The OB/GYN

We are in search of an OBGYN (gynecologist). Sarah's maternity insurance restricts us to use only one of two hospitals in Malaysia - (a) Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre or (b) Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur. In other countries, the list varies. We have visited a doctor at Gleneagles for the last two months but have realized that we are unable to accept the inefficiencies of his office and so, our search for a new doctor has began. Searching for a new doctor is an adventure, what is the criteria for a new doctor? Do we have a minimum set of expectations (qualifications from certain nations, schools, etc) and go with the first doctor we meet that meet those expectations? Or do we rely on the knowledge of the crowd and scan through forum posts of other parents who share their experiences? The great invention of google has at least allowed us to eliminate the doctors we don't want to visit -- people with bad experiences are all too happy to share their trauma on the internet. Or do we check out recommendations by well meaning friends, who were referred by well meaning friends, who knew a friend, who had a sister that was married to a man whose cousin went to school with this other doctor? This is the time when you wished there was a publicly available score cards on doctors and a ranking. Even a rating by previous patients would be nice.

We currently have a leaning towards Pantai because we have been visiting Gleneagles and are not too happy on how they set up the doctor clinics. In looking at the list of doctors, we usually start by eliminating all doctors who graduated from Malaysia because the highest ranking University in Malaysia has dropped from the list of the top 200 universities in the world (read here: The Star). The medical cost of each visit is approximately the same whether you choose a doctor who went to a good a school or not, however, according to Steven Levitt, the skill level is approximately 10 years difference -- a newly graduated doctor from a good school is as skilled as a doctor from an average school with 10 years experience, and in the unlikely event of a life threatening situation, you will have 20% higher chance of surviving. So, we definitely don't want to go to a doctor who graduated from a school that was ranked lower than 200. So, maybe we should look at the global ranking (click here) and look for the doctor that graduated from the highest ranking university we can find.


Here are our options to choose from:

Hailing from Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur are:

No.	Doctor's name	Hospital	Speciality	Suite
1.	Dr. Chew Weng Yew	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B009
2.	Dr. Choong Kuo Hsiang	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B511
3.	Dr. Idris Ahmad	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B020
4.	Dr. (Ms) Kim - Lei Wong	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B263 A
5.	Dr. M. Narayanan	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B010
6.	Datuk Dr. Nor Ashikin Mokhtar	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B001
7.	Dr. Ong Hean Choon	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B008
8.	Dr. Premitha Damodaran	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B447
9.	Dr. Sheikh Johari Bux	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B502
10.	Dr. Thomas K.F. Ng	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B001
11.	Dr. Wong Wai Ping	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B005
12.	Dr. Wong Sum Keong	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B409
13.	Dr. Idora Mohamed	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B441
14.	Dr. Adilah Ahmat	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B403
15.	Dr. Marsita Mansor	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B411
16.	Dr. Seri Suniza Sufian	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B403
17.	Dr. Paul Ng Hock Oon	Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur	Obstetrician & Gynaecologist	B423 & B425

To see the list from Gleneagles, click the link below and select "obstetrics & gynecology"
http://www.gleneagleskl.com.my/main.php?Content=apps/appointment/listmember

Any insights, ideas and opinions are welcome. Leave a feedback post at the bottom.