Should I have a baby in India?

chilli&pepper

Hello

I am a female british expat, working in Gurgaon. I am going to be out here long term (more than 10 years) and am trying to plan whether i should have a baby while out in India, or if i should return to the UK for the period of my maternity leave, and have the baby there.

The most important thing to me is the quality of pre and anti-natal care and of course the care provided at the time of the birth by the maternity sections of the hospitals (Paras Hospital or similar)

Have any expats had babies in India or even better in Gurgaon? If so can you give me some information about it, and in your experience what you would advise me to do.

Thanks

Chilli&pepper

bianca_mihaela

Hi. This is for me a very interesting subject, my personal decision was NO NO NO. With alot of regret, I decided it is not the place for a westerner having a baby. Then again I am sure there are plenty of white girls(or/and foreigner couples) having and raising babies in this city, so I am also curious how they handle...

I am sorry to start with such a negative reply..again, it was just a personal choice

capt_mahajan

Interesting, equating westerners with whites.

I wonder what the large non white populations (of South American, African, Asian and SE Asian lineage, to start with) in the US and Europe would have to say about that.

PS: The op's question, my opinion is that if you get hold of a good doctor, you may even get better medical attention than you get in 'white' countries

bianca_mihaela

Ah, far from me the thought of offending any of races...My husband here always reffers to europeans- and to me "white people piss me off" and all in very silly way so i hope i did not offend anybody.

Back to topic... One of my sisters in law is registered at Holy Family Hospital. She gave birth to 2 sons...they are all healthy and she said they take good care of you there.
Recently an unfortunate event made me pass the E.R. dept of the hospital and i found it quite bad.
I think Im not too much of help in your decision.

federica

Under these circumstances I would not think about having a baby because of other reasons than medical ones. Sorry to hear about your situation.

capt_mahajan

Can you tell him, unless he is joking, that he is terribly mistaken, please


PS: even if he is joking, actually.


And back ontopic, folks, in India, please find a good doctor recommended by at least middle class people. The hospital is secondary, because a good doctor used to that clientele will not recommend a bad or unhygenic hospital.

puchoo

Just to add -

Delhi / Gurgaon has a lot of good infrastructure available between them and i dont think that should really concern you. You have already mentioned Holy Family , the other one really well know is Sita Ram Bhartiya and then ofcourse you have Apollo etc as well.

I am not an expert , yet, on the subject but from what i have seen, most mothers have a gynecologist whom they are always in touch with during the time. More often than not some of them are associated or can definitely recommend a hospital basis their experience , plus they always come along...so would not that add on to the comfort factor as well?

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bianca_mihaela

'cause I did say something that is open for interpretation I feel like argumeting it properly.
1. I doubt that inter rasial marriages are between racist people. 2. My husband and I only make the difference between people by the way we interact with them, their color, origin etc is not important to make an impression.

Anyway i think we are alot off topic.

From what I understand Max Hospital is one of the best here. I once had some teeth troubles and they took great care of me...very clean and very nice staff.
And yes, I think first if you decide on having a baby, find a good doc who surely can recommend best clinic/hospital around and who can guide/help you throughout the pregnancy.

shashank.aggarwal

I guess you want to say Sir Ganga Ram Hospital !!

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puchoo

Actually no.....i meant to say Sita Ram Bhartiya...!

mazha

Hey, India has a billion people, so people there should know a thing or two about childbirth!

Frankly, the average Indian doctor, even a plain MBBS one, has more rich and diverse experience than any western doctor. Just because of the number of different types of cases s/he attends to every day, right from medical school. Most of the good ones these days are west-educated as well.

If you are worried about hygiene, hospitals are like restaurants, you get what you pay for.

karuna

OP check out the bottom of the page. There are links to previous discussions on this topic.

For some reason- and I've no idea where I got this- I have the idea that births in India are more likely to be medicalised. Lie in this position only, have episiotomy, forceps, etc. I must have read it somewhere. Or possibly I made it up. Anybody got any thoughts on that?

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edwardseco

So do villagers in central Africa but... The rest I pretty much agree with. The doctors a foren are likely to come into contact with are at the higher end and I have a great deal of trust and respect for them.

The low end though is pretty astonishing. As far as I can tell in the bustees and villages anyone can call themselves a doctor. One of my few contributions was to kick up a fuss about my sis in law doing the proper Bengali budralog thing of not working when she was a highly qualified doctor in a very poorly served area. It got me a title in the area, doctor's brother in law..

ananda2193

Well, there's over a billion people there, so someone must be doing something right!

And my daughter was born on an island in Indonesia by a mid-wife with no hospital around for miles and she's fine.

capt_mahajan

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Dunno what epistomy is, but caesarian's are sometimes encouraged.

But, like I always say, depends on the doctor. If you get hold of a good one, this does not happen unless required.

The problem sometimes is that the medical profession is more a business than anything else nowadays; one has to be aware of that.