Sarawak General Hospital (

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

: ''Hospital Umum Sarawak'') is the largest hospital in the state of

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It is the main tertiary and referral hospital in

East Malaysia East Malaysia (), or the Borneo States, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia on and near the island of Borneo, the world's third-largest island. Near the coast of Sabah is a small archipelago called Labuan. East Malaysia li ...

. In its earlier years it was known as Kuching General Hospital.

History

European hospital and dispensary in Kuching, Sarawak built in 1909

Sarawak General Hospital between 1900 to 1930

Sarawak General Hospital has been in existence since 1870. However, no proper historical records have been preserved of its existence. The earliest record about the hospital is from 1910. Based from this documentation, the hospital was initially located at the current site of the

Kuching Central Prison Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River at the southwest tip of the state of Sara ...

(later renamed into "Pavilion Building" and converted to Sarawak Textile Museum in 2000) and a total of 920 patients were admitted to the hospital during that year. In 1925, construction of a new hospital started at Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg. The new hospital was operational from 1931. From its foundation up until at least the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the hospital was known as Kuching General Hospital. After World War II, the hospital was unable to meet the growing needs of the population. In 1957, a proposal to build a new and modern hospital was put forward. A total of RM13.5 million was spent for the 1964 - 1968 Development Plan and the consultation and management fees amounting to RM8.2 million was paid for by the Australian Government under the

Colombo Plan The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri L ...

. The construction of the hospital was planned in 2 phases. Phase I involved the building of an 8-story Main Block, including the Emergency Unit. Phase I construction began in 1965 and was completed in May 1970. By then, the cost of construction grew to RM17.8 million. The lion's share of the cost amounting RM17.3 million was borne by the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

while the rest was paid by the state government. Phase II involved the completion of an extra floor in the east wing and an additional five stories in the western part of the Main Block. Phase II construction began in September 1970 and was completed in 1972. The new hospital then was able to accommodate 582 patients and had many modern facilities. The subsequent years, many additions were made to the hospital, including: * 1977 - Houseman quarters A * 1978 - New mortuary * 1980 - Laboratory block * 1988 - Renovation of the Pharmacy Department * 1993 - Construction of the Specialist Clinic block * 1994 - Houseman Quarters B * 2000 - Clinical Block and Inpatient Block completed * 2009 - Main tower block refurbishment completed * 2009 - Houseman quarters A conversion to Isolation Ward for infectious disease completed The main block of the hospital underwent renovation and refurbishment, which was completed in September 2009. SGH currently has 1005 beds and is on par with other hospitals in

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Specialisations and services

SGH offers many specialisations and it serves as a referral centre for

. Chronology of some units formed: * 1985 – Department of

Radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...

and

Oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

was operational * 1987-

Physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

Unit * 1987 - Haemodialysis unit was formed In Medicine, prior to 1987 there was only the department of general medicine with 3 general physicians. In August of that year Dr Chew Peng Hong was transferred to head the dept. of medicine of the hospital & by the time he retired in 2003' he had set up the following subspecialties in Medicine: nephrology, dermatology, neurology, rheumatology, chest medicine, cardiology, infectious diseases.gastro-enterology, haematology besides playing a major & key role in helping plan a brand new medical school, The School Of Medicine & Health Sciences of the University of Malaysia, Sarawak, which uses SGH as its teaching hospital. For his contribution the University appointed him adjunct Professor of Medicine till to date. In 2006 the Federal Government recognised his selfless contribution to medicine in Sarawak in particular & Malaysia in general conferred on him by the Agong ( the Malaysian King) the honorific of PJN which carries the title of Datuk. During his tenure Dr Chew had managed to get the department to achieve international standards for which he received numerous awards from the State Government of Sarawak, the Federal Government & the ministry of health.

Teaching hospital

SGH serves as a teaching hospital for a wide field of medical and allied health personnel. The medical faculty of

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS; en, University of Malaysia Sarawak) is a Malaysian public university located in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak. UNIMAS was officially incorporated on 24 December 1992. Recently, UNIMAS has been ranked among top 20 ...

uses the hospital as a teaching hospital for its medical students. SGH is also a popular place for elective attachment for medical students. Elective students from UK, Australia & New Zealand started to come regularly after 1987 when the department of medicine was headed by Dr Chew Peng Hong. Since then it has become a favourite elective destination for British medical students particularly from the London Medical schools, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Southampton, Hull & York, Peninsular as well as medical schools in Germany & Denmark. Nearer to home students from Australia & New Zealand, Hong Kong & Japan are coming in increasing numbers in addition to medical schools in Malaysia, both public & private. Much of the effort making it a popular institution are from the contribution of Dr Wong Jin Shyan ( presently of Borneo Medical Center) & Professor Datuk Dr P.H. Chew, honorary consultant physician to the hospital & adjunct Professor of Medicine of the faculty of medicine & health sciences of the University of Malaysia Sarawak(UNIMAS).

References

External links

Official Website

Malaysian Ministry of Health Website
{{Authority control Hospitals in Kuching Hospital buildings completed in 1931 Hospital buildings completed in 1970 Hospital buildings completed in 1972 Teaching hospitals in Malaysia