I get quite a few asking me why I chose to give birth in KKH when there are private hospitals in Singapore. A lot of people's perception of KKH still remains at the era when my mum give birth to me i.e 1980s where the nurses can holler at you as and when they happy.
Can still see quite a few comments of the ill manners of KKH staff but usually its from subsidize clinics. Truth to be told, I did not encounter any of ill manners staff even when I was with subsidize clinic for check ups prior to conceiving.
There was this instance when I went to draw blood at the treatment room and the nurse told me that I'm the first patient of the day to smile at her though its already 3pm when I went in. You can imagine how her day passes when most of the patients came in with long faces but yet expect the staff to be nice, friendly to them. In a nutshell, you get what you reap. If you be nice to them, the nurses will reciprocate.
But I must say that the junior doctors of KKH are not very desirable. I find them not very knowledgeable and also not very good at handling or breaking news to patients. For instance when they found that my Dinos are MC twins, the house doctor who is on duty in ADC clinic told me that this is not necessary a happy news to be carrying MC twins since its considered a high risk pregnancy and complications are common. I was shocked at her attitude. I mean how can you say this to a pregnant woman who is over the moon on her twin pregnancy? I wrote a feedback letter to KKH straight after my check up haha.
Another instance is when I was diagnosed with incompetence cervix at week 21 and again the house doctor on duty in ADC told me that I had miscarriage and I nearly had a meltdown there and then. It was only later when my gynae sent a specialist dealing with IC up to see me then she explained to me that I am facing the risk of miscarriage not suffering from it. It makes such a huge difference in the explanation given by 2 different doctors, 1 senior and the other 1 junior.
Again during when I was admitted at the hospital for bed rest and cerclage, the resident doctor who does rounds everyday was pretty unhelpful. While I know the decision of whether to go for the operation lies with me but the resident doctor was not very helpful when my mum questions her the risks of the operation since we are at week 21 of pregnancy stage already. Her reply to my mum is "Auntie, even crossing the road has its risk, how can an operation carry no risk? My mum was offended. She was just concerned about her daughter and grandchildren.
The senior doctor who is performing the operation for me on the other hand was much more assuring. She told me she was confident of performing a successful surgery though there isn't much results on how long twins pregnancy can hold after stitching up the cervix. I chose to go for the surgery since the doctor performing is so confident. Had the choice of not doing but I don't want to risk it.
In a nutshell, there is still room for improvement for the junior doctors to catch up on how to handle patients but then the senior doctor are more confident and experienced which makes me feel assured of my them handling my pregnancy.
Another factor of choosing KKH is cost factor. Many private gynae charges a package fee for 20visits after week 16 while KKH doesn't have a package. We pay by per visit for private patient in KKH. Each visit sets us back by 110bucks for a scan and routine test. For my case, the costs is much higher since I need to check every 2 weeks and also certain check ups for twins are much more expensive. The final tabulation by KKH for my pre natal check ups is 3.5K which is really much higher than private gynae.
But if you take a step back to think in longer term (i.e all the way to delivery) the total costs is actually much lower. I actually cannot understand why some women are not able to see this or is it because I'm trained in accountancy and therefore more sensitive to overall costs?
While all private gynae will have a delivery fee (different charges for different kind of delivery), KKH's delivery package is all inclusive. Meaning to say if you don't get charge extra by the gynae delivering for you even though you are a private patient with them.
For my case, we paid SGD 2,439 as an initial deposit for a B1 class for elective c-sect where I would be staying 4D3N at the hospital. The amount is after taking into consideration of SGD 3,950 claimable from Medisave. Of course this is just an estimation based on median prices most patients paid. Should you face any complications or stay lesser than required days, KKH will refund or collect more from you after discharge where they would send a final bill to you. I was entitled to refund some 400bucks. All these are exclusive of babies' stay.
I heard stories of friends paying a good 10K cash for delivering in private hospital with c sect. This is scary to us since we are having twins and should any of the babies require extra stay or care the costs will be unthinkable.
Even with my pre natal check up costs, the total I paid for delivering my twins is around 6K. Its way lower than any of the private hospital charges. I get questioned at not choosing A1 class in KKH since it's charges will be lower than private hospital. Again I don't see the rationale of it. Yes, my hubby may bunk in with me if I stayed in an A1 ward but for what use? I paid for the hospital fees and should I need help at night, I can call for the nurses. My hubby need not tired himself out by staying there with me doing what the nurses can do and we must pay extra for it some more. That being said, Mr Love was usually with me during visiting hours and only leave at 8pm to go home and rest.
I do realised that many think that since women now is having less kids or having a kid is not that easy on a woman, therefore we should choose the best during our delivery and not scrimp on the costs. But if you take a step back and think, I rather save the monies for my kids' use. I mean what's is the different between staying in a C ward and A ward when I don't feel at home at all in the hospital? It's just a bed to me and if I can get my way, I would choose the lowest class to go to. But for a private patient, we can only choose B1 or A1.
For my Dinos, Lucas was all along in the normal nursery and his final bill is SGD 16.50 after deduction of SGD450 /day from Medisave. Louis was warded to Special Care for a day. We are being cleared for discharged on the same day and need no further stay. But you never know before you deliver especially in my case when I had complications during pregnancy. All the more we need prepare ourselves in case of any emergency arises which will results in early birth of the children.
In conclusion, I am happy with my decision to have my check ups done and deliver in KKH. Besides the costs, I do find them having more state to art equipment for scanning. Also my own gynae was an assuring one where I feel safe in his hands. Also I know KKH is more well equip to handle the complications that might arise during my twin pregnancy which is an essential factor to consider since we faced pre term delivery back then and Dinos' well being is top on my list.
