Mount Alvernia Hospital is a 319-bed general acute care hospital with tertiary medical capabilities and two multi-disciplinary medical specialist centres in Thomson Road, Singapore.
History
In 1949, Sisters from the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood (FMDM) took over the tuberculosis wards at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which eventually became known as Mandalay Road Hospital. They also served “The Lepers Camp”, a community of lepers housed in Trafalgar Home in Woodbridge. Both centres were managed as self-contained units as isolation was the treatment at that time.
In 1952, the Sisters were given an opportunity to start a private hospital to bring nursing care and services to the population. It was to be a well-planned and professionally managed hospital for everyone; especially for the poor and the disadvantaged. The FMDM Sisters pooled their savings and salaries, and canvassed for donations all over Singapore. The Colonial government at that time promised a dollar-for-dollar matching grant based on the total collection.
The Sisters bought land on Thomson Hill in October 1956, which was cleared in 1957. However, the construction of the hospital, which was meant to have begun in 1956, was delayed after the government announced that it would not subsidise the cost. Minister of Health A. J. Braga performed the ground breaking ceremony on 7 January 1959. Construction of the building began later that year, as the government had promised the Sisters a grant of $425,000.
After Singapore gained self-government and the 1959 Singaporean general election, the matching grant from the colonial government was cancelled. The Sisters had to adjust their plans to cater for a 60-bed hospital instead of 200 but would be fully equipped to provide medical, surgical and maternity care.
On 4 March 1961, Mount Alvernia Hospital was declared officially opened. Staffing was done entirely by the Sisters who were professionally trained as nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, radiographers, laboratory technicians and other support services. The Sisters who ran the hospital received all their professional healthcare qualifications, religious training and work attachment at a hospital in the United Kingdom.
At the time of opening, the hospital was equipped with two operating theatres, an anaesthetics room, a recovery room, two labour wards, a nursery and a milk kitchen. A physiotherapy department was also in place, as well as one outpatient department and a dispensary. X ray department was set up immediately. The nursing Sisters performed ward duties from 7am to 9pm and doubled up as housekeepers, chefs and meal servers when they are off ward duties.
In 1963, the first extension to MAH was completed. This provided improved outpatient facilities, a new delivery suite, a third labour ward, a specialised nursery for premature infants and two more operating theatres. In the same year, the first Resident Medical Officer (RMO) joined the team and a second RMO was added two years later.
In 1964, one of the Sisters came back after her training in England and Ireland to set up a department of pathology, a blood bank, making MAH the first hospital to have its own blood bank and it was 90% self-sufficient. Patients' relatives were encouraged to donate. With the seaport bustling with activities at that time, the Sisters also regularly went out to the anchored ships to drive blood donation from visiting seamen.
During the early years after independence, government focus on expanding medical services in primary healthcare was to improve hygiene. Inpatient care was not high on the list of government priorities at that time. MAH saw the need to further develop to increase inpatient capacity and support services.
In July 1965, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew officially opened a new 5-storey wing, which brought the total number of beds to 127.
In 1969, MAH added another extension to provide care to chronically ill patients. Within this building, another 22 beds were added.
Lee returned to the hospital again in 1971 to open another wing adding another 72 beds to the capacity. With this addition, the hospital now had 221 beds.
The new wing included an Intensive Care Unit and a Paediatric Ward. It also housed a new outpatient department with consulting rooms and a minor theatre. A radiography department, pathology laboratory were expanded, a hydrotherapy pool was added to the physiotherapy department. For the convenience of the patients and visitors, the public areas boasted a new coffee house and a pharmacy.