Tuesday, August 26, 2008
CHINESE GENERAL HOSPITAL
The Chinese General Hospital located in Blumentritt, Santa Cruz, Manila, dates back to the Spanish Period. It was one of Carlos Palanca Tan Quien-Sien's community affairs and philanthropy projects. In 1891, along with other wealthy Chinese businessmen such as Chan Guan and Mariano Velasco, he raised the necessary funds and even provided a building for the hospital himself.
Its subsequent funding came from the regular donations provided by the business owners of the Chinese community. Two years after its door first opened, it was officially registered as Hospital de Chino under the Spanish Government.
From its inception as a medical clinic where treatment was free of charge for the Chinese community, it has since expanded into a full-service hospital. In 1917, a major fund raising campaign was launched in which the Chinese community immediately responded by donating a total of P200,000. The windfall funded the construction of the first Chinese General Hospital (CGH) with updated facilities.
The new hospital was inaugurated in 1921 with Dr. Tee Han Kee as its first medical director. He was then the most famous Chinese physician in the country, and had also served as consultant for the Philippine Health Service because of his expertise on bubonic plague, which is believed to have been a mutated swine virus.
In that same year, Dr. Tee Han Kee also founded the Chinese General Hospital College of Nursing and Liberal Arts (CGHCNLA). With him were three physicians who organized the training school. The Sisters of the Immaculate Conception based in Hong Kong and Canton, China also provided Dr. Tee Han Kee with the much-needed assistance to start the school. The first batch of five sisters arrived in August 1921. Mrs. Praxedes Co Tui, a registered nurse from the Philippine General Hospital was appointed as Chief Nurse and Principal of the School of Nursing.
Many thanks to EM of Bato Bato Pik! for having reminded me that this famous hospital is also located in the historic Blumentritt/La Loma area. Her youngest was born here.
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I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.
Thank you!
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Labels: Manila history, medical institutions
posted by Señor Enrique at 5:52 AM
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