Having a baby in India...What would you do?

fly2raven

There has been quite a lot of good information given to parents thinking about bringing a small child to India, but I haven't seen any available on whether or not it is advised to have a child here or not...

I know there are over a billion inhabitants of this country so the locals obviously don't have a problem with giving birth but what about us foreigners?? Is is advisable?

My cousin that was born/raised in India told me a story about a good friend of hers..seems this girl went into labor and needed a cesarean, as the procedure was beginning the power went out and the security guard wasn't able to start the back-up generator...and this didn't happen all that long ago...

I know that there are some OK hospitals here in India but when you go into labor..you go...and you may or may not be able to get over to Manipal as was the original plan...

I also heard that doctors here can actually deny you of an epidural and/or other pain medication...a colleague of my husband who just gave birth about two weeks ago told me that when she asked for the procedure she was told that she didn't need it...jesus..I think I would probably kill my doctor if he told me that while in labor

I was talking about this to my sister a while ago, and she said, "what's the difference...your doctor in the US will probably be Indian - so why can't you give birth in India?" I am just not sure if I would compare it that way

So what would you do?

Men - would you be OK with your wives giving birth to your child here?

Ladies - if you had a choice, would you choose to leave or stay for the birth?

DesiKid

Absolutely- as you said we're a country of billion people..just make sure you pick up the right hospital.

Mykey

For me to make my own decision, one of the things I would do would be to check the published infant mortality rates in India against my other choice of country.

capt_mahajan

Err, my wife did. Twice.

Find a good doctor and a decent hospital and you will be fine.

Nick-H

You are very very unlikely, I would have thought, to be denied anything.

It is not usually their aim to reduce the bill! A friend of mine (not rich) recently found it hard to have a natural delivery: she found that everybody insists on caesarians.

It's like the shopping thing: the Can I Get X in India questions are often answered You can get *anything* in India these days.

Yep! You can get most things; but I do not believe anyone who says that India can offer an equivalent shopping experience to UK's Bluewater (substitute your country's biggest, pleasantest shopping centre).

I'd say the same goes for hospitals. You'll find all the qualifications and the experience, and many of the specialists will regularly practice, or even teach, in overseas hospitals. You'll find all the gadgets too, in the expensive private hospitals.

I went to visit a friend in Chennai's 'best', a couple of weeks ago. All very nice, but I couldn't help noticing that there was no soap in the toilet.

The other side of the coin is that I am sure India can offer better value for money than America. I'm sure you'd get all the care you need, and I'm sure everything would be just fine.

I think the best thing for you is to visit a hospital or two and see how you feel. Even talk to the specialists there and see how they make you feel.

This is not an entirely new subject in the site. Have a look at member Shaktipalooza's posts. If I remember correctly, he and his wife decided on birth in USA, but you will have to check out how much your circumstances fit with his.

My vote? My wife and I are too old to vote on this one but if we weren't, I'm sure she'd rather be in her home country, and she's done it here twice already.

Mind you... she was pretty amazed and impressed by the Public UK hospital when we had to visit my mum there last year.

I'm waffling --- but I hope there may be something useful in there

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Nick-H

That really wouldn't be useful, I don't think.

They would be far too skewed by the vast, vast numbers of people giving birth in poverty with minimal medical facility.

I'd expect even such figures from a city government hospital could be worrying.

If you could obtain the figures for the private hospitals of your choice, that would be useful.

CurryUpYaar

Any large hospital in a big city will be fine - as is the case everywhere in the world, even in first world countries. Bombay has some excellent hospitals. Jaslok, Breach Candy, Nanvati, etc. are excellent and often the choice of Indian big shots and celebrities. Here are the websites - check them out:

http://www.jaslokhospital.net/patien...l_patients.htm

http://www.breachcandyhospital.in/home.htm

http://www.nanavatihospital.org/homepage/homepage.html

I know many people who live in the US but go to India to have serious medical procedures done. So I think giving birth in India is not a big deal.

icetea

As Nick says, this has been discussed on this forum before, just search the older threads.

