Tung Wah Hospital is a
Charitable hospital in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
under the
Tung Wah Group of Hospitals
The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (), with a history dating back to 1870, is the oldest and largest charitable organisation in Hong Kong. It provides extensive education and community services through 194 service centres spread across Hong Kong. ...
. Located above
Possession Point
Possession Point () is a former point of land on the northwestern coast of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong, before land reclamation moved the location further inland.
History
The area is where Commodore Gordon Bremer, commander-in-chief of ...
, at 12
Po Yan Street in
Sheung Wan
Sheung Wan is an area in Hong Kong, located in the north-west of Hong Kong Island, between Central and Sai Ying Pun. Administratively, it is part of the Central and Western District. The name can be variously interpreted as ''Upper Dis ...
, it is the first hospital established in
Colonial Hong Kong
Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Britis ...
for the general public in the 1870s.
History
The hospital was declared for construction on 26 March 1870 under the ''"Tung Wah Hospital Incorporation Ordinance"''. The push for the construction of the facility began when the
British Colony's Registrar General
General Register Office or General Registry Office (GRO) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom, many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland. The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital recor ...
saw an indiscriminate mix of the dead and dying huddled together in the nearby Kwong Fook I-tsz, a small temple built at
Tai Ping Shan Street. The large number of deaths were in part due to the arrival of the upcoming
Third Pandemic of
bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium ('' Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as wel ...
from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, though it was not declared an official establishment until 1872. The hospital was subsidized by the government at a price of
HKD 45,000 along with HKD 15,000 in land grant. The grand opening on 14 February 1872 was considered the grandest ever witnessed in Colonial Hong Kong. A lot of cultural prejudice did exist at the time, such as Chinese citizens not trusting
western medicine and other practices such as
surgery
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pa ...
. Many Chinese would rather die than be admitted into a western clinic. The government subsequently enacted Ordinance No. 38 known as "1911 Expansion of Tung Wah Hospital Ordinance" in 1911 to deal with the population growth of
Kowloon
Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and ...
and the
New Territories
The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...
in conjunction with
Kwong Wah Hospital
Kwong Wah Hospital is a 1,141-bed Charitable district general hospital in Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong. Located on 25 Waterloo Road, the hospital was founded by the Tung Wah Group in 1911, and managed by the Hospital Authority since 1991. It provi ...
.
Background
With 633 beds, including 494 for in-patients, 93 for day patients and 46 rehabilitation day places, it is the second largest general hospital in
Hong Kong West Cluster. The Main Block of Tung Wah Hospital is graded as
Grade I historic building.
It is affiliated with the
Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine
The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine or LKS Faculty of Medicine (HKUMed), formerly known as the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, is a medical school which comprises several schools and departments that provide an array of tert ...
, while the
University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hon ...
provide clinical attachment opportunities for its medical students.
See also
*
Seaman's Hospital
References
External links
Tung Wah Hospital
{{Authority control
Hospital buildings completed in 1872
Hospitals in Hong Kong
Possession Point
Grade I historic buildings in Hong Kong
Hospitals established in 1870