Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is an

academic health science centre An academic medical centre (AMC), variously also known as academic health science centre, academic health science system, or academic health science partnership, is an educational and healthcare institute formed by the grouping of a health profess ...

and

tertiary referral hospital A tertiary referral hospital (also called a tertiary hospital, tertiary referral center, tertiary care center, or tertiary center) is a hospital that provides tertiary care, which is a level of health care obtained from specialists in a large ho ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. It is located next to the

Bukit Merah Bukit Merah, also known as Redhill, is a planning area and new town situated in the southernmost part of the Central Region of Singapore. the planning area borders Tanglin to the north, Queenstown to the west and the Downtown Core, Outram an ...

and

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

districts of the Central Region, close to the Outram Community Hospital (OCH), which functions as a supplementary

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

and

rehabilitation hospital Rehabilitation hospitals, also referred to as inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, are devoted to the rehabilitation of patients with various neurological, musculoskeletal, orthopedic, and other medical conditions following stabilization of their ac ...

to SGH for newly-discharged patients. There is also the Outram Polyclinic to complement outpatient care. All of these institutions are operated by SingHealth, which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Health (MOH). It is the largest and oldest

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergen ...

, and functions as the country's national hospital. Its foundation of its first building was laid in 1821, before its first major expansion in 1926. Subsequent expansions as well as renovations were also made in the following decades. SGH is the flagship hospital of SingHealth, the country's largest group of public healthcare institutions and the principal teaching hospital for the

Duke–NUS Medical School The Duke–NUS Medical School (Duke–NUS) is a graduate medical school in Singapore. The school was set up in April 2005 as the Duke–NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore's second medical school, after the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, an ...

, which is affiliated with the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in th ...

. Its campus includes four national specialty centres, namely the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS), the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and the National Dental Centre Singapore (NDCS). A fifth specialty centre, the Elective Care Centre Singapore (ECC), is currently under construction and it is expected to be completed in 2025. SGH has been considered as being one of the best hospitals in the world, being consistently ranked in the top 10 by

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

, reaching its highest of 3rd in 2019. Subsequently, it is the highest ranked hospital in Asia, drawing in patients from around the region, with SGH performing near the highest number of transplants in the country, including both solid hematologic and organ transplantation.

History

Early years

The Singapore General Hospital was established in 1821, when the first General Hospital was located in the

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

for British troops near the

Singapore River The Singapore River is a river that flows parallel to Alexandra Road and feeds into the Marina Reservoir in the southern part of Singapore. The immediate upper watershed of the Singapore River is known as the Singapore River Planning Area, althou ...

. It later shifted to Pearl Banks apartment and then to the Kandang Kerbau district, before finally settling at

Sepoy ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its ot ...

Lines along Outram Road in 1882. The modern history of Singapore General Hospital began on 29 March 1926, with the opening of 800 beds in the Bowyer, Stanley and Norris Blocks. Today, only the Bowyer Block with its historically distinctive

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

remains. The Bowyer Block is now home to the Singapore General Hospital Museum or the SGH Museum. In 1981, the hospital was rebuilt, with its current 8-block complex housing in-patient wards,

ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...

and support services,

research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physi ...

and a

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and ...

medical institute. On 1 April 1989, the hospital was restructured, in an effort to modernise the organisation of the hospital, due to rapidly developing changes in healthcare services and patient expectations for better service. As a restructured hospital, the Singapore General Hospital is still 100 per cent government-owned and is a not-for-profit institution. More than 60 per cent of the beds are allocated for subsidised patients, giving them access to an internationally established standard of affordable

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pro ...

21st century

On 31 March 2000, a major reorganisation of the public sector healthcare services was initiated by the Ministry of Health (MOH). Since then, the Singapore General Hospital came under the management of Singapore Health Services or SingHealth. In 2018, SGH announced that it will be expanding its

accident and emergency An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pat ...

(A&E) facilities, which include constructing a new 12-storey specialised building that will be four times larger than the hospital's existing A&E facilities. The building will be connected to its specialty centres as well as the Outram Community Hospital. It is expected to begin operations in 2023.

The SGH Museum

The Singapore General Hospital Museum is a repository of artefacts and records, where visitors can trace the long and rich

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

of the Singapore General Hospital. It is also a place where one can learn about the development of medical specialties and

medical education Medical education is education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, including the initial training to become a physician (i.e., medical school and internship) and additional training thereafter (e.g., residency, fellowship, ...

in Singapore, presented with the aid of

audio-visual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service pro ...

and

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scien ...

. The SGH Museum was officially opened by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

SR Nathan on 20 May 2005. The

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

adopts a thematic approach in presenting the hospital's long history, where visitors get not just an insight into the significant developments of the hospital through the years, but also an understanding of the impact these incidents have on the people and the

National specialty centres

Singapore National Eye Centre

Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) is a specialty centre for

ophthalmological Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

services and is the largest ophthalmology specialist centre in Singapore. It was founded in 1990 to lead and organise specialised ophthalmological services with special emphasis on research and education. Since its inauguration, SNEC has averaged an annual workload of 14,000 major eye surgeries and 13,000 laser procedures. The SNEC also actively participates in clinical trials and researches the causes to find treatments to eye conditions such as

myopia Near-sightedness, also known as myopia and short-sightedness, is an eye disease where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry while close objects appear normal. Other symptoms may includ ...

and

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for aqueous humor, fluid withi ...