I don't know, I'm less worried about the medical facilities thing and more worried about the fact that when you give birth, you'd sort of prefer to be surrounded by your own people. At a time like that, I wouldn't want to be also worrying about..damn I'm "the foreigner" here, I'm a curio..

Auntyji

fly2raven, do what makes you comfortable and gives you peace of mind.
I have a British friend who did not want to give birth to her child in Japan so she went to London for the birth. Now I lived in Japan for many years and had quite a few friends who gave birth to their children there. As far as I could see, the hospitals and doctors were fine, but for some reason this friend preferred to go back to London for the birth. She told me that Japanese doctors did not routinely prescribe epidurals, so perhaps that was the deciding point! Good luck with everything.

Nick-H

I don't think you'd find it to be like that.

You'd be in a private room and I don't think you would get too much of that sort of attention from the professionals.

Appolo Hospital here in Chennai is one of the most cosmopolitan buildings I've been in! They are well-used to dealing with foreigners.

Now, if you were in a public ward, I think you would get a lot of such attention. Difference seems to fascinate us humans, and I would guess that hoards would be coming to see what a little pink baby looks like!

brownboy66

i dunno....being away from your own kind, if that includes the out-laws, kinda has its advantages (I can say that as the outlaws haven't discovered the world of on-line forums). Nice to have family and familiarity around, but at the same time - you need time by yourself to bond with baby (and a constant flow of visitors can be a bit much at times). Plus one huge advantage here - no problems finding someone to help with baby, or with everything else while you focus on baby!

Hemmie

This is a recurring subject on the weekly meetings I attend with a group of young expat moms
I know women who have gone back, but I also know plenty who have had their baby in India. If we would have another child during our stay here I would prefer to give birth in India, simply because my husband cannot leave India for such a long period, and we don't want to be separated for so long.
My main concern about giving birth in India is that the 'good' hospitals tend to make a birth very medical. The amount of caesarians is huge, for twins or breech baby's it is considered 'normal' procedure. But, from what I've heard the caesarians are performed well, so the quality shouldn't be a problem.
Just make sure you choose the right hospital, I've heard some really bad stories about the one in our neighbourhood, even though it is a expensive, western style hospital. So when the time comes, make sure you ask around.

capt_mahajan

In my obviously male opinion, choosing a good doctor (and one with a reputation for avoiding unneccessary caesarians) is slightly more important than choosing a good hospital.

shashank.aggarwal

As per the hospitals, there are always some of them, which might not have an international reputation like Apollo, Escorts or Fortis, however they are generally very good and maintain excellent standards..and that too without fleecing the patients..

one such entity in Delhi is Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, located in Rajendra Nagar area. very close to CP and Karol Bagh. They have some of the best known specialists in the city and in some cases country treating patients in OPD (Out Patient Department) for a meagre fees of Rs.10.

I have seen other facilities like their ICU, it might not be 100% as Apollo and others, but they are almost there...

And the best part is, its not expensive by any standards, atleast with the kind of facilities and service they provide.

So anyone with limited budget, but looking for top class service prefers that hospital. I am sure that there would be such 'real' hospitals in other cities as well...

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Nick-H

International reputations are often made by marketing departments!

There are hospitals run by charitable organisations that can be very good. An elderly friend of mine was in a 'public' ward in St Isabel's in Chennai. I think she was paying something like Rs.85 a night for the bed, with drugs etc at cost. Mrs N told me that the standard of treatment, the attitude of the nurses (they actually care) and doctors there are hugely different from a public government hospital.

In an emergency, I guess I'd just call Apollo. For any planned treatment, we would go to Isabel's or one of the smaller private hospitals.

I can afford at least one major medical emergency in a big hospital, but I really would not like to have to spend time there, with every 'hello' from a consultant adding Rs500 to the bill.

This is in the context of what is equivalent to an upper-middle class Indian budget. Working Expats with health cover really need give hardly a thought to the financial side of things...