Shima Hospital

Shima Hospital
Geography
Location	34° 23′ 41″ N, 132° 27′ 17″ E　Naka-ku, ootemachi 1-5-25, Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima, Japan
Organisation
Hospital type	Private
Services
Emergency department	No
History
Founded	1933
Links
Website	http://www.shimagekanaika.jp/
Lists	Hospitals in Japan

Shima Hospital (島病院, Shima byōin^?) was a Japanese hospital destroyed by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. Shima Hospital is considered to be ground zero for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

In 1948, the hospital was rebuilt from the ground up by Dr. Kaoru Shima. The reconstructed Shima Surgery is still in operation to the present day under the name Shima geka naika (島外科内科). Specialities of the present Shima geka naika are surgery, orthopaedics, internal medicine, and endoscopic treatment of the digestive organs. Adjacent to the Shima geka naika is a monument marking the hypocenter, or ground zero, of the atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima, which is located about a five-minute walk away from the city's Atomic Bomb Dome or "A-Dome."

Dr. Shima's family had overseen an established medicine practice in Hiroshima since the late 18th century. Proof of this can be found in a map of Nakanomura dated approximately 1780, in which the residence of the Shima family, birthplace of "Shima Hospital" founder Dr. Kaoru Shima, is noted as a clinic.

Dr. Kaoru Shima (1897–1977) graduated from the Osaka medical school, the present Osaka University medical department, which originated in the "Tekijuku" school. After graduating, he travelled throughout Europe and the United States to further his medical studies.

Following his quest to learn the latest developments in medicine and surgery and with his reputation as an excellent surgeon, he became lecturer of medicine at the Osaka Empire University (now the Osaka University), considered a high honor at the time, as the title of "honour lecturer" did not exist and Dr. Shima had a full-time occupation in Hiroshima. On August 31, 1933, Shima Hospital was founded. The Mayo Clinic served as Dr. Shima's model of choice. Shima Hospital was a two-storey building of brick construction with reinforced walls and a modern design. Kaoru Shima applied the rational hospital management concepts he learned in the U.S., resulting in Shima Hospital's popularity as an inexpensive clinic with a high standard of treatment. Shima Hospital, following the Mayo Clinic model, is an exception to the usual profile of hospitals found in pre-war Japan that were based on German models and medical procedures.

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