Delivering in Government vs. Private Hospital
The cost for
prenatal visit in Malaysia at private gynecologist was around RM100 per visit
without any medication or supplement (ultrasound plus consultation). Staying in
Serdang area in Selangor, I recommended Dr. Leong from Equine Park and Dr. Tan
Ee Ping from Serdang Perdana. Both of them were very well known for their good
service and careful examination. As for the cost for delivering a baby in
Malaysia, it varied from less than RM100 for government hospital up to RM6000
for private hospital like Pantai hospital for a natural delivery. On top of
that, if you failed your attempt to deliver naturally and change to cesarean
last minute, the charges would be "charges of natural delivery" plus
"charges for cesarean" and that would cost around RM10k or even more
in a private hospital.
Since I stay
in Serdang, the nearest choice of hospital would be Hospital Putrajaya and
Hospital Serdang. Hospital Putrajaya offered private service as "fully
paid patient (FPP)" and the charges for delivering a baby naturally there
is around RM2500 in 2012. However, there are limited place for delivering and
hence booking have to be made in advance for FPP. Shall you arrive at Putrajaya Hospital and
they are full house, they will refer you to Serdang Hospital. As for Serdang
Hospital, it was a government owned hospital with 8 delivery rooms. My 2 others
colleagues and I delivered here (3 babies) healthily and two of us had
successfully delivered naturally. We are overall very pleased with the service
provided. Two of our daughters were diagnosed with serious jaundice after birth
and they were fully taken care by the pediatrician after birth. My daughter was
under 3 UV lamp 5 days after birth during which I have stayed in the hospital
with her to take care of her. Luckily it was subsidized by government and the
total charges for the 5 days admission (with antibiotics injection, series of
details blood test, food and accommodation) was only RM85. A friend of us had
their baby admitted to Columbia hospital in the same year for two days and they
were charged RM1500 for UV light treatment. I hence highly recommended Serdang
Hospital as hospital of choice for delivery and baby care. It really save us a
lot of money for life to go on. We have paid our income tax anyway right? :D
Anyway, one
of the "disadvantages" of giving birth in government hospital is that
you will not be given the choice to choose a caesarian nor injection of
epidural for a no-pain delivery. Caesarian will only automatically be carried
out if the doctor found there was no way a natural delivery is safe for a
pregnant women or a natural delivery had failed and the life of the baby is by
then being threaten. I have read the
book published by CAP (Consumer Association Penang) regarding the side effects
and disadvantage of epidural and hence I did not plan to use it as well. I can
borrow you the book if you want :D .
I will not
say everyone delivered in Serdang Hospital will have good comments on it but it
had previously fully met my expectation. I will be delivering my next baby
there next year and let just cross finger and pray that everything will go
smoothly.
p/s: My second child was safely delivered at Serdang Hospital, natural delivery without any complication (thank God). We were charged for RM26 upon discharging the next day.
p/s: My second child was safely delivered at Serdang Hospital, natural delivery without any complication (thank God). We were charged for RM26 upon discharging the next day.
good day! your article is indeed very useful. i would like to ask you about the process of "checking in" at hospital serdang for delivery. i read somewhere that you must wait or queue for long hours before you can get a space in the maternity ward. did you experience this as well? i hope you can describe what you experienced upon arrival at the hospital. thanks much,,,
ReplyDeleteone more thing, were there male hospital staff in the delivery room? im a Muslim and honestly, Im not comforble exposing my private parts in front of male nurses or doctors... thanks again
ReplyDeleteHi Shasha, thank you for your compliment. For checking in hospital Serdang for delivery, you need to bring along your red medical record book (which you will obtain upon your first check up at any government clinic near your house). Please note that it will be much easier to check in Serdang hospital or any other government own hospital if you used to do your check up at "Klinik Kesihatan" at least 3 months before delivery. Upon reporting at the delivery unit (pusat bersalin), they will arrange you to be checked (those who already dilated for more than say 5cm will be send to the delivery room if it is available, while those who only dilated 1-2cm will be asked to wait at the waiting area if no beds are available at the moment). However, shall you be feeling very painful, the nurse will check you again from time to time.
DeleteAside from the 8 delivery room, there are plenty of beds for check up in the unit. Normally for first time mother, it will take a longer time to approach full dilation (10cm) and the nurses knew this well. Hence, unless you have complication, otherwise they will advise those who have just started contraction to wait at the waiting hall.
As for male staff, unfortunately it is unpredictable. You will get male as well as female doctors diagnosing/ helping you during delivery. I am not sure if you could request for all female staffs to handle you but perhaps you could call up or visit there to inquire? I am sure many people will have the same questions like you so please share with me here if you found it possible.
Meanwhile, when is your due date? Is this your first baby that you are going to deliver now? Wishing you a smooth delivery! :)
Hello... Thanks much for your very detailed response... My expected due date is on September.. It's my third pregnancy actually... But it will be my first to give birth here in Malaysia.
DeleteAgain, thank you... I will keep in touch with you should I have other queries....
How much is cost of birth for a foreigner in hospital serdang? Pls it's urgent, I am due febuary 14th 2016 and I did my prenatal at klinik keshiantan in ampang. Pls I will appreciate if u can reply me via email of the recent cost. Thanks sharonoma@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteHow much is cost for foreigner in hospital klang.i am due date is march 25,u can reply me .thank my email nyeinnyein582@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteHey there, thanks alot for the write up!
ReplyDeleteWanted to ask how frequent should you go for a check-up and do you always have to go to KK for the sake of updating your Red book or only once in KK is enough? And as the the injection of epidural, it will not be given even though requested?
Dear Rebecca, thanks for dropping by. I went to do my check up accordingly from six months onwards for my first baby. So I can't tell you whether once is sufficient as it depends on you and your baby condition which they need to follow up later. I guess you need to at least get a few more check-up near your due date so that they recorded your latest condition and give your proper suggestion for delivery if needed. As for epidural, it was not an option for us as they do not simply offer it. You may try again though. Good luck for your delivery friend! :-)
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