Assunta Hospital, which began as a clinic, turns 60

ASSUNTA Hospital has reached a significant milestone, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

It was established thanks to the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM), philanthropists and government backing.

Four Franciscan Missionary sisters, comprising a doctor and three nurses/medical aides from different parts of the world, set foot in Malaysia in December 1953 with the objective of tending to the medical needs of the underprivileged in Puchong and Petaling Jaya.

Sister Lucia Tchou from China, who was one of the four nuns, recounted the early days.

“We started out in a small house in Section 1, Road 4, Petaling Jaya in 1954 and called it Ave Maria Clinic. The building was loaned to us by a contractor.

“People were in need of medical care and it was easier for them to come to us rather than to go all the way to the general hospital,” said the 91-year-old, who currently resides in the convent adjacent to Assunta Hospital, in an interview recently.

 

Soh (left) and Assunta Hospital chief executive officer and board of directors chairman Peter Leong showing a banner being displayed in the hospital in conjunction with the establishment’s 60th anniversary. — Photo by ART CHEN

Tchou, who assisted in the dispensary unit, said medical supplies were purchased from overseas via funds collected from the public.

“Getting funds was the biggest challenge, but we had community support. Transportation and weather were also part of the challenges, but that did not stop us from walking door to door to get funds.

“As the population in Petaling Jaya grew rapidly, we saw the need to expand and with sufficient funds, the construction of a building to house a clinic, maternity home and convent started in 1955 on a land donated by the Petaling Jaya Authority,” said Tchou, adding that this was in recognition of the valuable services provided by the Franciscan Missionary nuns to this growing township back then.

More Franciscan sisters were brought in to handle the increasing patient load. The sisters also provided basic educational facilities and pre-school classes for the poor in the area.

With the help of a philanthropist, the late Tun Leong Yew Koh, a huge fundraising event was held to build Assunta Hospital in 1957 at its present location.

“Leong was a great supporter. He gave us a huge donation and all he wanted was that we continue to run it,” she said, adding that the hospital took two years to complete.

By February 1959, the Ave Maria Clinic was the first facility to move to the completed four-storey building and by August, the maternity patients were moved to the second floor of the new community hospital.

Tchou said more major milestones were achieved in 1961 when Assunta Hospital started general wards for men, women and children with 150 beds, and a month later, it opened its operating theatre and surgical ward.

In May 1961, Assunta was officially opened by the late Tun Omar Ong Yoke Lin, who was also the Health and Social Welfare Minister then. The year also saw the opening of The Assunta School of Nursing, followed by the Kidney Unit in 1967 and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in 1971.

Tchou recalled mobile clinics were also set up in the Klang Valley, providing healthcare services in Puchong, Sungai Way and the surrounding areas.

Meanwhile, Franciscan Missionaries of Mary provincial superior and Assunta Hospital board member Sister Mary Soh said the Assunta Foundation was formed in 1974 and the sisters handed over the management of the hospital to a board of directors that year.

“The board’s role is to help the hospital strike a balance between providing affordable healthcare and sustaining the hospital’s operations amidst rising costs, while the foundation ensures that the original mission to help the poor is continued,’’ said Soh, who is based in Singapore, when met at Assunta Hospital recently.

Soh said that although rapid changes had taken place over the years, the hospital was grateful for its dedicated and hardworking staff, who have put their heart and soul into the facility.

“We celebrate our 60th anniversary this year. It is the soul that makes us different, but it is the determination to make a difference that has brought us here,” she added with a smile.

The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary is the first missionary religious congregation for women in the history of the church founded in the 18th century by BL. Mary of the Passion.