Tan Tock Seng's Hospital, Singapore.
By Arthur Knight.
The early history of this valuable institution is briefly given by the inscriptions on tablets still to be seen in front of the new Hospital premises on Moulmein Road, as follows:—
This hospital for the Diseased of all Countries was built A.D. 1844 at the cost of Seven Thousand Dollars wholly defrayed by Tan Tock Seng.
The wings were added with large improvements effected at a cost of Three Thousand Dollars wholly defrayed by Tan Kim Ching son of the founder.
This tablet was erected by the Committee of Management 1854.
The Hospital above referred-to was erected on Pearl's Hill. Mr. Tan Tock Seng was a prosperous merchant here, and had, it was stated, intended to make a sufficient endowment to provide for the maintenance of a given number of patients, but he died in 1850 without having made this arrangement.
In the early years of the Hospital it was mainly maintained by subscriptions, chiefly from Chinese, though Europeans also contributed, and European medical men freely rendered their services.
These Settlements were then politically under the Government of India, and the Military authorities in course of time thought it convenient to take possession of the Pearl's Hill buildings for Military Offices, and the establishment on Seranggong Road was provided in their place.
