Nowadays giving birth is like another wedding or burial, those precious moments in your life that you need to dig deep into your pockets for. It’s estimated that parents spend about Sh 7 billion annually on giving birth! These costs don’t even include other birth-related expenditures like pre- and post-natal education and care. Once again couples must struggle to facilitate an appropriate birth, while taking care of other finances such as tax. So if your planning on getting kids, ensure you don’t spend all of that wedding money.
Some parents are spending up to Sh400,000 for a single delivery and initial baby care. The increase of these services is due to patients wanting to enjoy a more ‘hotel like’ experience when delivering their baby, a luxury that hospitals find difficult to provide without requiring hefty amounts of money.
These substantial charges have been doubling throughout the past eight years, which is contradictory to apparent government efforts to improve the expenses and safety of mothers and new-borns. To that extent however, several births in the county level are seen to be free of charge. However, in known hospitals such as Nairobi Hospital, Karen Hospital and Nairobi Women’s Hospital, both normal and Caesarean-section deliveries have risen by 90 percent over the past few years.
MP Shah is one such hospital that has doubled their fees. Normal delivery now costs Sh130,000 compared to Kshs 70,000 in 2008, while the hospital now charges Ksh 260,000 for a C-section delivery up from Sh135,000 in 2008. Nairobi Women Hospital’s pricing is up from its normal delivery charges from Sh 45,000 to Sh64,000 while a C-section now costs Sh145,000 from Sh99,000. Also, Nairobi Hospital’s charges have increased from Sh 55,000 to Sh 98,000 for a normal delivery while a C-section currently costs Sh 220,000, up from Kshs 155,000 several years ago.
Even the lowest charging hospital being Kenyatta National Hospital’s (KNH) private wing, is Sh53,000 for normal delivery and Sh152,000 for C-section. All of these, several shillings higher than what is provided in the National Hospital insurance Fund (NHIF) provisions which have capped their normal delivery at Sh10,000 and Sh30,000 for C-section.
If money isn’t a thing and you’d want nothing less than the best hands on service, look no further than Aga Khan University Hospital’s Princess Zahra Pavilion Labour Delivery and Recovery Unit, I believe the name says it all. This hospital probably provides the most comforting, luxurious and expensive experience for anyone who’s about to give birth. You’re ensured to pay at least, Kshs 300,000, depending on whether it’s natural birth or C-section. Daily payment in the establishment costs between Shs 10,000 to Shs. 25,000.
A friend told me of her experience at Aga khan where she paid a whopping Kshs 300,000. “They tell you they are giving you a package deal, then complications arise that result to more check ups and your fees starts to increase slowly. Next thing you know, your paying an insane amount for just popping out a baby…But I can’t complain about their services”. With those price tags, you might as well give birth in a hotel suite, but then again that’s the whole point, good service is incredibly expensive.