Kampuchea Crossings

Bump to baby on the beaten expat track

Thailand

Maternity package rates at Bumrungrad (Bangkok) and St Luke’s hospital (Manila)

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As of this writing, the exchange rate is 30 Baht=US $1. So a normal delivery package at Bumgrungrad is US $1,196, while a C-section birth is US $3100. I was quite impressed with my experience at Samitivej hospital for our first child’s birth in 2011. I imagine the facilities in Bumrungrad, which is considered a higher-class (5star) facility, must be better.

In comparison, when we had our daughter in March this year in St Luke’s Hospital (Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Manila) the quote for a C-section delivery is PHP155,000-185,000 (US $3789-$4512) for 4-5 days’ hospitalization including delivery, recovery and nursery room charges, medicines and supplies used in the delivery room, hospitalization expenses (private room) and professional fees (OB-gyne, Pedia, Anesthesiologist). St Luke’s BGC is a similarly-billed 5star medical tourist hospital in Manila.

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This ad was posted in the elevators.
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the women’s health clinic
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Pediatric department lounge area, complete with a small play space.

 

Other posts on this topic:

Having a baby in Manila vs. Having a baby in Bangkok (for expatriates) Aug 10, 2013

Bumrungrad Hospital in pictures Aug 10, 2013

Giving birth in Manila vs Giving birth in Bangkok Jun 16, 2013

Living in Phnom Penh, Having a baby in Bangkok Feb 20, 2011

Bumrungrad Hospital in pictures

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It feels like we’ve been making a tour of hospitals this year. Six months ago we spent a lot of time in St Luke’s Hospital in Manila (also considered a 5-star medical tourism hospital). I had the baby there while Keith had a series of cardiac checkups and screenings. We all had dental work done there too. Now, Keith was evacuated to Bangkok’s Bumrungrad because of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever. What a year. Well.. here is Bumrungrad in pictures. Compared to hospitals back home in NYC this looks like a nice hotel.

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Lobby area of the old building, where the patient rooms are.
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Reception area in the new building, where outpatient services for package checkups start.
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Reception area of outpatient services, for package consultations. This is the 10th floor of the new building. There is a Starbucks, a cafeteria and a Bookazine with an awesome selection of kids’ books.
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The pediatric lounge, complete with a play gym. This waiting area is absolutely spacious.
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The 10th floor of the old building where Keith’s private room is. They have these cars for kids stationed all around the hospital departments.
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Keith’s hotel room -err, his hospital room. The movies, sitcoms and music are fairly recent. There’s also a built-in internet for people who didn’t bring their gadgets.
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The couch was large, more than comfortable for an adult staying with the patient, given that it *is* a hospital room. You can also request a cot, which was 200baht/night. This was all convenient for me and the two kids.
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There is a kitchen area with microwave, refrigerator, table and two chairs, a sink, dishes. The bathroom is equipped with a hair dryer.

 

Other posts on this topic:

Maternity package rates at Bumrungrad (Bangkok) and St Luke’s hospital (Manila) Sept 28, 2013

Giving birth in Manila vs Giving birth in Bangkok (for expatriates) Jun 16, 2013

Living in Phnom Penh, Having a baby in Bangkok Feb 20, 2011

Having a baby in Manila vs. Having a baby in Bangkok (for expatriates)

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Saoirse Inés Abejero Kelly

… continued from Part I. Our first child was born in Bangkok’s Samitivej Hospital in January 2011, which I wrote about here. Our second was born in St Luke’s Medical Center, Taguig, Manila, in March 2013. Below is our experience in both countries.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, airlines restrict travel at 35 weeks 1 day gestation. Living costs have to be calculated from five weeks before the estimated due date, through the birth, and the time it takes to finalize the paperwork to clear you for exiting the country with the baby. Bureaucratic coordination is a tremendous help to medical tourists – particularly for births. Our overall experience:

  • Bangkok‘s medical tourism industry is exceptionally efficient. Bureaucratic requirements for the birth through your baby’s exit clearance are transparent right from the beginning. It’s possible to plan ahead, budget properly, and concentrate on the birth. Hospital staff handled the paperwork and coordination across government departments on your behalf until you leave the country. We were able to go home when our son was 10 days old.
  • Manila was the complete opposite, with inefficiency at every office, in a process that is not transparent. Information for foreigners coming to the Philippines to have a baby was sparse, with different people in the same hospital/government office offering conflicting information, and unfair fines levied (which we paid in order to move the process). The coordination required to secure our daughter’s documents (1) within the hospital, then (2)(3) from the hospital to/between the different government departments, was worse than poor. We were finally cleared to leave the country after 74 days.

