第一站/ 舊西約公立方便醫局 及 舊贊育醫院
The First Station/ Old Western Public Dispensary & Old Tsan Yuk Hospital
舊西約公立方便醫局/ Old Western Public Dispensary/
1894年香港爆發鼠疫（俗稱黑死病），在華人群體中造成極高死亡率，疫症更持續在香港肆虐達三十多年之久。
華藉商人有見及此，便於1904年提議在西營盤第三街與常豐里間的「更練館」內提供廿九張病床，為大眾進行鼠疫醫療服務。至1908年，政府撥出旁邊土地建設一所「西約公立方便醫局」。當時所謂的「公立」，是指「公眾設立」之意。建築物於1909年落成，為區內病患提供醫療地方。2005年，原址成為長春社文化古蹟資源中心，繼續為大眾服務，而昔日用作殮房的小石屋仍然保留至今。
舊贊育醫院/ Old Tsan Yuk Hospital/
隨著華人對西方醫學的信任程度日益增加，時任華人公立醫局委員會主席曹善允與克寧醫生（Dr. Alice D. Hickling）於1919年在西約公立方便醫局旁的空地建設贊育醫院。醫院於1922年落成，為華籍孕婦提供西醫接生服務。當時西方接生醫術的死亡率較傳統華人接生方法為低，得到華人廣泛接受，故此門口常有大量孕婦排隊就診，而一張床位服務兩位孕婦的情況亦屢見不鮮。
鼠疫於1930年代中期開始受到控制，因此「西約公立方便醫局」進行改建，地下變成診所，而一樓則變為贊育醫院的護士宿舍。鑑於贊育醫院服務求過於供，最終於1955年搬遷至醫院道，舊醫院建築群改為今天的西區社區中心。
In 1919, with the Chinese developing greater trust in Western medicine, the then President of the Chinese Public Dispensaries and Sanitary Committee, Ts’o Seen Wan, and Dr. Alice D. Hickling, established Tsan Yuk Hospital on the vacant land next to the Western Public Dispensary. Completed in 1922, the hospital provided labour and delivery services that were informed by Western medical science. At that time, the mortality rate caused by the Western delivery method was lower than that caused by traditional Chinese delivery method, and so the Western method became widely accepted among the Chinese. There were often a lot of pregnant women queuing up outside the hospital, waiting to see a doctor, and due to necessity it was not uncommon for two pregnant women to share one maternity ward.
The plague started to stabilise in the mid-1930s and the Western Public Dispensary underwent a reconstruction. The ground floor was transformed into a clinic and the first floor became the quarters for the hospital’s nursing staff. Because the demand for medical services in Tsan Yuk Hospital outweighed supply, the hospital eventually moved to Hospital Road in 1955. The old cluster of hospital buildings has become what is now the Western District Community Centre.
地址/ 西營盤西邊街36A
Address/ 36A Western Street, Sai Ying Pun
連結 Links/
下一站/ 第二街公共浴室 Next Station/ the Second Street Public Bathroom
西營盤歷史文化徑/ 醫療與衛生發展 Sai Ying Pun Heritage Trail/ The Development of Medical Services and Public Health
西營盤歷史文化徑首頁 Sai Ying Pun Heritage Trail/ Main Page
