Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Jaundice test is expensive for foreign babies in Singapore

The bilirubin test is around SGD 5 to 6. What is expensive for per visit to polyclinics is the consultation fee. Add them up, a visit to the polyclinic for jaundice test is around SGD 50. That's for babies considered as foreigners (without subsidy). Note that the insurance that we got don't cover jaundice too (probably too common).
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Initially, our visit to the clinic was at two days intervals. That's SGD150 per week for two weeks for a total of SGD300. Subsequently, it was three days costing SGD100 per week for two weeks. Then it was once per week costing SGD50 per week. In total for the first month, we forked out SGD450. That did not include being admitted for 3.5 days for phototherapy (both baby and mum, latter for feeding baby). Note that our hospital didn't have portable phototherapy unit to loan parents, unlike other hospitals like KK children hospital.
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The test for the ratio of conjugated vs unconjugated bilirubin (to test for liver function) came back normal. What a relief.
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The last test showed baby's bilirubin started to increase again. My blood pressure too increased after having informed that. What was going on?
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I asked if there was any precedents and the doctor said yes. It seemed that jaundice is likely to happen especially for babies given breast milk (and more frequent for Asians). The doctor advised us to mix formula with breast milk. That would normally clear the jaundice faster. We went home getting a tin of formula and started feeding our baby that. We thought, "So much for fully breast feed".
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We will have to visit the polyclinic again next week. Let's hope for the good response.

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