Free Entry for all visitors
Housed in the Bowyer Block, an iconic architectural landmark in the SGH Campus, the SGH Museum is a repository of artefacts and records, where visitors can relate with the long and rich history of Singapore General Hospital (SGH) which can be traced back to 1821. It is also a place where one can learn about the development of medical specialties, and medical and nursing education in Singapore.
The SGH Museum is a member of the National Heritage Board's Museum Roundtable.
On 11 Nov 2009, Bowyer Block, built in 1926, was gazetted a national monument.
200 years of Medicine is a long history to tell in a physical locale. The revamped SGH Museum offers visitors an experiential journey beyond the physical displays and exhibits where more content are available in the digital space accessible through call-to-action QR codes. The Museum adopts a thematic, chronological and commemorative approach in presenting the Hospital's history of 200 years, where visitors get an insight into the significant contributions of the hospital through the years. They will gain an understanding of how the history of SGH intertwined with the history of Singapore and is a testament of how SGH has supported the healthcare needs of the nation for 200 years [in 2021]. Visitors are encouraged to explore the many QR coded call-to-action exhibits and learn the transformation on patients being grouped according to their ailments with a specialist team seeing to their specific needs and treatment. That eventually paved the way for specialist centres, the forerunners of the national heart, cancer, eye and dental and neuroscience centres at SGH Campus today.
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This section traces SGH's humble beginnings in 1821, which also marks the birth of medicine in Singapore. The digital screens show the milestones and defining moments and the many events that testify to the mettle of staff in SGH, and its development into one of the top 10 best hospitals in the world.
One example is the explosion on board the Greek tanker Spyros in 1978, which led to the establishment of the SGH Burns Centre, which today serves burns victim from the entire region.
See the recreated facade of the King Edward VII College of Medicine Building, the seat of medical education in Singapore.
This section has an interwoven design that reflects the interconnectedness of our multi-disciplinary teams, as well as how each pillar of strength is a building block in his or her own right. Profiled here are our giants of healthcare, bestriding the corridors of SGH in their time. And like the generations before them, they teach and inspire, guarding and bequeathing their precious legacies – lessons in passion, courage, generosity, strength and humility – to generations to come.
View the panels of the surgical instruments that were used in ground-breaking procedures in Singapore’s medical history. While they may be surgical instruments used for preserving organs or limbs and saving lives, they are also beautiful in their own right. Today, they have been replaced by new and more effective instruments.
We may recoil when looking at these "sharps", but these tools helped preserve lives in the steady hands of the SGH team. A well-designed tool is said to make a surgeon an even better one. One might also add that a well-trained OT (operating theatre) nurse is an asset in well-oiled surgery procedures.
Today, disposable surgical tools are commonplace, perhaps even preferred for their convenience. But past practices were more environmentally friendly as instruments were rigorously sterilised and recycled.
The collection includes Obstetric delivery forceps used by doctors, self-retaining retractors, bone-nibbler, clamps, mallots, curettes, bone hooks, osteotome and ronguers. Look out for the little axe saw used to cut parts of the skull!
