Prenatal examinations: Items and related costs

What does the examination involve and how much would it cost?

Prenatal examinations refer to the screenings done during pregnancy. Expectant mothers go through many examinations from the first month of pregnancy to birth, some are routine inspections, and some must be regularly checked.

The cost of pregnancy examination refers to the cost of performing various inspections during pregnancy. Since the inspection will run through the entire pregnancy, there will be costs for different items in different periods. Depending whether you go to a government hospital or private hospital the cost of monthly check ups will vary.

A prenatal monthly check up at a government clinic is free while private hospitals will usually charge about RM200 for each appointment. This means if you opt to have monthly check ups (and once every two weeks beginning the 36th week onwards) at a private hospital, the total cost will be approximately RM2,500.

Examinations by stages of pregnancy

Examination during pregnancy is mainly divided into three stages, early pregnancy, middle pregnancy and late pregnancy, in these three stages will involve different inspection items.

In the first trimester

B-ultrasound examination, which can exclude ectopic pregnancy, look at the development of the fetus, measure the size of the fetus;

Infective screening, mainly look for rubella virus, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasma, herpes simplex virus.

Screening for hepatitis virus can cut off the mother-to-child transmission of the virus as early as possible; Diseases of the urinary system.

In the second trimester

Do a color ultrasound examination at around 22 weeks to fully understand the development of the fetus in the uterus and exclude the fetal malformation.

Sugar screening at 24-28 weeks to detect pregnancy with diabetes and gestational diabetes as soon as possible;

Blood pressure measurement should be performed at 20 weeks of pregnancy to predict whether pregnancy hypertension syndrome is a tendency.

Screening for Down’s syndrome during 16-20 weeks of pregnancy.

In the third trimester

1. Fetal  monitoring with a fetal monitor from the 32nd week.
2. Umbilical blood flow tests can detect fetal umbilical cord blood flow resistance and understand whether there is hypoxia in the uterus.
3. B-ultrasound examination can understand placental maturity, amniotic fluid volume and fetal growth and development
4. At 36 weeks, the blood type, coagulation, kidney function, and liver function tests were rechecked. This was to prepare for labor.

References

1. Pregnancy Guide: Expenses To Expect When Expecting. (2016, May 22). Retrieved January 29, 2021, from https://www.comparehero.my/parenting/articles/pregnancy-guide-expenses