Snakes in a Hospital

The team managing AH’s surgical store in its early years must have taken comfort in the fact that they were located in a hospital with easy access to medical aid.

However, the store they had taken over from the British lacked a false ceiling, which not only exposed them to leaks whenever it poured and to the petrifying heat of Singapore’s perpetual summer, but also to unwelcome visits from unpleasant and poisonous pests.

Among them was the venomous cobra, capable of taking down an elephant, and by extension, full-grown humans. Its storekeeper Mr. Chng Kim Sang—another AH pioneer who had been pulled from SGH to run the facility’s surgical store—recalled seeing a two-foot-long cobra slither past his office. The store was also troubled by visits from bothersome mosquitoes, invasive white ants, and repulsive rats. Mr. Chng’s place of work was far from pleasant in its early years.

To top it all off, the British had only left behind a few usable items such as dressings, drip sets, and disposable syringes. The other residual items in their inventory were “very old” and unsuitable for the civilian hospital. The surgical store team had to work to build a comprehensive inventory from scratch in tandem with the hospital’s growth.

Dr. Ng Boon Keng, former Head of Surgery at Alexandra Hospital.

To win over the public further and improve its image, the hospital also underwent a number of renovations. The pièce de résistance was the operating theatre, which was one of the more challenging facilities to open as AH faced a great shortage of essential equipment.

The ever-resourceful pioneering team had to borrow instruments and equipment from other hospitals as part of the procurement process. AH was thus able to gradually run operating theatre functions on a small scale.

In 1974, the hospital developed a casualty and emergency ward. By the following year, AH was “packed to the brim with in- and outpatient cases” and became indispensable to the community, added Dr. Ng.

Over the course of a decade, AH’s admission numbers soared from a mere 1,257 in 1972 to 4,088 in the first half of 1981. Along the way, MOH also delineated an area with a larger catchment population of about 450,000 people—up from 300,000 in 1975—to fall under the care of AH.

This catchment area included industrial zones such as Ayer Rajah, Jurong, and Pasir Panjang. Staff members often found themselves treating patients with lacerations and fractures sustained from industrial and vehicular accidents.

In the absence of other major healthcare facilities in the area—the National University Hospital (NUH) was only built in 1985—AH fulfilled the community’s general medicine and surgery needs in the 1970s, said Dr. Ng. “We played an important role that decade and were generally quite busy.”

AH’s early success and achievements can be credited to its small but committed pioneer team, which tended to go the extra mile. Among those who were exemplary in their devotion to the hospital was Dr. Frederick Tan Bock Yam, the head of AH’s department of medicine. The sixth generation descendant of Tan Tock Seng had no airs about him and would assist with rudimentary tasks such as call duties, which he shared with other staff members. Like Dr. Tan, the rest of the pioneer team took its leanness in stride. In fact, they found it advantageous. Hospital records, such as newsletters, documented employees extolling the merits of working in a family-like environment.

The Medical Records Office team (top photo) and the A&E nursing team (bottom photo) outside their respective places of work.

This sense of unity and esprit de corps was further encouraged by hospital chief Dr. Teoh, who made decisions to foster closeness among members of staff. Among other things, he cut down on paperwork and encouraged in-person discussions. Dr. Teoh also designated a room for medical staff to have tea together and discuss patient cases.

Dr. Ng said Dr. Teoh’s initiatives ensured a steady stream of personal interactions throughout the work day. “Instead of using a piece of paper, we spoke in person and met in the tea room. Consultations were thus faster and more efficient.”

“Our common tea room was fairly large. We were the only hospital with a single such room, others had designated break rooms per medical specialty. Our practice to opt for personal interactions instead of paper-driven ones stuck over the years.”

Mealtimes had a party-like atmosphere. In the absence of an in-house canteen and with few daytime hawker options nearby, staff, including hospital attendants, brought meals to share potluck-style, recalled nurse Tan Soh Hiang.

Mrs. Tan herself contributed essentials like cooked rice and water—heavier items which she volunteered to lug over as she lived close by. “We were all like family. Sometimes I made dark sauce pork and brought it along. Others shared canned sardines and curries,” she said.

At night, the staff members took turns buying takeaway plates of char kway teow (a stir-fried rice noodle dish), as well as Malay and Indian food for each other from a handful of enterprising, roving hawkers who had set up their pushcarts for the evening on an empty piece of land nearby, recalled Dr. Ng.

AH’s pioneer team of dedicated doctors, nurses, paramedical, and ancillary staff were roundly acknowledged during the hospital’s 10th anniversary celebrations in 1981. The event, which featured a three-tiered cake, was organised to celebrate AH’s development into a full-fledged general hospital with a suite of major medical disciplines on offer to the public.

The team’s diligence not only earned a mention in the press but also caught the attention of the guest-of-honour, then minister for health Goh Chok Tong. The team was commended forempowering AH to achieve such great results in a short time.