A Visit to Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum

Some people may not heard about the name "Lau King Howe", but for Sibu people especially those older generation, this name certainly is too familiar for them. The name deserved a very special place in Sibu people's heart as Lau King Howe was the guy that contributed a lot to this land especially in medical field.

Influenced by his father's charitable work, in year 1930, Lau King Howe donated his own property to the state government to build a hospital. Beside the land, he also agreed to contribute half of the total construction costs ($82,000.00) while the other half will be beared by Rajah Brooke's government. The hospital then be named as "The Lau King Howe Hsopital" in honour of its benefactor.

Lau King Howe Hospital had served Sibu people for more than half a century. It was the best and most well-equipped hospital in Sibu at that time. However because of development, the local council felt that the strategic location was no longer suitable to be a hospital. Instead, they decided to close down the hospital and shifted it to a place further from town center.

The local council then decided to develop the place to be the 2nd phase of Sibu Town Square. They planned to entirely leveled and destroyed the hospital buildings. However, this kind of planning had hurt a lot of Sibu people's heart. The name "Lau King Howe Hospital" means too much for them. Therefore, some Chinese based associations and individuals stood up as one voice to protest the decision.

Because of the pressure given by Sibu people, local politicians as well as the council had no choice but to compromise with public view. They finally came out with the decision to reserve the main block of Lau King Howe Hospital and converted it to be "Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum".

That was the place I visited last weekend.

[Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum]

[Outer view of Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum building]

[The main entrance to the museum]

[The statue of Lau King Howe displayed at the lobby area]

[A brief history of Lau King Howe Hospital printed on the wall]

[Section displaying old days surgical equipment]

[Old days sterilize equipment]

[Old days baby care services with wooden phototherapy lamp]

[Neonatal Incubator by oxigenaire used in late 1950s to 1970s]

[Paediatric section]

[Old days radiology machine]

[Vicker Neonatal Respiratory Ventilator]

[Some old haemodialysis machines]

[1981's Philip brand Central Cardiac Monitoring]

[Laboratory section]

[Some old laboratory equipment]

[Oral health section]

[Old dental chair and stool in 1967]

[Another old dental equipment]

[A segment introduced how the Hospital produced "KK" tablets]

[Some old measuring tools used in outpatient pharmacy dispensing]

[Revolution of nurses uniform]

[Model of Lau King Howe Hospital]