Pregnant & moving to Singapore - need advice on OB/hospitals

[Smiff111]

Hi there,
Our little family is moving to Singapore in a few weeks time and baby number 2 is due in November. Just wondering if anyone could recommend an Obstetrician and/or hospital? Looking at Google but it is all beoming a bit of a blur and on 'paper' they all sound as good as each other. Starting to panic now.
I will be having a C Section. My husbands company is still sorting health insurance but I'm guessing they won't cover my pregnancy. Does anyone have any experience of costs etc? Wondering if we need a second mortgage !

Thanks in advance, Tracy

NUH is the National University Hospital. I know a few people who have given birth there and its cheaper than the private hospitals. My friend used Dr Mary Rauff there and was really happy.

Thomson Medical Centre is a very popular choice with expats, Dr Paul Tseng is very popular as he is a big advocate of natural birth, but obviously he also does c-sections.

I gave birth at Raffles Hospital with Dr Thong who is great but one of the more expensive ones and my insurance covered it.

Hi,
I was in the exact same position this time last year!
I used Dr Cathryn Chan at Gleneagles and she was fine. TBH, it isn't difficult to find a good doctor for a c-section here - they seem to love them. Finding a good doctor whose prepared to try a VBAC or go with a natural birth is far harder!
If you can push your DH's company to get insurance to cover your pregnancy you will find it very valuable. It will be expensive here with no insurance. We're covered by a company called Cigna International and they covered my pregnancy even though I was 6 months pregnant when we relocated from the UK. At first it wasn't clear they would cover the doctor I wanted (I wanted a VBAC and the first doctor I liked wasn't on the insurer's "panel" of preferred doctors and he delivered in a hospital that wasn't on the insurer's preferred list, so we would have had to pay ourselves). As a guide, he quoted $10,000-$15,000 for the birth (including the hospital fees but excluding the prenatal care) - the lower end was for a non-complicated vaginal delivery and the higher end was for a non-complicated c-section. An emergency c-section was higher again.
I don't know what the fees are for the public hospital but it's not like the UK/NHS (if that's where you're from). It is still a user-pays system (e.g. a visit to A&E costs $100 for an initial consultation). Most private hospitals have packages for the room and operating theatre costs etc - you could always contact one or two to get their rates (a few to try would be Gleneagles, Thomson, Mt Elizabeth), but don't forget your obstetrician will charge on top of that, as will the anesthetist (sp?) and the paediatrician, both of whom will need to be in the operating theatre and will see you/the baby before and after birth.
As a guide, too, each prenatal consultation with my ob cost about $500, including a scan and routine urine tests etc, (it seems to be common to scan more frequently here than in the UK, when I had 2-3 for each of my two DDs - here I had one every visit). They even charged for the stick you pee on to check your urine ($7, if I remember, rightly!).
Lastly, you will also pay for all your baby's immunisations if you don't have insurance to cover him/her after birth - my baby's first month imms cost $660, as a guide. The two and three month ones were similar.
People are critical of the NHS for being slow and the hospitals being a bit old etc but it is an amazing system!
Best of luck - please ask if you have any other queries as I went through all this time last year (we moved in August).

You might find this useful:

www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/costs_and_financing/HospitalBillSize/delivery_caesareansection.html

I have delivered twice here now both times at Mount Elizabeth with Dr Kek as my obstetrician. We had to pay as our insurance doesn't cover it (but do get your dh to check as oddly enough if I'd had a c-section my work policy covers $2k towards the cost - not much but something!). I had dd in May 2011 a normal uncomplicated vaginal delivery with g&a only and it cost around $6k with 2 nights in hospital (she was born just before midnight so still got charged 2 nights - boo!).

I've visited friends at some of the other hospitals too and they are all good. The rooms are generally like hotel rooms with dvd player, tv, mini-bar, shower room and choice of menu. We even had a celebration dinner on the first night!