5 mos pregnant & desperately seeking hospital near TKO

[nicolejoy]

I'd heard great things about PY, ESPECIALLY the semiprivate rooms (I think that the total cost for delivery and 3 day stay ends up around $7000). My friend delivered there and at the time, the room was ONLY her in it - in a four bed room with a shared bathroom (which ended up being a private bathroom for her!). It was at the time brand new, very clean and nice looking. I was booked in there for my 2nd child who was due in July/August this year but we knew in advance that she would need NICU so we decided to give birth at Queen Mary instead (my first was born there in October '08 as well). But I was really looking forward to PY! Ah well, maybe next time...

I do think though that if you are in TKO you are not in the catchment area for PY so unless you lied about your home address, you probably wouldn't be able to use that hospital.

 

[thanka2]

so unless you lied about your home address, you probably wouldn't be able to use that hospital.

Not necessarily so. There are quite a few expats who request to be in a specific hospital and have no problems getting in. Sometimes you need a note from your doctor but honestly, they never asked me about any of it. I would still check out PY. Also, they have an NICU at PY.

 

[nicolejoy]

Yes they have a NICU but depending on the severity of what is wrong, the baby may need to be sent to a better hospital - and my daughter definitely would have been sent to QMH. Their NICU is probably fine though for babies who are born early and just need a few weeks or so more growing before they are ready to come home.

I know from my experience that the hospitals are pretty strict about the catchment areas unless there is a medical reason to make an exception (not just a hospital preference). Even when I was told to go to QMH, I was questioned as to why I was there when I didn't live in the catchment area - but I had a medical transfer from PY which is why I was allowed. (although I would have rather been in PY if it was just for me, but QMH was the best place for my girl)

 

[thanka2]

Just like everything else with the public hospitals, I think it depends on when you go, who you happen to talk to and who is on shift at that specific time--oh, and what hospital you're dealing with. They literally did not seem to care where I lived. Also, PY is not as busy as many of the other hospitals so that may be the reason why they didn't seem as concerned about whether or not I was in the catchment area. I know of several expat women who recently went to other public hospitals to have their babies but not for medical reasons so as I said, it just depends on your "luck."

 

[nicolejoy]

Probably QMH is more strict than the others because more people want to go there (generally speaking)... I know I used my FIL's address to get in there (like you, I had lived with him when we first moved to Hong Kong but moved out before I got pregnant). Looking back, I wish I would have gone to PY where I should have gone anyway! But at the time, I had heard a lot about QMH and nothing about PY so I was doing what I thought was best...