When Hong Kong’s first fully air-conditioned public hospital, the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin, opened to patients in 1984
- In 1977, excavation work began for a new hospital at a site in Sha Tin in Hong Kong’s New Territories to serve a population of nearly 700,000
- When it opened in 1984 the Prince of Wales Hospital had a specialist burns unit and would very likely have ‘the biggest electricity bill’, the Post reported
As far back as 1976, the South China Morning Post was reporting on plans to excavate a New Territories “fish pond site for a $70m hospital”.
“A 30-acre [12 hectares] site near Yuen Chau Kok [in Sha Tin] has been earmarked for two buildings,” reported the Post on August 7 that year. “The polyclinic and the teaching hospital […] are scheduled to be completed by 1981 and 1983, respectively.”
The following year, on May 10, the Post reported that “site formation work will begin at Shatin on June 1 for a major regional teaching hospital and polytechnic”. The contractor Gammon (Hongkong) would be responsible for “reclaiming some 24.5 hectares on the eastern side of Tide Cove […] work should be completed in mid-1979 […] The target date for the commissioning of the 1,200-bed hospital is 1982.”
Autumn 1978 saw “the first step towards a hospital complex that will eventually serve the needs of 700,000 people in the New Territories”.
By June 28, 1980, the Post reported that the budget had grown to the tune of “a $152 million contract for the construction of the final stage”.
