Ex-hospital preserves medical heritage

Ting showing an operating table displayed in the museum.

“EXTREMELY informative. Well worth the visit,” wrote Steward Wright in the visitors’ book of Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum in Sibu. His wife Teresa summed up the museum as “interesting” during their visit on March 27.

The Wrights, from England, were among 151,825 domestic and foreign tourists who have visited the museum since its renovation in 2008.

The museum came into existence on Aug 3, 1996 following its conversion from the Lau King Howe Hospital.

The privately-run museum was gazetted as a heritage building under the Sarawak Heritage Ordinance on Sept 23, 2019.

Museum manager John Ting has many memories of the hospital where he was born.

Surgical tools on display at the museum.

“I remember when I was 12 years old, I stayed in the hospital for two months following surgery on my hand due to a road accident.

“The medical staff were very friendly and took good care of me,” he said.

Ting said most of the visitors are Sarawakians, followed by Malaysians from the peninsula. Foreign visitors include those from Taiwan, China and Europe.

Narrating the hospital’s history, he said a Chinese Foochow named Lau King Howe came from China to plant rubber in Sibu in 1916.

Nurses’ attire from the early years of the Lau King Howe Hospital.

“He saw the need for better medical services and facilities. Before he returned to China in 1931, he donated all his assets in Sarawak to fund half ($82,000) of the total cost required to build a new and adequately equipped hospital in Sibu.

“The hospital was completed in 1936,” he said.

The hospital served the people of Sibu and surrounding areas for 60 years until it was closed in 2005 when its functions were gradually taken over by Hospital Sibu in 1994.

The Lau King Howe Hospital was built at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan Rivers in Sibu and faced tidal floods over the years. A pond at the museum recalls those times.

The Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum is not only a museum of medical equipment but is also a historical record.

An exhibit featuring a baby bathtub and thermoflasks at the museum.

“It allows us to understand how the past generations made efforts to provide medical services,” Ting said.

The Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum, the only one of its kind in Malaysia, has 772 exhibits comprising old medical apparatus and equipment used at the hospital.

Ting said visitors were welcome to take photos and videos at the museum to share information.

“They can also make contributions for the upkeep of the museum,” he said.

The Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm.