Yam Yam

MY wife and I are moving to Abu Dhabi next month and our baby is due in Jan 09, so we will be looking for a hospital fairly quickly to get scans and other stuff sorted. I wondered if anybody had any good advice to give regarding hospitals to use. We will have Bupa Gold cover , but might not be covered for the pregnancy so rough costs for the pregnancy period would be good also. I would prefer not to hear any horror stories, so advice with a positive slant would be nice, I am scared enough!!

We have lived in Dubai previously for a few years so are aware of the general vibe in the area, but realise the differences to be found an hour up the road.

twistopher

Yamyam, you will be fine - we've just had a baby ourselves and the care was excellent, although sometimes you have to be a little firm to make sure you get what you want when you want.
Dr. Tank at Gulf Diagnostics is great, if pretty busy so book early. She can do most of your early care.
The Corniche Maternity Hospital seems to be where most people (especially expats) give birth will start looking after you a couple of months out from the big day. They have a good few western midwives and the care there is great - just be prepared for the usual well-organized appointment process during your check-ups (not). It seems to be that you book an appointment and then pay no attention to the time of it at all.
You should be able to get all medical expenses paid for - Corniche doesn't take BUPA Gold - you have to pay and claim back.
All in all we were very happy - not quite as good as our first, but then that was a water-birth in our lounge in Dorset!!
Hope this helps - good luck with all.

andrewpops

Both my daughters were born at the Corniche, midwives are excellent, mostly European or South African. The after care is a bit hit and miss but nothing seriously bad, you also will share a room with another patient.

Point of note:- Even if you go private and there is a problem with your baby, they will refer you to the Corniche as it has (so I'm told)the best baby ICU unit in AD.

Cost for the delivery of our second daughter this January was around £250 all in for a normal delivery. I'm told a C section is around £400. When I last checked about two years ago, a private delivery was around £3000.

For the appointment system - always book try and book the first appointment of the day and take plenty of cash and a good book.

busybee2

yep corniche hospital, as previously said if you have any medical history or any problems with the birth in another hospital they will transfer you to the corniche, as they have all the equipment, so most people go there any way. if you were to have any problems, and had to be transferred you would need to take into account the traffic problems in that equation, as at the wrong time of day it could take time, and people here dont really move over for emergency services, so i would go for the corniche, the midwifes are all expats, mostly uk or sa or aussie etc, they now do epidurals 24 hrs where by before they didnt so that is good now. the antenatal was awful when i had to go back 10 years ago, but its much better now (and I spend many a time there because of previous history) and you do have to work the system ie get the first appointment, and if you want hubby in for scans you ask for last one, because there do segrate etc.

soukie

Corniche hospital is fine - I had my daughter there in 2000 - great care from start to finish. Irish, British and German nurses and I had an excellent Syrian doctor. You just have to keep your eyes on the queues for blood pressure and water testing and make sure that you know when it's your turn as others will definately try and jump in! My friend had a very premature baby at about the same time and the care was first class and all went well.

Yam Yam

Thank you all for your positive responses my nerves are settled at last, but more importantly my Wife who has read the responses is delighted and is looking forward to it all!

busybee2

you will soon see that its a national pastime having a baby, they have more babies here then any other hospital in the world!

sutty31

yam yam...walsall guy here also moving to AD in july and my wife also looking to have baby over there to complement our 3 yr old lad...

get in touch mate

regards pete

sutty31

yam yam who you working for mate..when u fly out?

Yam Yam

sent you a PM buddy

ncostelow

Hi I have just had my second baby there. I had both children by elective c section and had Dr Azam for both. Excellent doctor, very little pain, up and driving around abu dhabi within a week.
Pre baby care in the hospital is awful, expect long waits even though you have an apt. Staff asume you know where youa re going and what you are doing, very daunting for a first timer. Always book the first apt of the day, that way you may be out of there by lunch time. Take some good magazines!!
You can either book in to see a doctor or a midwife.
I would also attend the excercise classes, they are not very good, but it gets you used to the hospital and surroundings.
I payed 3000dirhams for my c section, stayed in hospital for 5 days (second c section longer stay than 1st). I had a shared room with a local woman, and I would advise any one to get a single room if possible. Not always availible though.
After the birth the fun starts, you need a birth cert, and a passport. Bear in mind the Brit Emb only accepts cash so dont go there with your credit card like I did! Then you have the cost of the passport, the brit birth cert and to registrar the birth in the UK, about 2000dirhams in total.
Hope it all helps!!