Being pregnant in Beijing - some questions

Posted by ruthless (1071 days ago)

Hi
I got an offer for a 3 months contract in beijing. I am pregnant and be there parts of the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. I wanted to know
1. how is the medicine (western) in beijing regarding the tests, Ultrasounds etc, that need to be done during the pregnancy?
2. Is the medical environment advanced?
3. How about gynicologists?
4. what should I ask for in the health insurance scheme?
5. anything important i need to know about being pregnant there?

Thanks for your help

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Posted by pregnant in Beijing (1050 days ago)

Hi I live in Beijing and had my baby here three months ago.
I will try and answer your questions but I know if you do a search in here and in the practicle section you will find loads on this subject.. I have answered a few haha.

1, The western medicine here is great, there are few hospital to choose from and I went with Beijing united for my prenatal (including antenatal classes, scans and blood work etc) , birth and postnatal care. I have no complaints and they were great, the right mix of friendliness and professionalism (is that a word!!).

The only problem is they tend to be very expensive, however the level of care you get more than makes up for it in my opinion. Hopefully if you get insurance this will not be an issue for you, if not I know there are cheaper options from my friends who say they were just as good. Again you should find this info in the practicle section as I have answered before but if you have problems let me know and I will pull out the info for you.
2, the medical environment is advance in the western hospitals. Again my only experience was with BJU but they are an American style hospital and up to standard. I really believe I received much better treatment here than I would have in the Uk.
3, No problems.
4, Make sure your health insurance covers pregnancies, not all do, and check when you can claim from your insurance for your pregnancy. Most wont let you claim anything for the first 7 months to a year of your policy.
You need to see how much they give, most will pay a lump sum that is to cover everything upto and including the birth. If it is less than you need you could end up with a bill!
I would check that they will cover any complication with the baby at the time of the birth and any extra treatment if needed. depending on the hospitals rules you may be sent to Hongkong if there are any complications with the baby (I would check this with any hospital you decide to go with.
Sorry thats abit waffly but I am not to good on the insurance info!
5, The only thing I can think of that you need to know is that the antenatal clothes (nice stuff not dungarees!) is impossibleto get here. I ended up getting stuff sent over as pressies or biying on trips to HK or singapore. Maternity bra's again, impossible to get if you are bigger than a c cup.
You can get cots (good ones in Ikea and they deliver), bottles, sterilisers, breast pumps and all that sort of stuff though. again I can give you the names of places if you needed.
I will write again if I think of anything else.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
X

Posted by ruthless (1050 days ago)

Thanks. That is helpful :)