Posted on April 9, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
I must pay Netcare so my son can visit his brother!
With only days to go to the birth of my new son I find myself waiting in anticipation for that call from Colette to tell me it’s time to go.
Being a father for the second time round is even more daunting for me than the first but I’m nervously excited nonetheless.
It’s been more than four years since Luke was born and we made a decision to utilise the services of the Netcare Park Lane Clinic once again for our newest arrival.
We didn’t actually have a very good experience with Park Lane when Luke was born, as the staff where really quite useless, however most people have great things to say about the hospital which is why we’ve decided to give them a second chance.
That said I am completely freaked out with Park Lane’s (and Netcare in general) newest policy forcing us to pay R3,400 for the privilege to have Luke visit his mom and new brother.
While one of the two wards is allocated to medical aid clients the other is for semi- and fully-private rooms which come at a premium. The catch here is that if Colette stays in the medical aid ward then no children are allowed at all while the private one allows siblings to visit in the room during visiting hours.
The cost for the semi-private room, which has 4 beds, is R800 per night and you have to pay for four nights upfront when checking in. If you wanted to go fully-private then that cost shoots up to R1,400 per night.
Now I understand that these private rooms are a luxury and come at a price and I’m not ignorant to this but what I fail to understand is why a sibling isn’t allowed into the medical aid ward?
Seriously, what difference does is make to anyone if a sibling under 12 visits his mom and new brother in a ward with 12 beds? To me this is just a manipulative policy by Netcare to make more money out of us and it stinks if you ask me.
How am I supposed to tell Luke that he’s not allowed to see his mom or brother for four days? It’s already going to be such a stressful time for him and I simply can’t do this to him so now I’m forced to fork out the money which I really can’t afford.
Had we not already paid the R350 registration fee I would have sought an alternative hospital – not this casino that claims I’m in safe hands.
13 Comments
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April 9, 2008
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That sucks man! Thats got to be a violation of something somewhere. I have a friend thats a lawyer that deals with a lot of medical stuff, I’ve sent him the link so hopefully he’ll be able to help you in some way if it is in contravention of something.
Good luck man, and congrats on the about to be born son!
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April 9, 2008
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Justin, Aaron was born at Sunninghill where the smallest room is a semi-private room which Discovery paid for in full. Where is your doc? Maybe the R350 registration fee isn’t worth the extra R3 400 if you can change?
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April 9, 2008
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Hi Justin,
My idiot (his word) husband meant to say…
Aaron was born at Sunninghill where the BIGGEST room is a semi-private room (2 beds) which Discovery paid for in full.
There are two other types of rooms which you co-pay with the medical aid: Private – 1 bed, private bathroom with either a bath or a shower and a Luxury room – 1 bed for mom, 1 bed for dad and a private bathroom with bath and shower.
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April 9, 2008
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Thanks for your feedback guys. My doc has his offices right across the road from the park lane but I’ll chat with Colette tonight to see what we can do. Another R350 vs. R3400 is a no brainer and I’ll also check with Discovery if they’ll cover it all somewhere else…!
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April 9, 2008
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That sucks man! Thats got to be a violation of something somewhere. I have a friend thats a lawyer that deals with a lot of medical stuff, I've sent him the link so hopefully he'll be able to help you in some way if it is in contravention of something.
Good luck man, and congrats on the about to be born son!
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April 9, 2008
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Justin, Aaron was born at Sunninghill where the smallest room is a semi-private room which Discovery paid for in full. Where is your doc? Maybe the R350 registration fee isn't worth the extra R3 400 if you can change?
Visit My Website
April 9, 2008
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Hi Justin,
My idiot (his word) husband meant to say…
Aaron was born at Sunninghill where the BIGGEST room is a semi-private room (2 beds) which Discovery paid for in full.
There are two other types of rooms which you co-pay with the medical aid: Private – 1 bed, private bathroom with either a bath or a shower and a Luxury room – 1 bed for mom, 1 bed for dad and a private bathroom with bath and shower.
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April 9, 2008
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Thanks for your feedback guys. My doc has his offices right across the road from the park lane but I'll chat with Colette tonight to see what we can do. Another R350 vs. R3400 is a no brainer and I'll also check with Discovery if they'll cover it all somewhere else…!
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April 10, 2008
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Dude, trust me, writing off the R350 would be the best thing you could do for Luke. He is as excited as you are, so you’ll be doing Luke an injustice to keep him from seeing his bro. Go to another hospital where they don’t mind. I remember at the Medi-clinic with Henk’s birth, the brother were allowed to visit, but not other kids.
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April 10, 2008
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Dude, trust me, writing off the R350 would be the best thing you could do for Luke. He is as excited as you are, so you'll be doing Luke an injustice to keep him from seeing his bro. Go to another hospital where they don't mind. I remember at the Medi-clinic with Henk's birth, the brother were allowed to visit, but not other kids.
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July 11, 2008
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Hi; As a dad to be in 3 months I have also seen the marketing tactics used by a lot of hospitals. Like the baby passport that everyone purchase for around R350 – free is not free. The birth registration with home affairs is not free. There is an extra fee of about R180 to get this done.Most parents just opt to do it iat the time when they find out and Netcare makes huge profits from this. I mean when the baby comes out who is going to be concerned with things like this.
The actual registration at home affairs costs around R40 I think – so Netcares charge is ridiculous. I have hosen Sunninghill hospital. The standard rooms have place for 2 patients – so it’s good enough and very clean. The sisters and staff very friendly.
One thing before you go to pre-admissions – the lady will ask if you have internet access – please say NO even if you do have. Otherwise she will get rid of you and leave you to fill out stuff online at home or office.
ALso the Netcare passorts free 18month support service – You need additional forms to fill in – but they will not tell you that.
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July 11, 2008
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Hi; As a dad to be in 3 months I have also seen the marketing tactics used by a lot of hospitals. Like the baby passport that everyone purchase for around R350 – free is not free. The birth registration with home affairs is not free. There is an extra fee of about R180 to get this done.Most parents just opt to do it iat the time when they find out and Netcare makes huge profits from this. I mean when the baby comes out who is going to be concerned with things like this.
The actual registration at home affairs costs around R40 I think – so Netcares charge is ridiculous. I have hosen Sunninghill hospital. The standard rooms have place for 2 patients – so it's good enough and very clean. The sisters and staff very friendly.
One thing before you go to pre-admissions – the lady will ask if you have internet access – please say NO even if you do have. Otherwise she will get rid of you and leave you to fill out stuff online at home or office.
ALso the Netcare passorts free 18month support service – You need additional forms to fill in – but they will not tell you that.
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July 7, 2011
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Dude, like nothing else in life is over priced a over charged???
Did you speak to the hospital manager,see if he/she could organize something for you?
are they not allowed to charge you for their services? not allowed to make money and pay to keep their hospitals clean, well equipped, pay for their staff members who also need to feed their families??? I ALSO need to eat dude!!! if you not happy with something then go to goverment, think its free there??