Firstly apologies for being MIA from the blog (though with all the contributions from my fellow bloggers I’m pretty sure I wasn’t missed!!) I gave birth 3 months ago and I’ve been making full use of my maternity leave and I’ve recently returned home to Singapore to enjoy my last two months of leave with my family and friends here.
Other than stuffing myself with good ol’ Singaporean food, I’ve been having lots of chats with friends and family on the cost of having children here. Having given birth in Wales, most of them were keen to find out what it was like and with all the bad press the UK National Health Service has been getting…I suppose they were curious.
Don’t worry I’m not going to bore you with the details of my labour 
Since the NHS is publicly funded (i.e. taxpayers!!) I did not have to pay for my pre-natal & post-natal care and hospitalization. Technically its not free as I’m a taxpayer so in a long-winded and convoluted way I guess I paid for it via my National Insurance contributions.
Throughout my pregnancy I was looked after by my community midwife who even came over to my house when I was unable to make it for her ‘tuesday-clinic’ at my local GP surgery. Definitely top marks for service.
I was also give a number of birth options, I could have my baby at home, in the birth centre or hospital..I could even opt for a water birth if I wanted..though unlike Singapore, a C-section isn’t something you can opt for.
After labour where I went through 6 midwives(due to changing shifts and switching wards) and a doctor – my community midwife continued to visit me almost every other day when I was discharged to ensure that I was healing well and that I was coping. Once she discharged me from her car, I had a health visitor who would come once a week to check-in on baby and for a chat with me to ensure that I wasn’t suffering from post natal blues and as a 1st time mum..these visits really helped especially when you’re not really sure if you’re doing a good job!
All in all I’ve received lots of positive comments from my fellow Singaporeans and whilst in the past they had urged me to come home to have my baby…now they’ve changed their tune considerably. Some of my fellow mums have told me how they still have to cough up thousands of dollars despite being able to use their medisave and that the baby bonus given by the government is really to cover that outlay of money and not so much as additional financial support.
Next up is the actual cost of feeding a baby. I almost died of shock when I went to the supermarket to buy formula milk!I pay approximately $15 for a 900g box which lasts approximately a week or so and I really was not amused at having to pay twice that amount over here!!! (the one good thing of having a brother who studies in the UK is that when he comes home next Sunday I’ve instructed him to bring back 6 boxes of formula milk with him!!)
Now I do understand why my girlfriends keep telling me that its too expensive to have children over here!
I know you can’t put a price on motherhood and starting a family etc, but I can’t help thinking that the push by our govt to have more children to add on to the population numbers isn’t going to get anywhere if these costs stay as they are or increase as time goes by. Do people at the top(i.e. decision-making positions) know how much it costs to raise children on an average salary and that in most cases the option for one parent to take time out and stay home is not possible for most couples.
I do believe that in the next few years, the ruling party needs to seriously consider radical changes to the healthcare system to ensure that vulnerable groups esp the elderly and those on low-incomes are provided with the same quality of healthcare as those who can pay for it and that Singaporeans do not end up spending all of their live savings just on medical care especially in the case where one has a serious disease or illness such as cancer.
This is also crucial if they want to continue their push for Singapore to become a more conducive country for families.
Next up..applying for my son’s Singaporean citizenship by descent. Both my husband and I would like for him to do NS so I’m going to have first hand experience dealing with govt red-tape.
Wish me luck!
Shereen Aziz-Williams, an accountancy graduate of SMU, has lived in Wales for the past 4 years. She is married to a Welshman, Owain and step-mum to Hafsa. She met Owain while travelling around Europe during her exchange programme in Copenhagen Business School in 2004 and they are expecting their 1st bundle of joy in September.
Shereen works full-time as the Director of CEMVO Wales. CEMVO’s youngest, and currently only female director, she has secured over £1.5 million in grant funding for various community group. She is also the founder of Swansea Faiths Forum in the immediate aftermath of 7/7 and a founder-director of Europe’s first Jewish-Muslim Internet Radio station.
Appointed to several public bodies including, the Welsh Financial Inclusion Steering Group, the National Race Relations Advisory Board for Her Majesty’s Prisons, and the All Wales Convention.
She’s the only ethnic minority member on Plaid Cymru’s National Executive Committee, its Fairness Commission and chair of the Equalities Section.
In 2009 she won the Uthman Dan Fodio Award for Excellence in Community Development and was shortlisted for the UK Asian Woman of Achievement Award in the Social and Humanitarian category.
A true-blue Singaporean, Shereen and her Wales-based Singaporean friends have recently set up a club called 'Makan-Makan Cymrodoriaeth' to indulge in their favourite Singaporean past-time ....eating :)