Private or Public Hospital

2 blue lines!! Congratulations! What's next? You have to decide which hospital do you want to give birth at? Also which gynae to engage? Some gynae may only practise at certain hospital, so make sure you ask! 

I had experience in going through the maternity checkups and giving birth in both private and government hospitals. So in this post, I will describe the difference.

During my first pregnancy, I wanted a female doctor so I found and engaged a renowned gynae through word of mouth who practise mainly at Mount Alvernia. She is Dr Goh Shen Li. When I first tested positive, I emailed her clinic and very quickly I received a reply and arranged the first consultation within the week. She is a very friendly and patient doctor, very experienced as well. 

During my subsequent pregnancy, I decided on government hospital for the subsidies. I had to go to polyclinic first for a referral before I was scheduled an appointment 1 or 2 weeks later for my first consultation.

In private hospital and clinic, waiting time throughout all checkups are minimal. Usually in 1 hour, you will be done - ultrasound, doctor consultation, medication and payment. But in public hospital, you can wait more than 2 hours just for the ultrasound to be done and another 1 hour for doctor consultation, 1 more hour for medication at pharmacy - easily a half day gone.

Of course, the price difference is there too. Each visit at private would set you back at least $200 while public may be within $100 after government subsidies. The cost of taking the tests and vaccinations such as G6PD, GDM, Down Syndrome (e.g. Oscar) are also heavily subsidised at public hospital. So total cost at private might set you back at $10k while public around $5k.

In private, you can choose and fix a gynae while in public, it's a team of doctors so you will see a different gynae at almost every visit, and yes there are male gynae in the team too. Do note that there is also private setup at government hospital where you could choose to fix a gynae but this will be charged at private cost.

If I were to choose again, would I prefer public or private? I would go private for the less waiting time and fixed female gynae. But I would go public for the much lesser cost. So it depends on the situation then.