Singapore Expats

foreigner having a baby in singapore

Discuss the various Pediatrician, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist options here.
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stueyhall
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Post by stueyhall » Thu, 25 Oct 2012 7:19 pm

we didnt have a package as it was covered with insurance, guess thats why GE charged like a wounded bull on it then.. oh well!

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Post by zonemelt » Wed, 05 Dec 2012 8:38 am

We had a baby in Raffles in Nov, walking epidural, 2 day package, normal delivery and the total bill was about S$10,500

We are actually retrospectively disputing some of the charges as their bill itemisation was vague and arbitrary. First billing person I spoke to had no idea how it was put together, but I did find someone with their head screwed on after escalating. I can share the name by PM if anyone needs.

Our OB was Dr shamini, she used to be in KK. Found she wasn't really in tune with us but stuck with her anyway. She was on holiday for the delivery so Dr Cordelia han delivered. She was actually better, no bullshit attitude, also used to be in KK.

As far as the rest of the staff, some of the nurses in the labour ward were useless, abrupt with no bedside manner. The one we had assigned for the walking epidural was constantly spitting phlegm in the sink. Luckily the shift changed before the pushing part of the labour and the nurses were much better and more professional.

My wife stayed 2 nights and most of the nurses in the ward were also crap. Very task oriented, no bedside manner, not very helpful and drove my wife to tears a number of times. They all told her different things about breast feeding which just led to confusion. Helen the lactation consultant there on the other hand is a star and very professional but overworked. We also really didn't like the ward manager, very intrusive and I couldn't believe a word she said.

There you go, the memories are fresh.

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Post by Steve1960 » Mon, 10 Dec 2012 2:28 pm

This is just for reference really as it's slightly off subject.

Sadly my wife's pregnancy was not viable, at the first scan there was no baby just some tissue fooling my wife's body into thinking she was pregnant.

Had a D&C at Thomson Medical Centre. S$1.6k for the surgeon and anesthetist, still waiting for the final bill from the hospital but paid a S$2k deposit.

The hospital staff were all very good. Attentive, sympahetic, efficient. A good experience during a difficult time.

One complaint. My wife was cleared to discharge from the hospital at 10pm, we waited around a further 1 hour because the Finance department had not finalised the hospital's bill only to find that when we did go to pay they had not been able to finalise the bill anyway because staff had gone home! That's not great considering we had our 2 year old with us as we had no one to take care of her. Had they kept us waiting any longer I would have left anyway whether they liked it or not :x

Thomson Medical
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Post by Thomson Medical » Sat, 15 Dec 2012 10:35 am

Steve1960 wrote:This is just for reference really as it's slightly off subject.

Sadly my wife's pregnancy was not viable, at the first scan there was no baby just some tissue fooling my wife's body into thinking she was pregnant.

Had a D&C at Thomson Medical Centre. S$1.6k for the surgeon and anesthetist, still waiting for the final bill from the hospital but paid a S$2k deposit.

The hospital staff were all very good. Attentive, sympahetic, efficient. A good experience during a difficult time.

One complaint. My wife was cleared to discharge from the hospital at 10pm, we waited around a further 1 hour because the Finance department had not finalised the hospital's bill only to find that when we did go to pay they had not been able to finalise the bill anyway because staff had gone home! That's not great considering we had our 2 year old with us as we had no one to take care of her. Had they kept us waiting any longer I would have left anyway whether they liked it or not :x
Hi Steve, we are sorry for your experience that you had at TMC. We would appreciate if you could drop us an email at [email protected] so that we can investigate this matter.

Thank you.

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Post by Steve1960 » Fri, 28 Dec 2012 1:18 pm

Apologies to Thomson Medical I only read your response today and have now sent you an email with the details.

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Post by Steve1960 » Fri, 28 Dec 2012 1:24 pm

For information purposes for people reading this topic the hospital bill was actually only around S$800 and I recieved a S$1,200 refund in the post a couple of weeks later (of course that made the fact that we were kept waiting even worse).

I don't think that's too expensive and I certainly liked the professionalism and support of the medical staff there.

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Post by Steve1960 » Fri, 28 Dec 2012 1:28 pm

And finally I guess we should all be aware that we never know who will be reading our posts! So we should all be confident in our case when we moan or complain about something :-)

Fortunately I have the discharge slip from the surgeon timed at 10pm and although the hospital bill was not finalised the surgeons bill was and I have a Thomson Medical reciept which is (unusually?) dated and time stamped. That bill was paid at 10.47pm then we waited around for another 15 minutes before it was confirmed the hospital bill was not ready.

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Post by Steve1960 » Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:48 pm

F.Y.I.

1 month later I have had no feed back from Thomson Medical.

I was there Sunday evening with our sick daughter but did not feel like following up on this at midnight.

They had a lot of sick kids in that evening, one of them vomited on the floor right in front of the stairs to the toilets. I watched people stepping around the vomit for an hour then suggested to the staff they find a porter to clean it up.

Still not impressed. Will be looking for alternative hospital services in the future.

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Post by taxico » Sun, 03 Feb 2013 6:34 pm

you know you could head to the nearby A&E at mt alvernia hospital?

it's a not-for-profit catholic hospital with a 24 hour clinic that charges VERY reasonable rates ($25-30 vs $75-100) and minimal waiting time for a general consult as there are usually not many patients waiting.

