Tung Wah Hospital

With the support of Governor MacDonnell and Chinese elites, Tung Wah Hospital was established in the year of 1870 - according to the Tung Wah Hospital Incorporation Ordinance, the colonial government provided land for building the hospital, and Chinese elites would provide money for supporting the hospital’s operation, and Tung Wah Hospital was responsible for providing Chinese medicine services (Law, 2018; Sinn, 1989). Tung Wah Hospital played an important role in Hong Kong public healthcare system during the late nineteenth century - when Chinese people felt unwell, they would only seek help in Tung Wah Hospital (Law, 2018; Sinn, 2003).

As aforementioned, during the bubonic plague, many Chinese in Hong Kong believed that western doctors are demons, and they will kill patients for their organs (Chan-Yeung, 2020). Therefore, they refused to go to western medicine hospitals, and most of them went to Tung Wah Hospital for Chinese medicine treatment (Law, 2018; Sinn, 2003). However, Chinese medical practitioners lacked expertise in dealing with plague, many patients died in Tung Wah Hospital - Dr James A. Lowson, a colonial surgeon from the government, in his investigation of Tung Wah Hospital in May 1894, he particularly blamed that Tung Wah Hospital did not isolate the patients in proper manner, and no disinfectant measures were taken, which made the hospital become a hotbed for the bubonic plague (). Therefore, the government decided to transfer all patients in Tung Wah Hospital to Hygeia for isolation treatment in May 1894 (Law, 2018).

After the bubonic plague of 1894, the government established a investigation committee on February 1896, and the committee critically evaluated Tung Wah Hospital’s contribution in fighting the bubonic plague - they considered that Tung Wah Hospital should not just focus on providing Chinese medicine consultation, western medicine shall also be introduced in the hospital, as Chinese medicine may not be effective (Ting, 2010; Chan-Yeung, 2020; Law, 2018). Therefore, Tung Wah Hospital is forced to provide western medicine service (Ting, 2010; Chan-Yeung, 2020).

Reference:

1. Sinn, Elizabeth. Power and Charity : the Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong. Oxford University Press, 1989.
2. Sinn, Elizabeth. Power and Charity : a Chinese Merchant Elite in Colonial Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press ; Eurospan, 2003.
3. Moira M. W. Chan-Yeung. (2020). A Medical History of Hong Kong. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press.
4. 丁新豹：《善與人同 : 與香港同步成長的東華三院, 1870-1997》（香港：三聯書店，2010年）。
羅婉嫻：《香港西醫發展史》（香港：中華書局，2018年）。