Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jane]

I know three Canadian couples who delivered two babies here a piece. Overall, they seemed pretty pleased with the service and the care; there are definitely some differences between the care given in Korea and Canada, though.

If you do have a baby in Korea, I think you want to be sure you get to the best hospitals. As I mentioned above with the Mizmedi hospitals, there are definitely some second class facilities out there.

[PatrickGHBusan]

Checking for the right hostpital is kind of basic and something every expecting couple should be doing anyway.

As for the extra cost for a premature baby, that seems expected as premature babies are in an intensive case unit and are monitored 24 hours a day. Depending on your medical insurance, that can cost you a chink of change.

The part I called rubbish was the clear attempt by youtuber to paint birth in Korea as a nightmare and his sad attempt at fear mongering when odds are he or she is not even a parent.

[Tundra_Creature]

I met a woman at my language exchange back here in Canada who had her one of her children (or both?) in Busan. She and her husband are both Canadian, but they said that the services they were given were pretty great. Differences, of course, but overall good. I also remember her saying good things about the midwives there.

That's about all I can say about the subject, though. I love hearing about babiy stories and such (not ready to have any of my own though).

[Snowflake]

I'm pregnant and have to say the care I've had so far at Cha hospital in Gangnam has been great. As a Brit the idea of paying for health care is a bit of a pain - but if I compare standards then Korea would win hands down - it's completely worth it.
To the poster who said that if you choose to keep your baby with you then they can't go back to the nursery - where did you hear that? It sounds very odd. I will want the baby with me (feeding for one thing) but also would like some monitoring if I'm asleep. Something to discuss with the doc I guess!

[pangaea]

smurfetta wrote:

[eamo]

My wife and I had our baby in May 2009........no complaints....we did most visits and delivery in Bundang Cha....

At first we were going to a doctor in Gangnam who seemed over-keen for my wife to come in for very frequent scans at 60,000 per time (cute little plastic case with ultra-sound photos and video-CD each time!)....even though nothing was wrong.....so we quit that clinic...she was doing a scan-scam!!


Bundang Cha was just okay....no especially good or bad things.....one semi-serious complaint was that after the delivery they put my wife in one of the highest-costing rooms when we had actually only booked the average room....saying that no average rooms were available.....but when I said that we expect to only get charged the cost of an average room the reception nurse in charge of these things looked at me like I was nuts. I got the doctor involved but they wouldn't back down....we had to pay the full cost.


Overall, no horror stories.....but the whole process did feel a lot more impersonal than I had hoped for.....all the professionals involved give the air of being very busy and you should not take more than 90 seconds of their time.

[smurfetta]

The couple who had the premature baby are Canadian.

Snowflake- check your hospital's policy about rooming with your baby. Many big hospitals don't allow it. My friend had her baby in a big university hospital and she had to keep her baby in the nursery. My hospital gave me the choice of rooming in or keeping my son in the nursery. I think smaller hospitals tend to be more flexible.

[fugitive chicken]

[T-J]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[harringt]

smurfetta, and others who have given birth in Korea:

Is it true that most hospitals do procedures like episiotomies, pubic hair shaving, and enemas routinely? Are there hospitals or other birth locations that don't insist on those procedures and do offer epidurals?

[Stu_miller]

[ttompatz]

[harringt]

[AfroBurrito]

I was going to have my baby in Korea but things didn't work out between my son's father and I so I returned home and am set to deliver in November.

I would look into Mediflower in Seoul. I saw them for a while and was very pleased with the quality of care and felt confident that my objections or requests as to treatment would be heeded. It's pricier than other places, but worth the expense. I had to pay out of pocket because of poor private insurance, but the care I received was in some ways much better than what in have received here in Texas.