Chengdu's Angel Hospital

In my earlier post, I said I'd write about my experience at the newest maternity hospital here. Angel Hospital (安琪儿妇产医院) is billed as an ultra modern and luxurious private maternity hospital in Chengdu. It started its operations late last year with a media blitz - billboards on pedestrian sidewalks, bus-stops, back of buses... probably in print and tv medium as well, just that I'm not aware of those.


It felt like entering the lobby of a hotel - marble flooring, a vaulted ceiling surrounded by Corinthian columns and a massive chandelier. A bevy of svelte ladies in smart uniforms greeted me; 1 of them addressed my concern and ushered me to the reception on the second floor. No, not to fill in the official registration papers as I expected but to make a payment to see the doctor. That done, I was ushered into a room where my blood pressure & weight were taken by a junior doctor apparently. This nice lady doctor then ushered me to another room to see the senior obstetrician who answered whatever questions I had and assessed my medical condition. As I had requested for the 4D ultrasound scan, I was brought to a waiting area to wait for my turn at the sonographer's lab. The scan done, I was brought back to the obstetrician's office where she insisted the fetal heartrate be heard using the doppler EVEN though a while ago, the sonographer had seen and heard the heartrate. "I just want to hear it for myself," she said. So for the second time that day, I had the yucky gooey lubricant smeared on my belly :P

As I made my appointment for the next visit, I was vastly surprised that the date and timing were entirely at my disposal.

Is July 4th ok?
- yes, that's alright.
what about 10am?
- You can come in anytime.
huh...?
- we're here for you.

My contact numbers, date of appointment were all scribbled on a piece of paper. No centralized database existed as far as I could see. And definitely no computerized system for scheduling. And there was certainly no patient's reference number or card. It felt like I was buying a McChicken.

The next stop was the urine test. I was given a plastic cup with a lid to pee in. The ladies' room did not disappoint. Swanky, new, all marble EXCEPT that the cubicle didn't have a ledge for the cup. The junior lady doctor then brought me to the lab counter where specimens were deposited. No sticker with my name on the cup.. it was just placed on a printed form which I supposed mentioned my name and stated that I'd paid for the lab test. 20cm away was a similar cup of pale yellow liquid. The possibility of someone committing mischief or making a mistake is kind of high, isn't it?

Finally, as this was my first visit, I was given a tour of the wards. Most were single bed rooms with a nice sofa and plasma tv. The suites had an adjoining room with a bed and a kitchenette with a small dining table. It was luxuriously beautiful and felt more like a hotel than a hospital.

Yet somehow, it missed the mark for me. Despite all the marble and cherubs spouting fountains, I couldn't shake off the feeling that underneath all the glam, there wasn't much substance down there. Sure, they may have great obstetricians with years of experience and have bought the latest technology but do their internal processes work seamlessly to provide the best medical care especially in an emergency? In Information Science, the success of a company depends not on its individual parts but on how well each part is integrated with each other: people, technology, process, culture etc.

Finally, I had a nagging concern: what if there was a medical emergency with the mother or newborn? I didn't see any neonatal wards and there was only one neonatal specialist listed on Angel's prospectus - the great majority were obstetricians/gynecologists while the rest were midwives. Nice plasma tvs but Angel Hospital will not be my first choice to birth in.