Institute of Mental Health (Singapore)
| Institute of Mental Health | |
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| National Healthcare Group | |
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Institute of Mental Health at Buangkok, Singapore.
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| Geography | |
| Location | Hougang, Singapore |
| Organisation | |
| Hospital type | Tertiary, specialist psychiatric care for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly |
| Services | |
| Beds | 2010 |
| History | |
| Founded |
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| Links | |
| Website | www |
The Institute of Mental Health (Abbreviation: IMH) has a long tradition of care for psychiatric patients. In 2006, the Woodbridge Hospital compound, part of IMH, was marked as Singapore's 83rd historic site by the National Heritage Board due to its history as Singapore's first mental institution. As such, the IMH is still referred to as "Woodbridge" by locals.
Present-day IMH is located on a 25-hectare campus at Buangkok Green Medical Park in the north-east of Singapore. It is Singapore's only tertiary psychiatric hospital and offers psychiatric, rehabilitative and counselling services to children, youth, adults and the elderly.
IMH is a modern hospital, with 50 wards and 2010 beds for inpatients and seven specialist clinics for outpatients. It provides hospital-based services, runs satellite clinics at different locations in Singapore, and spearheads mental healthcare programmes in the community.
“To appreciate Woodbridge [Hospital] and its work, one must have a historical sense of development and movement. It has been a long battle from custodial care which provides simple refuge and security to community psychiatry that enables people to return to a normal life." (Dr Chee Kuan Tsee, Emeritus Consultant, Woodbridge Hospital/Institute of Mental Health, 1990)
The Institute of Mental Health (Abbreviation: IMH; Chinese: 心理卫生学院) has a long tradition of care for psychiatric patients. In 2006, the Woodbridge Hospital compound, part of IMH, was marked as Singapore's 83rd historic site by the National Heritage Board due to its history as Singapore's first mental institution.
The earliest psychiatric facility 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. In 1887, this hospital was moved to the ‘New Lunatic Asylum’, with a capacity for 300 patients, built at College Road (Sepoy Lines) to check an outbreak of cholera. In 1928, a 24-ward ‘The Mental Hospital’ was built along Yio Chu Kang Road. The ‘New Lunatic Asylum’ at Sepoy Lines and the ward at Pasir Panjang were closed down and 1030 patients were transferred to ‘The Mental Hospital’.
Spread out over 80 hectares of land, The Mental Hospital was then the largest medical facility in Singapore providing custodial care for the mentally ill, with a capacity for 1,400 patients. In the 1920s, caring for the mentally ill was mainly custodial in nature. Patients were segregated from the community and were cared for by a handful of expatriate nurses with the help of health attendants who were not trained in nursing.
After Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, about 700–800 seriously wounded civilian casualties were transferred from the General Hospital to The Mental Hospital, which was transformed into the Japanese Civilian and Military Hospital. The Japanese transferred about 500 'quieter' mental patients to St John's Island, where many starved to death. The remaining 1,000 were locked up and neglected, of which about 600 were transferred in 1944 to the Central Mental Hospital, Tanjong Rambutan, in Perak, Malaysia. Of these 600, after the war, only 329 returned.
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Wikipedia