About a month ago, Shawn and I went for a maternity tour at Mt Alvernia hospital. We actually registered quite last minute and it was nice of them to squeeze us into one of the slots. The tour runs daily and last for about an hour. We reported to the Patient Liaison Centre on arrival and was handed a goodie bag which consist of some freebies, promotional brochures and magazines, as well as a info booklet on maternity services in Mt Alvernia. We then began the tour with the tour executive giving a presentation to us about the flow of the tour, the maternity packages they offer, general information on admission procedure, and the benefits of the Alvernia ladies card. The card includes perks like discounts off maternity packages, first paediatric consultation at participating clinics, parent craft services, health screenings, 24-Hr walk in clinic, and purchases at their retail pharmacy. For this Jubilee year special, the enrolment is FOC for all mummies who give birth in Mt Alvernia.
Their maternity packages include the following:
- Lodging with meals
- Labour ward charges/ operating theatre charges(depending on type of delivery)
- Nursery charges
- Daily treatment fees for nursing services
- Baby’s immunisation(BCG, 1st dose of Hep B and Vitamin K)
- Baby’s blood test for G6PD, TSH and blood type
- 1 complimentary group parent craft session (Mon, Wed & Fri)
- 1 complimentary lactation consultation during hospital stay
- Maternity loop pad x 1 pkt
- Baby diapers x 1 pkt
- Baby wipes x 1 pkt
- Baby’s bathtub
- Maternity discharge bag
- Basic toiletries
Packages exclude stuff like CTG monitoring and use of labour ward(if opting for caesarean), non-standard medications like pessary for induction of labour and antibiotics, phototherapy for jaundice baby, extra tests for baby, blood transfusion etc.
Mt Alvernia Maternity Package 2015
The scribbles in ink are the respective prices before GST and the price differences between different mode of delivery. If you noticed, there are some discrepancies in charges for use of epidural between single room and double room package(about $100?) as well as charges for assisted delivery between that of epidural use and non-epidural use (assisted delivery costs additional $112-$217 without epidural use while it only costs $25-27 if you had used epidural). Anyway, it’s not like a very big disparity in amount, so you can just ignore it if it doesn’t bother you. But the math geek in me just had to figure that out hahaha.
Things to note:
- The prices are not inclusive of your own doctor’s fees
- The packages commence from the day of delivery (eg. if you check in at 5pm on day one but only deliver on the next day, your package will commence on day two and there will be an additional charge of $400+ for use of delivery suite and services)
- Choice of ward and room type is accommodated by first come first serve basis. Your bill will be prorated if they downgrade you involuntarily.
- There is a companion charge of $80.25/day which includes three meals(only applicable for single rooms)
- The hospital will help you submit your antenatal care claims as part of the Medisave Maternity Package(up to $450) upon submission of original receipts during admission
- Any unused item from the package(eg. vaccination for baby or parent lactation consult) will not be refunded
After the initial introduction, we went on to tour the maternity and labour wards. The maternity ward consist of two different wings, the St. Raphael’s ward and Our Lady’s ward. They have five different room types: 4-bedder, 2-bedder, single room, super deluxe single, and the family suite. The super deluxe single rooms and family suite is located only in Our Lady’s ward.
St. Raphael’s Ward
St. Raphael’s 4-bedder
St. Raphael’s 2-bedder
St. Raphael’s 1-bedder
Our Lady’s 2-bedder
Our Lady’s 1-bedder
In my opinion, Our Lady’s ward appears to be newer and pleasant as compared to St. Raphael’s ward. The prices for both wards are the same. You can indicate your preference of ward but it will be subjected to availability.
Delivery suite
Only one companion will be allowed in the delivery suite, however, there’s a common waiting area just outside for family and friends. Oh, and the toilet in the delivery suite is shared among two adjacent suites.
We didn’t manage to tour the super deluxe single room and the family suite during this tour as it was occupied. We were also told that there will be a new wing in the maternity ward coming up by end August.
For the last part of the tour, we visited the nursery. No pictures were allowed though. For the baby, breastfeeding is strongly encouraged and thus they imposed a charge of $1/bottle of formula milk used. Mothers are also advised to rent their medela pumps and bottles from the hospital during the stay for a flat rate of $20 as staff would not help to sterilise personal pumps.
At the end of the tour, we were each given a beverage voucher for redemption at their cafeteria.
While waiting for our drinks at the cafeteria
Petite Mumsie 