History
Woodbridge Hospital began as a 30-bed building at the corner of Bras Basah Road and Bencoolen Street in 1841. It was then known as The Insane Hospital. It was renamed the Lunatic Asylum in 1861, and moved to a site near the old Kandang Kerbau Maternity Hospital, and then to Sepoy Lines in 1887. Relocated for the last time to Yio Chu Kang in 1928, it became known as The Mental Hospital.
For a brief period from 1945 to 1947, the British Royal Air Force from the nearby Seletar Airfield requisitioned the hospital for use to treat the sick and wounded of Allied servicemen and Japanese POWs after the end of hostilities of World War II. Thus, the female section was converted into the RAF Hospital while the male section was allocated for use as the Japanese Prisoners of War Hospital. It was known as the 81 Mobile Field Hospital until its return to normal civilian usage in 1947, this hospital was the first Royal Air Force hospital established after the Japanese surrender.
To shake off the stigma associated with mental illness, the institution came to be called Woodbridge Hospital in 1951, after a wooden bridge in the Yio Chu Kang area.
In the 1970s, the then Woodbridge Hospital faced serious resource shortage problems in every aspect. Equipment and facilities were old and in poor condition, and the 80-ha hospital environment felt more like a prison with its fenced-up corridors, grilled gates and barred windows. Associate Professor Teo Seng Hock, Woodbridge's medical director from 1979 to 1996 was quoted in IMH's latest publication "Heartening Minds for saying that 'it was quite intimidating or frightening just to walk from one ward to another, especially during the night."
The hospital had only 15 doctors caring for 2500 patients, and as a result only patients with the most serious cases were referred to Woodbridge. It was also widely-known that doctors resigned upon being posted there. The patients did not have enough pajamas to wear, and had to be given used police uniforms as substitute wear. In 1993 the hospital was relocated to the new premises at Buangkok Green Medical Park in Hougang. With the move came with changes in medical care, focusing from custodial care to community care. This means having patients being assessed and treated in a way that can help them re-integrate into society more easily.
Read more about this topic: Institute Of Mental Health (Singapore)
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