Nursing care is a big factor  [Read more…] about Having a baby in Manila vs. Having a baby in Bangkok (for expatriates)

Giving birth in Manila vs Giving birth in Bangkok (for expatriates)

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As many of you know, most foreigners working in Cambodia and its neighboring countries fly to Bangkok for medical procedures. We chose to have our baby in Bangkok, Thailand, in January 2011, which I wrote about here on resources for foreigners. Due to airline policies we flew to Bangkok at 35 weeks gestation (they don’t want women having a baby while on board). This is a substantial amount of time away from work, so a speedy return back after the birth is ideal. Thanks to the extremely efficient medical tourism industry, we were able to leave Thailand with the baby an astonishing 10 days after birth. The official birth certificate, US passport, and exit clearance were all secured very quickly and painlessly. All engagement with government bureaucracy was expertly facilitated by a hospital representative. We spent two months, tops, in Bangkok.

This time around, for our second child’s birth, we decided to go to the Philippines. It took a week before the hospital sent Saoirse’s birth documents to the local registrar’s office. It took around four weeks before the National Statistics Office (NSO) released an official copy of her birth certificate (after we paid a fee to expedite the process). We secured an interview to report the birth abroad at the US Embassy two weeks later. After three weeks her passport was couriered to us. Finally, after some paperwork and lots of fees, the Bureau of Immigration gave us our daughter’s exit clearance. Compared to 10 days in Thailand, in the Philippines it took 74 days after birth before we were able to leave the country. We were in Manila nearly four months.

At least this was in a country where we had family, so the extremely long stay didn’t feel like an imprisonment. I wasn’t necessarily in a rush to get back to work, but it was stressful to wade through so much bureaucracy. The worst part is that it seemed as if few to no other Americans/foreigners have ever gone through it before! I assumed that with the medical caliber there, it would be one of the main medical destinations for foreign aid workers, diplomats and other expatriates working in the pacific island countries. Clearly not?!

I’ll be posting more about our experience being a medical tourist (having a baby as well as other medical procedures) in Manila and in Bangkok.

Anyway.. our little girl is “home” now. She was a trooper for her first flights (Manila to Singapore, then Singapore to Phnom Penh), sleeping through most of the travel while Tristan, now 27 months, was the one who kept us on our toes with his incessant need to run, touch everything, and tantrum every 15 minutes of the flight to Phnom Penh!

 

Other posts on this topic:

Maternity package rates at Bumrungrad (Bangkok) and St Luke’s hospital (Manila) Sept 28, 2013

Bumrungrad Hospital in pictures Sept 28, 2013

Having a baby in Manila vs. Having a baby in Bangkok (for expatriates) Aug 10, 2013

Living in Phnom Penh, Having a baby in Bangkok Feb 20, 2011

 

Chestnuts roasting on an open wok..

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…and other holiday icon mashups, sprinkled with an Asian twist. Western holidays are already so commercialized back home, they’re often adulterated further on their way to becoming eagerly-adopted shopping holidays in non-Christian countries.

Like the huge blowup pumpkin, decorated like a Christmas tree at one of Phnom Penh’s local bookstores last Christmas.

Like the bunnies, traditionally associated with Easter, which seem to take center stage in every Christmas Season set in Bangkok (here’s one at the Emporium on Sukhumvit). Edited to note: Asia is about to welcome the Year of the Rabbit in a few weeks, so this is the reason for all the bunnies in the Christmas sets :-) With Christmas over, the bunnies’ costumes and sets are being adjusted for Valentine’s Day marketing.

Photo by Keith Kelly