Review for Dr. Natalie Chua

Apoorva

New Member
Hello friends!! I am in my 10th week of my first pregnancy. So far all good. I am an expat here and planning to take pregnancy package which usually starts from 12 weeks onwards. I am planning to continue with Dr. Natalie Chua ( parkway east hospital ). It would be helpful if you could share your experiences and reviews about her.
Thanks!!
 
Hi Natalie isy gyne last time. Her skills is good. She friendly and pro natural birth. She very friendly and easy talk also.
 
When I was first searching for a gynae after finding out of my pregnancy, I decided on Dr. Natalie Chua as her practice was super close to my place, her charges were affordable, and the reviews on her such as on this thread were generally positive. I was not looking for a famous or popular gynae or anything like that, I just wanted someone competent enough who I also feel comfortable seeing through the process. I attached a snapshot of her fees and packages here.

It was my first pregnancy ever (found out only at the 4th month!) and first visit ever to any gynae. My hubby and I were both really excited although also a bit nervous. When I came to her clinic at Cassia Crescent, my impression was that the nurses/admin staff were so busy and were in a rush, I felt a bit bad having to ask questions e.g. what to do with the stick I was asked to pee on (now I know that's the Glucose screening) because it was all new to me and I really didn't know what is the standard procedure for all these. But nobody explained anything to me but just handed me things in a rush.
The wait for the consult was about 45mins on a friday morning (that's ok... I have heard about 2 hrs for popular gynaees). When we saw Dr. Chua, she was friendly but in a slightly superficial way and the whole time my husband and i felt like she just wanted to finish the consult as quickly as possible. It was our first pregnancy so we had questions in mind. When I asked my questions she did slow a little bit to answer them, but i still felt like I was on borrowed time and I did not feel reassured. For example, we were suggested to just take up the Harmony test for down syndrome for 1k (as we missed the window for Oscars), but there was very little explanation on it and we were just casually asked whether we wanted to go ahead with it or not. The entire first consult including the ultrasound lasted less than 10 mins.

When we got out to complete the payment, it was also also all very rushed: there were a couple tests (blood and FA scan) that we were asked whether we want to do without much explanation to what they are, vitamins... When i said ok was just handed a few bottles without any instructions on how to take them. I had to come back to insist asking how many of each pill to take each day.

Anyways, we were just too excited about our baby to care too much at that point. We decided to give her the benefit of the doubt that she and the clinic might have had an unusually busy day that day and we caught them at the wrong moment, hoping that we'll have a better experience next time. However, later a couple who is our good friend also announced their pregnancy and we found out that they were also seeing Dr. Chua. They shared that they had been for several visits and each time it just lasted a few minutes and they also felt like they were being rushed out everytime. They were quite disappointed with each visit and my friend is thinking of going back to her old gynae who was a lot more expensive but she felt much better with.

After hearing from our friends we let go of the expectation that it will be different next time, and I also realized that with this being my first pregnancy I also would want a better experience through the process, rather than really not looking forward to going to my gynae each time. So today I saw a Senior consultant at NUH for the first time, and my whole experience there was quite different. Being a public hospital there were queues and the waiting time was longer, but each staff i encountered at NUH were friendly and patient, and was clearly explaining to me everything e.g. about the procedures, what the glucose stick test is about, etc. Our consultant also had long queues outside his room and was quite busy, but I really felt he was 'there' and gave us his time during the consult, even though it's not much longer. So in the end I felt like I received a much better service at NUH and I'm glad I made the change.

So I'm not sure whether things have changed for Dr. Chua's practice since the previous reviews. I'm guessing maybe she had became a lot busier and thus the way she is with patients have changed, I can also understand how doctors can feel burnt out and jaded after having to see so many patients daily ( I used to work in the mental health sector). But i still feel that even if that is the case you still gotta try your best to sincerely be there and give each person their time, even if it's just 5 minutes.
 

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