. SNEC's facilities includes 50 consultation suites, 9 operating theatres, research facilities, offices and a library in two adjoining buildings.

National Cancer Centre Singapore

The National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) is the country's national specialty centre for the diagnosis, research and treatment of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. The centre has Singapore's largest concentration of oncologists. It was originally established in 1993 as a unit of Singapore General Hospital, and subsequently became an autonomous institution of SingHealth. The centre's founding director is Professor Soo Khee Chee. NCCS provides a range of medical, educational and research activities within a single institution; and practices a multi-disciplinary approach to diagnosis and treatment. It is Southeast Asia's only full multi-disciplinary sub-specialist centre for cancer. In addition, the centre is a teaching institution for post-graduate cancer education that trains and offers fellowships for many local and overseas doctors, nurses, para-medical professionals and researchers. On 2 June 2017, construction for an additional building to the NCCS began, which include more facilities to cater to increased patients' access to cancer treatment as well as the specialty centre's capacity. Slated to begin operations in 2022, it will also include a new Proton Therapy Centre, which allows the NCCS to engage in

proton therapy In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam r ...

to treat cancer in their patients. It is the first and only hospital in the region to have such facilities.

National Heart Centre Singapore

The National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) is a specialist medical centre and a regional referral centre for

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

s. Established in 1994 as the Singapore Heart Centre in the Singapore General Hospital, the heart centre took over the hospital's cardiac services and set up a

cardiology Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular h ...

laboratory in 1995. It was renamed in 1998. In 2014, NHCS completed its move to a new purpose-built building at 5 Hospital Drive. The new building not only includes facilities for outpatient clinics and non-invasive testing, but also has operating theatres and an invasive cardiac catheterisation laboratory. With over 9,000 inpatient admissions every year, the 186-bed specialty centre for cardiovascular disease in Singapore offers treatments from preventive to rehabilitative cardiac services.

National Dental Centre Singapore

The National Dental Centre Singapore (NDCS) is a facility in Singapore for specialist oral healthcare services. It commenced operations on 1 March 1997 and claims to offer the largest concentration of specialist expertise in a single facility. Its specialist teams attend to over 700 patients daily, including walk-in patients and those being referred to the centre. The centre is equipped with 92-chair facility and a day surgery suite. The centre has three specialist clinical departments, being the Departments of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery,

Orthodontics Orthodontics is a dentistry specialty that addresses the diagnosis, prevention, management, and correction of mal-positioned teeth and jaws, and misaligned bite patterns. It may also address the modification of facial growth, known as dentofacial ...

and Restorative Dentistry, which attend to a wide range of oral conditions. In addition, Department of Restorative Dentistry also has sub-units in

Endodontics Endodontics (from the Greek roots ''endo-'' "inside" and ''odont-'' "tooth") is the dental specialty concerned with the study and treatment of the dental pulp. Overview Endodontics encompasses the study (practice) of the basic and clinic ...

, Paediatric Dentistry,

Periodontics Periodontology or periodontics (from Ancient Greek , – 'around'; and , – 'tooth', genitive , ) is the specialty of dentistry that studies supporting structures of teeth, as well as diseases and conditions that affect them. The supportin ...

and Prosthodontics. Sub-speciality multidisciplinary services are available through NDCS's Centres for Corrective Jaw Surgery, Maxillofacial Rehabilitation and Facial Pain. The centre is active in research as well as training activities, especially focusing on the professional education of dentists. NDCS has been under the management of Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd since 2002. In 2019, the National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore (NUCOHS) started operations at

one-north One-north (stylized as one-north) is a subzone of Queenstown, Singapore, first developed by JTC Corporation as the country's research and development and high technology cluster. It was first conceptualised in 1991 as part of the National Te ...

, becoming the second national facility in Singapore to offer specialised dental health services. Although not a part of SGH or SingHealth, it acts as a supplementary facility to keep up with the rising demand of public dental services in the country. A new and larger National Dental Centre Singapore is also currently being constructed, which is expected to more than double its capacity by 2025. These include expanding the Geriatric Special Care Dentistry Clinic, to meet the needs of the older generation in Singapore.

Elective Care Centre

The Elective Care Centre (ECC) is a facility that will focus on non-emergency surgeries, which aims to offload resources at the main hospital. It is currently under construction, and it is expected to begin operations in 2026.

Notes

References

External links

*
Singapore National Eye Centre

National Cancer Centre Singapore

National Heart Centre Singapore

National Dental Centre Singapore
{{Authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1926 Hospital buildings completed in 1981 Hospitals in Singapore Medical education in Singapore Teaching hospitals National University of Singapore Hospitals established in 1821 Bukit Merah Buildings and structures in Central Region, Singapore