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Post by Steve1960 » Mon, 04 Feb 2013 3:34 pm

thanks for the tip much appreciated

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Post by Babytheart » Tue, 19 Feb 2013 4:47 pm

SunshineSheens wrote:
ecureilx wrote:
Steve1960 wrote:Anyone have a ball park figure for the cost of a birth without any complications? I am from the UK and my wife is Filipina and we just found out she is pregnant with our second child. Way too much hassle to return to either of our native countries so we intent to have the baby here in Singapore. I am just wondering how much financial pain it will be.

If its very expensive I am going to the bathroom later this evening to beat my todger with a heavy object so that I never ever do this again :(
without complications, in KKH, expect to put aside atleast 8,000 $ ..

And with 'minor' complications, look for 14,000

http://www.kkh.com.sg/Services/Women/Ma ... /Home.aspx

BTW, she has to go into A1/B1, if she is not a PR or SC

just a thought - did you think of delivering in Malaysia ? KL ... maybe much much cheaper
Huh? Normal delivery shouldn't be around $8,000. I'm under DP and my bill was only $3,8K. That's with epidural already in a A1 room and I'm a private suite patient also. For CS it should be atleast $6,000-$10,000 depends if the baby has complications and needs to stay for a few more days in the NICU. Sorry but $8,000 is quite exaggerating it already.

With KKH, they will require you to deposit a certain amount, depends on the room you're going to choose ( I think it was between A2 and A1 something like that wherein they will ask you if you want your Gynae to personally assist your wife in delivery or not. That's the only difference.) but will return the remaining balance about a week or two after if there's any. We deposited $4,5K if I'm not mistaken. You can choose to pay by Credit card and there's an option whether you want it in 6mos or 12mos to pay 0% interest with some banks like UOB/DBS.

Steve1960, I assume you guys are also not PR or citizen, as I've said in my previous post earlier better if you guys can just choose a private hospital instead. The cost is just the same and it'll save you the hassle of long queues and service is much better. Raffles and Thomson are popular choices among locals here for its impeccable service, and they're breastfeeding friendly as well :)
Hello Ms SunshineSheens, I'm planning to apply to ICA the LTVP seeking to deliver in sg. they noted that I need to have a security deposit of 1000-3000sgd once I've been approve. now reading your post wondering to sum up how much money would I need to invest just to deliver in Sg? maybe I will be having the package with the cheaper room. Because now I'm reading the post here seeing the value of 8000 and up will not be that reasonable for me to deliver there.

thank you in advance.

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Post by yvze88 » Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:16 am

Hi SunshineSheens,

Quick q - you mentioned that your bill at KK was about 3.8K including epidural in an a1 room.. Few questions for you:

1. When did you give birth please? Just trying to figure out how current the above mentioned rate is as giving birth fairly soon.

2. Also, is 3.9K your total bill or is that after your medisave deduction?

3. How many nights did you stay in hospital?

Thanks! :-)

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Post by ravindra123 » Sun, 10 Nov 2013 9:11 pm

Hi, I am a foreigner working here since last one year and my wife delivered a premature baby girl at 25 weeks. While I knew the cost was exorbitant for delivery here and I had no insurance from the company, I least expected a preterm labour as 22nd week scan showed everything absolutely normal. Infact as per my earlier plan, I was planning to take my wife to my country for delivery during year end after PR interview which was scheduled on Dec 2nd week.

While the baby is in NICU since last 4 days, now I am faced with an estimated bill of 2000 SGD on a daily basis on an average (could be more) for next 90 days. Is there any government agencies I can approach for help since while at one hand I am hoping that the baby is safe, I oubt if I can afford the expenses with my entire life's saving and assets and also not knowing the outcome condition of the baby in next few months. Kindly let me know if anyone has experienced similar situations or let me know of any government body whom I can approach to grant me subsidy which I need really badly now. Thanks!

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Post by Wd40 » Sun, 10 Nov 2013 9:32 pm

Sorry to hear about it man. First people to contact are your employers. Next contact your area MP. Next contact SINDA. They help Indian community but not sure if they help foreigners.

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Post by nms » Mon, 11 Nov 2013 12:32 pm

ravindra123 wrote:Hi, I am a foreigner working here since last one year and my wife delivered a premature baby girl at 25 weeks. While I knew the cost was exorbitant for delivery here and I had no insurance from the company, I least expected a preterm labour as 22nd week scan showed everything absolutely normal. Infact as per my earlier plan, I was planning to take my wife to my country for delivery during year end after PR interview which was scheduled on Dec 2nd week.

While the baby is in NICU since last 4 days, now I am faced with an estimated bill of 2000 SGD on a daily basis on an average (could be more) for next 90 days. Is there any government agencies I can approach for help since while at one hand I am hoping that the baby is safe, I oubt if I can afford the expenses with my entire life's saving and assets and also not knowing the outcome condition of the baby in next few months. Kindly let me know if anyone has experienced similar situations or let me know of any government body whom I can approach to grant me subsidy which I need really badly now. Thanks!
Have you spoken to the hospital? They are often a good starting point in these cases and can point you in the right direction. You don't say which hospital you are using but if it is one of the more expensive ones you may want to look at moving to KK or NUH. It's unfortunate that you don't have your PR yet as that would have helped to reduce the bills.

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