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ViewsGiving birth in the UAEFrom Wiki
Giving birth is a daunting experience, especially when you find yourself in a foreign country. This page, I hope will help answer a few questions and prepare you for what's to come, as well as explaining a few of the differences between maternity care in GB and over here. If you have had different experiences in different hospitals, then please add to this, as it will help give a clearer picture of the various options. A lot of information can be found at Dubai FAQs, with some especially interesting points about what can happen if the parents are not married.
[edit] ANTENATAL CAREUnlike in the UK, your antenatal care won't start off with a trip to the GP and a referral to the community midwives based in your local hospital. In the UAE, everything is private and independant, so your first job is to find a hospital that you like. [see list of hospitals tbc] Visit a few, have a look around, talk to a few people and take home their price list. You've got plenty of time because the first appointment you'll have to go to is at 12 weeks when they do your first scan and a whole host of other routine tests. You will also get to choose your obstetrician, who (in theory) will follow you right the way through your pregnancy, labour and birth. If you're a first time mum, you may want to think about how you'd like the labour and birth to go before going to the hospitals. Keep it loose and flexible - you never know how things will go on the day - but it'll enable you to decide whether or not the hospital will support your decisions. A few questions would be:
[edit] ANTENATAL COURSES/CLASSESAntenatal classes are offered at Australian Family Care, Al Razi Bldg, Dubai Healthcare City, Tel: 04 3694433. The courses are run by Cecille De Scally a superb South African ex-midwife. I entered these classes as a petrified father-to-be and came out an excited father-to-be. There are also lots of mother-and-baby groups, generally based in each community and/or loosely to do with an expat group. My advice would be to get out there as soon as possible (even if you don't really feel like socialising and you haven't been able to wash your hair for the last week) and get chatting. There's bound to be someone who's going through the same things as you are. Check out Expat Woman for details, although sometimes their links are a bit old.
[edit] PRICING AND PAYMENTThe prices I use in this article are those of the MedCare hospital (Oct 2008). The antenatal care package needs to be paid for at the beginning of the series of visits and costs 4000AED, plus a total of 1500AED extra for what they term "optional" tests - the PAPP-A, the Triple Test (both of which combine with the NT Scan to see if there is a risk of Downs Syndrome) and the Anomaly Scan at 22 weeks (which looks for major physical disability, organ development, cleft pallate, etc...). Then we have the Delivery Menu! Prices vary depending on which room you have, 1 or 2 days stay and of course if you end up having a normal vaginal delivery, an instrumental delivery or a c-section. For a normal delivery, prices range from 7500AED (twin room, sharing) to 16500AED ("Royal Suite" with balcony and living room!) For an instrumental, it goes from 9000 to 18500 and a c-section varies from 12500 to 32500. In addition, there are certain extras, some of which you won't be able to avoid:
[edit] ROUTINE NEWBORN VACCINATIONSUnlike in the UK, it is considered routine to give a newborn the Engerix (Hep B) and BCG vaccinations when they are a couple of days old. The newborn package mentioned above includes these vaccinations. It is worth knowing that the BCG is no longer part of the vaccination programme in the UK and is not required for visiting/living in Dubai. However, the UK vaccination programme "vaccinates babies and older people who are most likely to catch the disease, especially in those living in areas with a high rate of TB or whose parents or grandparents were born in a TB high prevalence country" NHS vaccination site. The same goes for the Hep B vaccination Again, it is up to you to decide if you want these and/or if you want to follow the UK vaccination programme.
[edit] HOSPITALS
Al Wasl is the Government Hospital where the majority of the local women have their babies. It is open to expats too. I chose to have my daughter at the Al Wasl for various reasons. They are the oldest and most well established Maternity Hospital in the UAE. Whilst their bedside manner can be a bit dodgy the actual birth was fantastic and the staff are extremely knowledgeable. The cost for ante natal at the Al Wasl is alot cheaper than all the other private hospitals. I paid 7000 dhs in total, that was for ante natal and a ceaserian section. Before all the private hospitals opened the Al Wasl was the only place you could have your baby so I would say they know what they are talking about.
[edit] REGISTERING THE BIRTHI have taken this information from Dubai FAQs until I can verify it myself. "When the child is born, the hospital should give you a Notification of Birth document, in Arabic. Use this to get a birth certificate. Go to Al Baraha Birth Certificate Office at Al Baraha Hospital with passports/residence visas and copies from both parents, and marriage certificate. They'll give you an Arabic birth certificate after a couple of days, cost about 50 dhs. You can get it translated to English for a further fee of 50+ dhs. Take the birth certificate to the Ministry of Health office at the hospital to get it attested (~10 dhs), then take the attested birth certificate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get it attested again (~50 dhs)"... why, I don't know! [edit] GETTING THE BABY'S FIRST PASSPORTThe baby will need its own passport with photo ID (it doesn't need to have its eyes open, but the photo needs to be within certain measurements - talk about daft!). You have 4 months in order to get the baby's passport, after that, you can get fined 100AED per day. Start the process in good time! Take the baby's birth certificate along with parent's birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports and copies to your embassy or consulate and fill in a birth registration form and passport application form. How to Apply Page on the British Consulate website If your a UK citizen, this is a good starting point on getting a British passport. Although the guidelines state that home-printed photos may not be of good enough quality, this free pasport photo site may be worth a look, as you can upload your own photo and crop/scale it to the approved standard dimensions. Just lay the baby on a white sheet on the floor (or lay the sheet over a bean-bag to prop them up) and take the pic! |