Hospital development in Kowloon Peninsula has gone through a long and winding path in the course of history. In the early 20th century, patients in Kowloon had to commute a long way to Hong Kong Island for treatment. Professor Joseph Ting, veteran historian and Adjunct Professor of Department of History in The Chinese University of Hong Kong recollected hospital development in Kowloon Peninsula from the establishment of Kwong Wah Hospital (KWH) to Kowloon Hospital (KH) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

In the late 19^th century, insufficient living space in Hong Kong Island provoked a public outcry from foreigners. A large number of foreigners moved to Tsim Sha Tsui as Kowloon Peninsula was gradually developed. To address the foreigners’ needs, HK government relocated Chinese residents in Tsim Sha Tsui to Yau Ma Tei to free more space for European residents in the city. The surge in population in Kowloon Peninsula caused rise in demand for healthcare service, leading to the establishment of the first hospital for Chinese – KWH in the area in October 1911. Funded and operated by Chinese community leaders of Tung Wah, it mainly served patients from Kowloon including Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui and Hung Hom. Prostitutes and boat dwellers made up a considerable proportion of patient cases. Many boat dwellers visited doctor in the last resort just to get a coffin from the hospital after death.

Discontented with the long commute to HK Island for medical services, foreign residents in Kowloon called for a government hospital in the peninsula to respond to the pressing need for public healthcare in the area. Eventually, KH, the first government hospital in Kowloon, was opened in 1925.

Hong Kong was not spared from the effect of growing population, especially during the 1940s and 1950s. Influx of refugees from the devastated Mainland China pushed up the demand for medical services further. Hospitals in Kowloon Peninsula soon became over-crowded. The public was divided on whether to build a large acute general hospital with a comprehensive range of services or a few small and medium-sized hospitals. A conclusion was reached in 1955 based on operation and administration cost concerns – a large general hospital – QEH was built on a site in King’s Park. It was originally named ‘New Kowloon Hospital’. KH was later converted to providing hospice and rehabilitation care to patients transferred from QEH.

With a total capital cost of HK$71 million, QEH commenced service in 1963. The hospital stood out from other fellow institutions because it was then the largest acute general hospital across the British Commonwealth, with 1,320 beds, 31 surgical wards and seven operating theatres. Newspapers reported that the first patient in QEH had received medical service for free!

Over the years of hospital development, HK government realised the importance of long-term planning on healthcare policies, and thus released two White Papers respectively in 1964 and 1974. A decade from then, the Scott Report published in 1985 even laid the foundation stone for the establishment of today’s Hospital Authority.