Checkups and Delivery

If you live near the Cheras or Kajang area, is expecting or delivering soon and you need information on where to go to for regular checkups or for your big day itself, then read on. If you're not, skip this.

Where to go for confirmation of pregnancy:
I'd suggest using a pregnancy test kit first. But in my case, I got news of my confirmed pregnancy at a normal polyclinic. The doctor gave me folic acid and... that was it. After that, my shocked husband made me get two pregnancy test kits just to confirm that I am pregnant. Ya, we did it the other way around.
But just so you know, doctors also use the pregnancy test kits to tell if you are pregnant or not.

Where to go for antenatal checkups:
Even then, I had heard about Britannia Kajang and strangely enough there was a newly opened branch near Damai Perdana, Cheras, about ten minutes from where I live. This is what their 'zhao pai' or clinic logo looks like:

My doctor throughout my whole pregnancy was Dr Yap. Nice lady, very informative and very caring doctor. Even my husband who is picky about a lot of decisions I make, approve of her professionalism when tending to my pregnancy. There are two other lady doctors there. I've met all three of them. They're all nice, don't worry.

Or else you can always go to Britannia Kajang (in Taman Kajang Sentral) which is situated between the toll plaza for Jalan Reko and the other one that goes to Semenyih. It is quite hard to tell you how to get there. If I have the time and energy for it, I'd put up a map to show you. But I have to warn you, it is quite a wait to see either Dr Tan or Dr Khoo who works there. Just shows how famous the place is.

Update: Here's the promised map. I really have too much free time. I'm a fan of MSWord so most of my drawings are done there. Pls ignore the squiggly lines that shows how annoying the spellchecker can be in Malaysian context.
Next: How much you will be forking out to deliver your baby safely.
As of 2009 April, for a normal delivery package, Brit Kjg charges around RM1900 for 2D1N, whereas for a C-sec (that's surgery for you newbies), it's around RM4100 for 3D2N. It is a package 'deal' and you can upgrade your bed or rooms accordingly if you like some privacy or the privilege to hold your own TV remote control.
A note of caution: Consumables will be charged accordingly since the package includes a limited number of sanitary pads, diapers and milk powder, so be sure to have your own stash ready in the days you are still at the centre. It will cost a bit more than what you can get them for outside.

Ok, for alternatives, you can always go to HUKM. Here is the map below:
You can always google it... because that's how I found the map anyways.

What they don't tell you is that there is a specialist centre at the seventh floor of HUKM which is part-govt, part-private. They tend to a lot of cases which includes O & G: the O stands for the word I can never spell correctly but means care for pregnancy and children. We actually got introduced to this place by the owner of the optical store my husband went to to get his first pair of glasses. He gave us the impression that the place costs less than Britannia Kajang.

Not true.

A normal delivery at HUKM SC costs RM500 and a Csec costs RM2300. (I hear you say, eh, you say not true that they cost less?)
~ There are other charges for the labour room (RM150, RM50 2nd hr onwards) / Operating theatre (RM500, RM300 2nd hr onwards),
~ Epidural shot - which is like the painkiller for moms-to-be (RM400).
~ The rooms range between RM125/day for 2-bedded (that means u hv a fren to talk to about the pain you both went thru) to a VIP suite at RM520/day (I think their TV bigger inci la) and
~ disposable items and medicine will be charged as per item used.
~ Oh, and the nursery also costs RM50 per day.
The only consolation is that if all does not go well and you need the use of incubators or for the baby to stay longer in hospital (believe me, it happens) at least they can shift you to the general hospital, where it is more affordable.

Anyways, the cost is more or less the same, with more doctors to choose from, but the waiting list is quite long, so make an appointment early, like 2 or 3 months before your due date, so they can slot you in 1 or 1.5 months before your due date to talk to the doctor who will be delivering your baby.

My choice was to be Britannia Kajang because they are closer to where I stay, my husband can go back and forth as required and I need not walk for miles to get to the HUKM SC unit (yes it is quite a walk, like as though you can never reach it) and I prefer a setting where there aren't hundreds of people who as miserable like me moving about in the immediate radius of 2 km from where I am. You can tell I was never to be a doctor and so I am not.

There are other places that you can go to like government hospitals such as Hospital Putrajaya, Hospital Serdang, HUKM itself, SJMC, the list goes on... But just get yourself a good doctor and you will be fine.

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Disclaimer: I wrote this because these were information that I was looking for but were unable to find. And if I was looking, other people would be looking too. I cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the information shared here nor would I take credit for any good that comes of this article. It's pure trial-and-error research. Just hoped that I had provided some assistance to those who needed it in the first place.
Congratulations if you are expecting and best of luck to you if you are delivering soon. Muaxxx...


Update: Here is the wikimapia map to Britannia's Cheras branch. It is easier to get to than the one in Kajang, hence I did not make a map for it. If you have GPS, you can get the coordinates from googlemaps. If you don't... you can always:

1 Follow the Pustaka Rakyat bookstore signboard to get to Pustaka Rakyat. Next to Pustaka Rakyat is the Bandar Damai Perdana Balai Polis. The station is on one end of the whole shoplot. Britannia is on the other end.

2 Find SJKC Connaught 2. It's in the same vicinity.

3 Find Nyonya Kopitiam. It's two blocks behind Nyonya Kopitiam.

Good luck finding the place and good luck with the pregnancy.