Singapore General Hospital

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Singapore General Hospital
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Singapore General Hospital
The Bowyer Block at the Singapore General Hospital now houses the SGH Museum which was officially opened in May 2005.
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The Bowyer Block at the Singapore General Hospital now houses the SGH Museum which was officially opened in May 2005.

The Singapore General Hospital (abbrev: SGH; Chinese: 新加坡中央医院; Malay: Hospital Besar Singapura) is the largest and oldest hospital in Singapore, of which the foundation of its first building was laid in 1821.

The Singapore Health Services hospital occupies sprawling grounds at Outram Park, sharing space with four specialist medical centres, namely the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), the National Heart Centre (NHC), the National Cancer Centre (NCC) and the National Dental Centre (NDC).

[edit] History

The Singapore General Hospital was established in 1821, when the first General Hospital was located in the cantonment for British troops near the Singapore River. It later shifted to Pearl's Bank and then to the Kandang Kerbau district, before finally settling at Sepoy Lines in 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 remains. The Bowyer Block is now home to the Singapore General Hospital Museum (SGH Museum).

In 1981, the hospital was rebuilt, with its current 8-block complex housing in-patient wards, ambulatory and support services, research laboratories and a postgraduate 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 interntionally-estasblished standard of affordable healthcare.

On 31 March 2000, following a major reorganisation of the public sector healthcare services initiated by the Ministry of Health, the Singapore General Hospital came under the management of Singapore Health Services or SingHealth. The SingHealth Group currently serves the eastern sector of Singapore through a cluster network of 4 hospitals, 5 specialist centres and 7 polyclinics.

[edit] SGH Museum

The Singapore General Hospital Museum is a repository of artefacts and records, where visitors can trace the long and rich history of the Singapore General Hospital. It is also a place where one can learn about the development of medical specialties and medical education in Singapore, presented with the aid of audio-visual and multimedia technology.

The SGH Museum was officially opened by President S R Nathan on 20 May 2005. The museum 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 community.

[edit] External links


Hospitals in Singapore
SingHealth

Changi General Hospital | Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital | National Cancer Centre | National Dental Centre | National Heart Centre | National Neuroscience Institute | Singapore General Hospital | Singapore National Eye Centre

National Healthcare Group

Alexandra Hospital | Communicable Disease Centre | Institute of Mental Health/Woodbridge Hospital | John Hopkins Singapore International Medical Centre | National Skin Centre | National University Hospital | Tan Tock Seng Hospital

Private hospitals

Adam Road Hospital | Ang Mo Kio - Thye Hua Kwan Hospital | Bright Vision Hospital | Camden Medical Centre | East Coast Meicare Centre | East Shore Hospital | Eye Hospital | Gleneagles Hospital | HMI Balestier Hospital | Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital and Nursing Home | Mount Alvernia Hospital | Mount Elizabeth Hospital | Raffles Hospital | Raffles Surgicentre | Ren Ci Hospital and Mericare Centre, Hougang | Ren Ci Hospital and Mericare Centre, Jalan Tan Tock Seng | Saint Andrew's Community Hospital | Saint Luke's Hospital for the Elderly | Thomson Medical Centre | Westpoint Family Hospital

Others

Singapore Gamma Knife Centre