KK Women's and Children's Hospital

KK Women's and Children's Hospital Hospital Wanita dan Kanak-kanak Kandang Kerbau  (Malay) 竹脚妇幼医院 (Chinese) கே கே பெண்கள் மற்றும் குழந்தைகள் மருத்துவமனை (Tamil)
SingHealth
The facade of KK Hospital
Geography
Location	Little India, Singapore
Coordinates	1°18′38.0″N 103°50′49.0″E / 1.310556°N 103.846944°E / 1.310556; 103.846944Coordinates: 1°18′38.0″N 103°50′49.0″E / 1.310556°N 103.846944°E / 1.310556; 103.846944
Organisation
Hospital type	Specialist
Services
Emergency department	Children's Emergency and Women's 24-Hour Clinic
Beds	830
Speciality	Women's and Children's Hospital
History
Founded	1858
Links
Website	http://www.kkh.com.sg/
Lists	Hospitals in Singapore

KK Women's and Children's Hospital (abbreviation: KKH), formerly known as "Kandang Kerbau Hospital", is the largest hospital specialising in healthcare for women and children in Singapore.

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 gynaecology, neonatology and paediatric services. Often affectionally 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.

In 1966, the hospital entered the Guinness Book of Records for delivering the highest number of newborns within a single maternity facility for that year, and it continued to hold on to this record for a full decade, delivering 85% of the population.

In 1997, the hospital moved to its present site. In 2003, the old premises was marked as a historical site by the National Heritage Board, a tribute to an institution that has been the birthplace of over 1.2 million Singaporeans since its inception.

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 started as one catering to health care for women, mainly for gynaecology and obstetrics, it has since expanded its role.

First, the paediatrics department was added for the care of the babies after delivery, but over the years it expanded into a full paediatric service, treating younger patients for all kinds of illnesses up to teenage. 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.

Over the recent years, the scope of care has expanded even more to provide holistic care to women and children patients. It strives to become the "Healthcare Leader for Women and Children", which has become its slogan. New departments were added to the hospital. Paediatric surgery was first added, followed by others such as colorectal surgery, psychiatry and orthopaedics for women with illnesses requiring expertise in those areas.