Marking a hundred years of maternity care at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
From 30 beds and 12 children’s cots when it became a dedicated maternity hospital on Oct 1, 1924, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) now has more than 4,000 staff. Here’s a look at how, 100 years on, KKH continues to provide compassionate care for women and children.
KKH is Singapore’s largest tertiary referral centre for obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics and neonatology. From 1924 to 2024, KKH delivered more than 1.6 million babies in Singapore. On average, it witnesses the births of 30 to 35 babies daily.
Founded in 1858 as a general hospital, KKH became a dedicated maternity hospital in 1924, opening on Oct 1 with 30 beds and 12 children’s cots. Five babies – three Malay, one Japanese and one Chinese – were born in the hospital on its first day. By the end of its first year of operation, the hospital had admitted 714 patients and taken care of 588 deliveries. In 1934, its 10th year as a maternity hospital, the numbers soared to 2,826 admissions and 2,579 deliveries. Today, the hospital has over 4,000 staff, of which about 500 are specialist doctors, more than 1,800 are nurses and over 1,200 are Allied Health Professionals.
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital has evolved over the decades, since its founding in 1858, into a leader in Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Neonatology. Today, the 830-bed hospital is a referral centre providing tertiary services to manage high-risk conditions in women and children.
A team of about 500 specialists adopt a compassionate, multi-disciplinary and holistic approach to treatment, and harness the latest medical innovations and technology to deliver the best medical care possible. As an Academic Medical Centre, KKH believes that world-class clinical training and research are imperative in raising the standard of care. Hence, the Hospital has adopted a culture of innovation as it achieves world-class clinical leadership. KKH is a major teaching hospital for Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. The hospital also runs the largest specialist training programme for Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Paediatrics in Singapore.
As we continually raise the bar on clinical excellence, we are sensitive to our patients’ needs for a pleasant hospital experience – one where they receive seamless service and enjoy the warmth of compassionate care in a healing environment.
KK Women's and Children's Hospital
100th Anniversary of KK Hospital 1 Oct 1924
Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital (abbreviation: KKH) is the largest public hospital specialising in healthcare for women and children in Singapore, located at 100 Bukit Timah Road. From its humble beginnings as a small general hospital in 1858 to a 30-bed maternity hospital in 1924, KKH has grown into an 830-bed hospital providing obstetric and gynecology, neonatology, and pediatric services.
Often referred to as "KK" amongst locals, it is the birthplace of a sizeable proportion of Singaporeans, delivering over half of total newborns in the country as early as 1938. The hospital's name comes from the Malay term for "buffalo shed" (kandang = shed / pen + kerbau = buffalo), reflecting the area's past link with buffalo rearing. While the hospital initially started as one catering to health care for women, mainly for gynecology and obstetrics, it has since expanded its role.
First, the pediatrics department was added for the care of the babies after delivery, but over the years it expanded into a full pediatric service, treating younger patients for all kinds of illnesses up to teenagers. An offshoot, the neonatology service, was then added. Thus the expanded role of the hospital warranted a renaming to KK Women's and Children's Hospital. On 1 October 1924, KKH was converted to a maternity hospital with 30 beds. It was also used to train students in midwifery and medicine.
