I always thought that government hospital should be a no-no. Long queue, poor services, lousy equipment, are what many people think about government hospital.
Years ago, my neighbor delivered a baby boy safely from government hospital. I was so shocked when they told me that it only cost them MYR 26! (And for me, it only costs me MYR16! )
That's really shocking to me! My first 2 boys were delivered at Subang Jaya Medical Center(SJMC) with the help from Doctor Tang Boon Nee (she's very nice and cool doctor! I strongly recommend her service). Each time cost me around MYR5-7k for natural birth, single person room, newborn care service and etc.
So for my third kid, I decided to try out government hospital, with agreement from my partner. I chose a newer and famous government hospital - The Serdang Hospital. Of course I did not set really high expectation on the Serdang Hospital. Below is my rating:
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Location
It's just next to the SKVE highway. I'd say it's an ideal hospital for residents from Puchong, Seri Kembangan, Serdang, Balakong, Cheras Selatan, Kajang, Cyberjaya, Putrajaya, and even as far as Jenjarom! There is a special unit just for pregnant lady. It's just next to the critical and non-critical of emergency unit. Whereas SJMC location is ideal for Subang Jaya/USJ/PJ residents.
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Preliminary Waiting Time
As this is government hospital, you need to expect a lot of patients. However, doctor will check whether how much has the lady's vagina opened and if it's still not wide enough, the pregnant lady will be advised to come on another suggested date. The waiting time I'd say is around the same as SJMC.
Delivery Waiting Time
If the pregnant lady is accepted by the hospital, she has to wait at sofa in an air-conditioned room (no man is allowed to enter) until feels the pain of about to delivery, then only she will be put on the bed in the operation room to welcome the newborn. Whereas SJMC will let the pregnant lady waits on the bed rather than on sofa. SJMC will put level of contraction detector on the pregnant lady (I'm still wondering if that is really required? )
Non-Patient Waiting Area
You can either wait at the air-cond hubby waiting area, or you can wait at the huge lobby hall area where all the shops and cafeteria are located. It's not air-conditioned but not like very very hot. Sometimes can be quite windy as well due to it's huge. If you go in further it will be a bit more cooler because the payment center (Unit Hasil) is there and the cool-air continuously flows out to the hall outside. Whereas for SJMC of course the entire building is air-conditioned including the non-patient waiting area.
You can either wait at the air-cond hubby waiting area, or you can wait at the huge lobby hall area where all the shops and cafeteria are located. It's not air-conditioned but not like very very hot. Sometimes can be quite windy as well due to it's huge. If you go in further it will be a bit more cooler because the payment center (Unit Hasil) is there and the cool-air continuously flows out to the hall outside. Whereas for SJMC of course the entire building is air-conditioned including the non-patient waiting area.
Service Level
Staff were friendly from registration, nurses, doctors till security guards. Every questions I asked was answered with the right attitude. Is this really a government hospital? SJMC service level is as good as well and you get to choose doctor which you can't do the same for government hospital.
Staff were friendly from registration, nurses, doctors till security guards. Every questions I asked was answered with the right attitude. Is this really a government hospital? SJMC service level is as good as well and you get to choose doctor which you can't do the same for government hospital.
Baby-Care
There is no baby-care provided. No baby-feeding service as well. The baby will stay next to the mom and the mother needs to take care of the baby herself including breastfeed the baby. Whereas for SJMC the baby will be separated from the mother and be taken care of in another room together with other babies, and parents will be asked what type of formula milk they prefer for the hospital to feed their babies.
There is no baby-care provided. No baby-feeding service as well. The baby will stay next to the mom and the mother needs to take care of the baby herself including breastfeed the baby. Whereas for SJMC the baby will be separated from the mother and be taken care of in another room together with other babies, and parents will be asked what type of formula milk they prefer for the hospital to feed their babies.
Infrastructure
As this is just a 10+ year old hospital, its building and etc do not look very much run-down. Probably it's been maintained well also. There was once I encountered water-leaking incident with toilet at the Emergency Unit so could not do any flushing. The lift was not air-conditioned and hot and one day it was giving false alarm that the lift is already full please get out but in actual fact after the announcement it still ran like normal. Whereas for SJMC you won't encounter any infra issues.
As this is just a 10+ year old hospital, its building and etc do not look very much run-down. Probably it's been maintained well also. There was once I encountered water-leaking incident with toilet at the Emergency Unit so could not do any flushing. The lift was not air-conditioned and hot and one day it was giving false alarm that the lift is already full please get out but in actual fact after the announcement it still ran like normal. Whereas for SJMC you won't encounter any infra issues.
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Equipment
I'd say more or less the same as SJMC. Bed wise SJMC is more advanced, if you want to lift up patient you can just press button whereas for Serdang hospital you need to lift the patient manually by pulling one lever. To me this is quite minor anyway.
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Food
Surprisingly food option for patient is the same as SJMC! White rice, fish, apple, vege and so on. Nothing special. The hospital has a huge cafeteria offering many types of food and beverages, also it has a bakery offering many types of breads. I'm quite satisfied of the many shops here. Quite convenient. Of course it does not have a coffee shop like StarBuck/SanFran/Gloria Jeans type like SJMC but again, why do you need a premium coffee shop at hospital?
Parking
It's free but seriously not enough parking lot! Whereas for SJMC you will be charged by hour but there's always an empty parking lot for me.
Money
Overall It just cost me MYR16.00 only! Compared to SJMC easily MYR 5,000 and above and that was 4 years ago without the implementation of GST! This is the time I claimed back part of my paid taxes! LOL.
Overall It just cost me MYR16.00 only! Compared to SJMC easily MYR 5,000 and above and that was 4 years ago without the implementation of GST! This is the time I claimed back part of my paid taxes! LOL.
