not the predicted 4.1+. Any 'anxiety' was due to the Doctor detailing potential problems due to large baby. The staff show little or no bedside manner and my main doctor was an intern. Estimating body weight inaccurately by scan seems amateurish at best.
    42.6 Baby doing well, but I have just developed a fever. Waiting to see it it persists for a day or two before going to Doctor or E-R.
    Would I recommend TMH? Well at the moment, it reminds me a bit of China mainland hospitals, where you can easily die due to nobody gives a damn or you haven't paid enough, But that would be unfair. Overall I see them as lacking in warmth and having a high throughput and low risk mentality.
    That's my story and opinion. Feel free to interpret as you wish.


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