Public Hospital

[preggo]

We are planning on having our baby at one of the Govt hospitals. I've heard there is no privacy in the delivery ward and that it resembles an assembley line with numerous people popping in and out. Can anyone confirm this?

Preggo (with baby #1)

[Helen]

I had my first baby in a government hospital - Tsuen Yeuk on Hospital Road. We requested a semi private room and paid about HK$1000 for the 2 nights that I was there. It was as nice as some of the private hospitals I've seen. The only problem is that the rooms are on a first come first serve basis. If your hospital does not have a semi private ward, then it can be a bit scary. From what I saw, it was like an assembly line. Crowded and noisy. Nonetheless, if you're going to have a beautiful, healthy baby, it doesn't really matter where you have it. I would have squatted on a street corner and yanked the baby out myself , just as long as I had my beautiful baby boy. Good luck.

[Cyndi]

I'm also registered as a private patient at QMH for my antenatal check-ups. But since they have dropped the package ($4880) since 1st April, I'm contemplating of going to check-in as a public patient for my delivery in Oct and upgrade it to semi-private room. My doctor confirm this is workable, only that he won't be the one to deliver my baby. For the difference in cost, I think I don't mind that.

Good luck.

[dryice66]

My wife gave birth 15 months ago in Kwong Wah Hospital. She had a emergency Caesarian after 23 hours of labour.

From a father's perspective, you see your missus wheeled off to commence her labour. You are allowed to see the mother temporarily while the labour progresses and it is like an assembly line. There are 6 - 8 mothers in the room (kinda share the experience).

However, you are then moved to a smaller room for the actual delivery. Only the curtains stop you from seeing the other person in the 2 person room.

One point, as it's public, they are short on resources, try and deliver early - the nurses and docs indicated that an epidural was limited to first come first serve.

To sum up, it was a surprisingly good experience for both first time mother and baby but then expectations were fairly low. However, if we have a second, I think we would prefer to go for private treatment.

[honey]

I gave birth at the Queen Mary 2 weeks ago and would highly recommend it (given the very expensive alternatives). Yes, the ward is a bit busy and noisy but you are only likely to be there for 2 nights anyway. The nurses were superb and everyone spoke english. They were a real support to me in learning to breastfeed and answering any questions I had. The rooms have 6 beds each and only half were being used so the privacy thing wasn't that much of a concern. Plus you have the curtains you can pull across if you want. They also allow you to have the baby with you beside your bed all the time if you want, or they will take him/her to the nursery if you want to sleep.

The only negative was the visiting restrictions - only husbands during set hours. That was fine after the baby was born, but beforehand in the pre-natal ward, I really needed my husband to be with me. After 9pm they sent him out to the waiting room and I was left in total agony on my own for about 6 hours. Of course, you can always walk around the hospital together if you are up for it. And also some women don't spend any time at all in the pre-natal ward so it depends.

After you are moved to the labour suite, your husband can join you again. The labour suites are private and we had a midwife with us the entire time. I thought the standard of care was excellent. The doctor checked on me frequently and was very patient and informative. I also got an epidural as soon as I asked for it.
I hope this helps. Good luck!

[bunda]

Hi,
I want to ask you guys, how do you sign up as a private patient in public hospital?
and when you say first come first serve for private or semi private room, is that mean that we can only know whether we will get those room when we arrive for labour?

thank you very much for your help...

[JennyB]

Re privacy at QMH, I gave birth there 6 weeks ago, and the ward was very noisy at times. But I think I was unlucky that it was so busy - they had a rush on babies born at the same time and then we all left on the same day, so you could have heard a pin drop in the ward when I was being discharged! It also depends on whether the women in your room (6 beds to a room) have their babies with them or in the nursery - I was also unlucky to have two babies either side of me who were much noisier than mine, whereas some rooms have no babies rooming-in.

But I still managed to get some sleep due to exhaustion after two nights in labour. The visitor restrictions are a blessing to keep the noise down (imagine extended families playing majong!) and they also have SARS restrictions at the private hospitals anyway, I hear currently only one visitor per day at the Matilda.

Unfortunately the private rooms are almost as expensive as a private hospital (check out costs elsewhere on this site), so I think most of the people who use them are either civil servants who get it free, or people with insurance who have been transferred from private hospitals due to special care facilities, such as in high-risk labours.

[ag1]

I had my second baby in QMH last week having had my first privately. I was more than happy with the service I received. I was grateful for the visitor restrictions to keep the noise down and invested in a pair of earplugs to help get some sleep at night. Worked wonders!