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Gleneagles Hospital

Gleneagles Hospital, founded in 1957, is one of Singapore's largest private hospitals. Owned by Parkway Holdings Limited, the biggest private healthcare company in Asia, Gleneagles Hospital is a state-of-the-art building on Napier Road, offering services in over 30 medical specialities.

History
Gleneagles Hospital started off as a 45 bed private nursing home known as Gleneagles Nursing Home. It was established primarily to serve to the healthcare needs of the European business community in Singapore and to benefit the locals as well. On 16 January 1958, the nursing home was incorporated as a private company called Gleneagles Hospital Limited, listing its principal activities as general and specialised private western medical services. The building which housed the hospital at Napier Road was originally a hotel called Gleneagles Hotel. Situated opposite the Singapore Botanical Gardens, the hotel had large open lounges, tastefully decorated rooms and suites, and offered excellent cuisine. After it was bought over by the hospital, the building's interiors were converted to fit to a hospital's requirements. The new hospital opened to the public on 8 June 1959. Between 1979 and 1980, the building were expanded to become a 126 bed medical center. In May 1987, Parkway Holdings bought Gleneagles Hospital for S$46 million.

In 1988, after the acquisition, Parkway Holdings embarked on a S$150 million three year expansion and upgrading programme for the hospital. It transformed the hospital into a state-of-art medical facility, adding among others a new 10 storey hospital block, 14 operating theatres and 150 consulting suites. The range of services widened to include not only healthcare services but also hospital management and consultancy services. In 1994, the Gleneagles Medical Centre was commissioned. Today, it has grown to house over 160 specialists offering services in over 30 specialities and sub-specialties , making it a premier tertiary acute care hospital. Parkway Holdings Ltd later acquired Mount Elizabeth Hospital and East Shore Hospital in 1995. It then formed a new subsidiary company called Parkway Group Healthcare and brought all the three hospitals: Gleneagles Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital and East Shore Hospital, under it.

Description & facilities
Gleneagles Hospital today is a 380 bed private tertiary acute care hospital with 164 consulting suites, a cardiac centre, a cancer center called Parkway Cancer Centre @ Gleneagles, a coronary care unit, an in-vitro fertilisation center and an eye center. It offers a full range of medical and surgical specialities and sub-specialties. In 1998, Gleneagles entered into a joint-venture with Akira Wu and Nippon Meden Pte. Ltd. to set up clinics for the Japanese expatriate community in Singapore through a company called Nippon Medical Care Pte. Ltd. In the same year, Gleneagles Hospital also began offering home healthcare services for patients wishing to recuperate at home.

Over the years, the hospital has continued to invest heavily in the latest and the best medical equipment. It is equipped with the latest diagnostic imaging systems such as linear accelerators, cancer therapy systems, planning systems and simulators, angiographic systems and a magnetic resonance imager. To facilitate the development of medical, nursing and technical education and research in Singapore and the region, Gleneagles Hospital has tie-ups with well known institutions across the world: the John Hopkins University and Hospital in the Unites States; the Thames Valley University in the United Kingdom; Curtin University of Technology; and La Trobe University in Australia. The hospital also set up a teleconference link in 1995 with John Hopkins University and Hospital for doctors and patients seeking clarifications or second opinions from doctors based there. Gleneagles Hospital won the National Training Award (Service Category) in November 2000 and was also awarded the People Developer Standard in the same year.

Timeline
1957 : Gleneagles Nursing Home established.
16 Jan 1958 : The nursing home incorporated as Gleneagles Hospital Limited.
1987 : Parkway Holdings Ltd. bought Gleneagles Hospital.
1988 : Gleneagles Hospital installed the first dual-function lithotripter in Southeast Asia.
1995 : Gleneagles Hospital became Southeast Asia's first hospital to perform live-donor liver transplant.
1998 : Southeast Asia's first sextuplets were born at the hospital.
1999 : Gleneagles Hospital is Southeast Asia's first hospital to use Robotic SurgiScope for neurosurgery, ENT and spinal surgeries.
2000 : The hospital won the National Training Award (Service Category).
2000 : The hospital was certified with the People Developer Standard. It also obtained the prestigious Singapore Quality Class (SQC).

Address
Gleneagles Hospital, 6A Napier Road, Singapore 258500



Author
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja



References
Papineau, A. (Ed.) (1957). Guide to Singapore and spotlight on Malaysia (p. 51). Singapore: Papineau Studios.
(Call no.: RCLOS 9599.57 GSSM)
 
Cheok, A. (1987, May 07). Parkway Holdings tying up deal to buy Gleneagles. The Business Times. 

Cheok, A. (1987, May 5). Parkway to pay $46m for Gleneagles. The Business Times. 

Gleneagles Hospital embarks on major expansion; keeping up with medical sophistication. (1988, October 2). The Straits Times, p. 18.

Gleneagles in tie-up with Japan health specialists. (1998, August 4). The Business Times, p. 13.

Hospital sets up US teleconference link. (1995, June 4). The Straits Times, p. 25.

Perry, M. (2001, June 23). $5m cancer scanner unveiled. The Straits Times, p. 3.

Woo. G. (2002, November 16). 24-hour cardiac care at Mount E, Gleneagles. The Straits Times, Forum.

Yeow, P.L. (1998, December 3). Parkway offers home health care. The Straits Times, p. 67.

Parkway Healthcare Group Pte Ltd. (2003). Gleneagles Hospital Singapore. Retrieved October 22, 2003, from www.gleneagles.com.sg


Further Readings
Lee, J. (1999, November 26).The man who buys hospitals. The Straits Times, p. 82.

Lee. H.S. (2000, June 8). Parkway Holdings MD Tony Tan to quit. The Business Times, pp. 1-2.

Lim. A. (1996, April 5). Gleneagles to be hub for Parkway's regional hospitals. The Straits Times, p. 46. 

The information in this article is valid as at 2003 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Architecture and Landscape>>Building Types>>Commercial Buildings
Politics and Government>>Health
Hospitals, Proprietary--Singapore
Hospitals--Singapore
Singapore--History--19th century
Arts>>Architecture>>Public and commercial buildings
Law and government>>Health services
Health and medicine>>Health services



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