History of Singapore General Hospital - 1942- 1945: Impact of The Japanese Occupation

1942- 1945: Impact of The Japanese Occupation

The hospital’s premises were seized by Japanese forces on 18 February 1942. The General Hospital subsequently functioned as the Japanese military’s primary surgical centre in Southeast Asia until the end of the war- the upper block was used by the Japanese army; the lower by the navy. During the Japanese Occupation, the hospital faced severe water shortages after its water supply was cut. Consequently, hundreds of patients and staff- both locals and expatriates- perished and were buried in a mass grave on hospital grounds. Following the Japanese surrender and liberation of Singapore in 1945, the three main blocks of the hospital- previously known as the Upper, Middle and Lower blocks- were renamed Bowyer, Stanley and Norris blocks in memory of three doctors who were intimately involved in hospital administration and perished during the Occupation. The Occupation had severely crippled both manpower and medical supplies infrastructure- the hospital faced a dire shortage of trained doctors, nurses and paramedical personnel. The hospital also faced the daunting task of treating a severely malnourished population and curbing the spread of Malaria and other diseases that had become rampant during the Occupation.