Chapter Five: Looking Ahead
Part One
A commemorative 3D model, featuring structures of significant heritage value, was created by students and lecturers from ITE College Central’s Higher Nitec in Architectural Technology as well as ITE College East’s Higher Nitec in Civil & Structural Engineering Design and Higher Nitec in Facility Management, over a nine-month long period.
On what propelled the hospital to do so, then medical director Professor Aw Tar Choon said: “Alexandra Hospital made numerous notable achievements across its history even during the period right after the war. Communicating with NHB was to help bolster its case for physical retention down the road. We didn’t want it sold to a developer for a bundle and replaced by a high-rise.”
The records note that NHB’s proclamation served to honour victims of the vicious wartime massacre and to recognise medical services rendered during the same period.
To mark the occasion, Alexandra Hospital invited then health minister Yeo Cheow Tong to officiate at the ceremony. Also present was then chief of the medical corps, Colonel Lionel Lee. In time-honoured military fashion, the “Last Post,” a bugle call, was sounded to pay tribute to the victims of the Occupation.
The ceremony also included the unveiling of a plaque, which still stands today. To coincide with the momentous occasion, a book called Alexandra Hospital: From British Military to Civilian Institution 1938–1998 was launched.
Elaborating on AH’s merits and its case for conservation, former staff members, such as Mr. T. K. Udairam, who served in the role of hospital secretary—the then equivalent of chief operating officer—highlighted its slew of medical achievements.
He pointed out that cutting-edge medical technologies were often tested at AH. It was the first to trial automatic surgical staplers for intestinal anastomosis before it was rolled out for wider use at other healthcare institutions. Such efforts, he said, cemented AH’s prominence in Singapore’s healthcare annals.
“We were often doing things quietly, yet whatever we did had a lasting and far-reaching effect. Those in the healthcare industry will remember AH’s role in ‘trialling and pioneering.’ In the bigger scheme of things, these were not great feats, but AH’s work drove some of the new areas and frontiers in healthcare. If you think about it, the amount of trauma the hospital saw, as well as the number of things it achieved, was considerably outstanding considering our lean resources.”
It was also at AH that distinctive specialties were honed and a number of important discoveries were made, added Dr. Aw. Take the case of renowned British doctor Sir David Weatherall. The late Dr. Weatherall was attached to the institution during its chapter as the BMH. During this stint, he tended to an anaemic Nepalese girl who required monthly blood transfusions. She was a daughter of a Gurkha soldier at the hospital. He went on to discover that she had thalassaemia. This experience propelled him to specialise in inherited blood disorders and tropical medicine. His contributions in this area helped advance the field significantly.
Later, under Singaporean hands, AH played host to multiple hospital operators like Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Ng Teng Fong Hospital, and Sengkang General Hospital, which used the complex as a holding site and training ground for new healthcare workers for these respective new hospitals, thereby sealing its role in the social and medical history of Singapore.
Dr. Aw said: “When I look back, AH’s designation as a historical site was one of the high points of my time at the hospital. The building, having witnessed so much, had to be duly recognised and protected.”
Health Minister Yeo Cheow Tong marking the occasion of Alexandra Hospital being gazetted as a Historic Site.
Honouring the Past, Building for the Future
A Site Worth Saving
It was not uncommon for staff and patients of AH to hear the furious whirring of chopper blades slicing and whipping through its “airspace.” For some years until the year 2000, the hospital’s field served as a landing pad for military helicopters conducting medical evacuation drills. Tree branches would sway vigorously upon their arrival, inviting the curious stares of onlookers.
AH’s partnership with the Singapore Armed Forces made for one of several important roles the hospital played over the course of its existence. It is no surprise that AH—with its rich, colourful, and storied history—was recognised not once, but twice, by the Republic’s heritage custodians for its enduring role in the Singapore story.
The first of such official acknowledgements took place on 15 September 1998, when the National Heritage Board (NHB) declared the landmark a historic site. It did so following the input of Alexandra Hospital, who pitched the idea to the board earlier that year.
Prof. Aw Tar Choon, who served as Medical Director from 1995 to 2000, oversaw the process of Alexandra Hospital taking its first step towards eventual conservation - by being designated as a Historic Site in 1998.
His desire was shared by the civic group My Community. In 2013, the organisation, which focuses on documenting and amplifying Queenstown’s heritage, produced a landmark conservation paper pushing for the protection of the healthcare institution and 15 other heritage spots in the estate, such as its library and wet market.
Widespread media coverage, heavy lobbying on the group’s part, as well as the support of more than 1,000 residents, bolstered the hospital’s case. In conserving three of AH’s five buildings a year later, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) noted the hospital’s prestigious history. It started life as “the largest and best-equipped modern hospital in the Far East Command,” URA said, adding that its presence serves as a “reminder of Singapore’s role as an important military base for the British Empire.”
The URA further acknowledged the hospital’s role during World War II and its ongoing contributions and service to the nation. It helped that its five linked buildings were also architecturally harmonious. Upon its being gazetted for conservation, heritage blogger Jerome Lim was among those in the heritage community who celebrated the decision.
He explained: “Alexandra Hospital was among the most modern and best-equipped medical facilities in the Ro yal Army. Its completion in mid-1940, as Singapore’s first fully equipped military hospitalwith 300 beds, came at the end of a build-up of military strength in Singapore as part of the intended defence of the Far East. The hospital also stands as a marker to recall the rather unforgivable war atrocity.”
Commenting on its architecture, heritage experts have paid tribute to its practical and well-conceived green design, which maximises natural ventilation—an evergreen quality, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“High ceilings and large, airy wards meant that we never had to worry about ventilation,” said Dr. Aw. AH’s present-day chief executive officer Associate Professor Jason Phua added: “When you step into the premises, you feel your blood pressure drop immediately. It is a healing space. A lot of my colleagues feel this way and choose to work here because of the setting.”
It was also at AH that deep bonds were, and continue to be, forged among its various batches of healthcare workers. Among them were ex–British military and healthcare personnel who would occasionally pop into the campus to relive years long gone. Staff past and present often reunited at yearly get-togethers. Mr. T. K. Udairam, who was known to the staff as Mr. Ram, was one such attendee.
Off-duty nurses gathering for a celebration with cake.
“Before the pandemic, we gathered as a group of 50 or 60 of us old staff, nurses, and doctors. We met for dinner to share stories and catch up on each other’s lives,” he said.
“We bonded well as staff because the AH team had always been small and tight. We never had really-big-name doctors or a large staff. But we could always find support from within. The moment you had a problem, all of us, from nurses to administrative staff, would do our utmost to get things done,” Mr. Ram added.
“Sometimes, it was beyond our job scope but we did it. There was this palpable kampung spirit.” After the Alexandra Health administration moved to Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital in Yishun in 2010, two other temporary stewards took the helm at AH. The JurongHealth team, in anticipation of its eventual move to a permanent home in Jurong East, was based at AH until 2015, before the Sengkang Health team took hold of the reins for another three years.