Hospital Pulau Pinang (Penang General Hospital)

Penang General Hospital (2 June 2021)


Penang General Hospital (GPS: 5.41765, 100.31056), now known as Hospital Pulau Pinang and previously as Hospital Besar Pulau Pinang, is the biggest public hospital in Penang. It is located along Residency Road, with various departments sprawled over a large area that includes Tull Road and Sepoy Lines Road. As a public hospital, it provides health care and emergency treatment for all illnesses and accidents.

Penang General Hospital is on the Map of Hospitals in Penang

Medical Tourism

The Penang General Hospital is one of the leading centres for medical tourism. It draws patients from the surrounding region, particularly for its cosmetic and plastic surgery procedures. For more details of cosmetic and plastic surgerons in Penang, read Cosmetic Surgery and Plastic Surgery in Penang.

Contact

Hospital Pulau Pinang
Jalan Residensi, Penang
Tel: 04 222 5333
Email: hpinang@moh.gov.my
Web: hpp.moh.gov.my

Layout of the Penang General Hospital

The oldest portion of the hospital is Block , which is behind the car park for medical specialists. Behind Block A is the low-lying Block . This is now the main administrative building of the hospital. Its various parts include the outpatient clinic and the emergency unit. There are ground-level public car parks () in front of Block B. Facing Western Road is Block , which is in fact older than Block B.

A new addition to the hospital is the Ambulatory Care Centre (), located north of Block B and connected to it via a sheltered passageway. Jalan Hospital, the main road through the complex, runs under the centre.



Facing Tull Road are newer additions to the Penang Hospital. They include the Northern Territory Forensic Medical Centre and a multi-storey public car park . Across Tull Road is the Department of Chemistry , which offers auxiliary support to the hospital.

There are nurse hostels as well as staff hostels all around the hospital complex, along Residency Road, Western Road and Jalan Lim Khoon Huat. This includes the Penang Hospital Quarters along Western Road and Kuarters Anggota Kesihatan along Jalan Lim Khoon Huat. Across Residency Road is the Maternity Hospital and the Penang Nursing College while along Sepoy Lines Road is the Children's Dental Centre , Dental Training College and the Penang Medical College .

Layout of the Penang General Hospital on a map

History of the Penang General Hospital

The Penang General Hospital traces its history to the Pauper's Hospital started by Mun Ah Foo, a leader of the Ghee Hin Society in circa 1854. The aim of the hospital was to provide healthcare to the poor and needy as well as rehabiliation for opium smokers. After Mun Ah Foo had passed on, the Pauper's Hospital continued to be managed by a committee headed by Governor Archibald Anson, with representations from the Chinese clan associations, guilds and other pillars of 19th century society. During this period, the Leper Hospital was relocated to Pulau Jerejak, where it functioned until the mid 20th century.

Block A

Block A is the original main block of the Penang General Hospital.

Block A, Penang General Hospital (20 March 2013)


Penang Hospital Block C (13 January 2014)


Block A, Penang General Hospital (5 July 2013)


Another view of Block A, Penang General Hospital (8 March 2009)

Block B

Block B is the new wing. After it was completed in the early 1990s, the main registration desk of the hospital was moved here.

Block B foyer, Penang General Hospital (5 July 2013)


Block B, Penang Hospital (20 March 2013)


The General Hospital building dates back to 1882. Within the grounds of the hospital stands a monument commemorating the donars to the hospital, which count among them both the Ghee Hin as well as Tua Pek Kong Kongsi in 1879 - a rare show of cooperation between two otherwise antagonistic societies that fought each other just a decade before, Tan Beng Swee, Noordin and Shaik Yousoof, various members of the Merican family, and even the King of Siam. At that time, there was racial segregation. Hence Europeans and non-Europeans had separate wards. The Ghee Hin Society further donated the land on which the hospital stands.

The Pauper Hospital became known as the North-East District Hospital in 1906. The relocation and construction of the Penang General Hospital complex dates from as early as the 1920's. Many of the roads laid out in the vicinity of the hospital during that period were also named after the doctors heading the various departments there, among them Ross Road and Tull Road. The original building eventually made way for the Nurses hostel, which was constructed in 1930.

Ambulatory Care Centre, Penang General Hospital (20 March 2013)


Post-Natal Ward, Penang General Hospital (5 July 2013)


Another view of the Ambulatory Care Centre (8 March 2009)


The Maternity Hospital, Dental Hospital and Children's Hospital were added to the complex in the 20th century, and are located on the Sepoy Lines Road side of Jalan Residensi.

Getting there

Rapid Penang Bus 304 pass along Jalan Residensi.

Donors Memorial

The Donors Memorial commemorates the various donors for the establishment of the original Paupers Hospital. Among the donors include Rama V Chulalongkorn, King of Siam (1868-1910), who presented the industrial shed to the hospital on 24 May, 1880. Both the Tua Pek Kong Kongsi and the Ghee Hin Kongsi also donated, as did various eminent personalities such as Tan Beng Swee, Noordin Yousoof, Ghulam Meydin Merican and various members of the Merican clan. Oh Yean3 Heng and Gan Kim Swee chipped in to provide funding for construction of the surrounding walls and ward of the hospital.

Donors Memorial, Penang General Hospital (5 July 2013)


Donors Memorial, Penang General Hospital (8 March 2009)

Public Health Clinics

In addition to the general hospital, the Department of Health also runs many public health clinics, or Klinik Kesihatan, located in every township on Penang Island and Mainland. These health clinic provide supplementary healthcare for less serious cases. Click here for list of public health clinics in Penang.

Penang Hospital Complex

Nearby Sights

Penang General Hospital (8 March 2009)

Related Medical Establishments

Other Hospitals in Penang

List of Hospitals in Penang and Hospitals in Malaysia

Private Guided Tours of Penang

If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.

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About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.