Download History of the Ophthalmology Service, Kandang Kerbau Women`s

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Primary Eye Care In Singapore – Looking Back, Looking Forward
History of the
Ophthalmology Service,
Kandang Kerbau Women’s
and Children’s Hospital
by DR QUAH BOON LONG
MMed(Ophth), FRCS(Ed), FAMS
Head, Eye Centre, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
Head and Senior Consultant, Paediatric Ophthalmology &
Strabismus, Singapore National Eye Centre
Kandang Kerbau Women’s and
Children’s Hospital (KKH) is the largest
integrated medical and surgical facility
for women and children in Singapore.
Its history can be traced back to 1858
when it was built to function as a general
hospital. It was established as a maternity
hospital at Kampong Java Road on
1 October 1924.
In March 1997, KK Hospital moved to a
new home at 100 Bukit Timah Road. It
opened its doors to children as well, to
become the first children’s hospital in
Singapore. This 834-bedded hospital not
only continued offering maternity care
for women and neonatal care for babies
but also started providing comprehensive
services in paediatric medicine and
paediatric surgery all under one roof.
Since then it had been developing at a
remarkable pace.
Primary Eye Care In Singapore – Looking Back, Looking Forward
On 11 February 1999, a new
ophthalmology service was added to the
hospital facility at the children’s hospital
in Specialist Clinic E. The ophthalmology
faculty, which was affiliated with
Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC),
was the prime mover in the development
of Ophthalmology Service at KKH.
The Ophthalmology Service was headed
by A/Prof Vivian Balakrishnan. The
medical faculty comprised paediatric
ophthalmologists from SNEC and
an ophthalmologist from the private
sector. In July 2000, Dr Quah Boon Long
took over as the head of the Paediatric
Ophthalmology Service at KKH.
“The paediatric
ophthalmologists
are dedicated
to providing
expert eye care
for childhood
eye diseases such
as strabismus,
amblyopia,
refractive errors,
paediatric
cataract, paediatric
glaucoma, orbital
and eyelid diseases,
and paediatric
ocular tumours such
as retinoblastoma.“
The Ophthalmology Service in KKH
is unique in Singapore, being the
only hospital dedicated to providing
comprehensive eye care to all
children aged 16 years and below.
It has the largest team of paediatric
ophthalmologists drawn from both the
public and the private sectors. KKH is
recognised as one of the best services for
childhood eye diseases in the country. It
accepts referrals from polyclinics, general
and private practitioners and provides
paediatric eye consultations and surgery.
The paediatric ophthalmologists are
dedicated to providing expert eye
care for childhood eye diseases such
as strabismus, amblyopia, refractive
errors, paediatric cataract, paediatric
glaucoma, orbital and eyelid diseases,
and paediatric ocular tumours such as
retinoblastoma.
The eye care service in KKH also
include the screening and treatment
of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP),
assessment of visual development, eye
screening for systemic diseases, child
abuse and congenital ocular anomalies.
It also provides a back-up and followup ophthalmic service to the hospital’s
Children Emergency Department.
In a short span of 8 years, the
Ophthalmology Service for children has
progressed rapidly at every level. The
number of children seeking treatment has
steadily increased.
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The total outpatient attendance in the
first year of service in 1999 was about
3,000 as compared to that of 11,000 last
year. The outpatient attendances had
increased tremendously over the years to
over 11,000 in the past 1 year. Amblyopia
clinics run by orthoptists and refraction
clinics managed by optometrists were
set up in September 2000 and April 2002
respectively to better manage children
with amblyopia and refractive errors. The
added services reduce the waiting time
for appointments and greatly improve
the services.
The Ophthalmology Service outgrew its
space rapidly. In order to accommodate
the increase in outpatient volume,
the clinic was relocated to a new eye
centre on 26 June 2006. It was officially
opened on 28 February 2007. The newly
remodelled and expanded space is
equipped with state-of-the-art paediatric
eye equipment and instruments. The
clinic rooms are designed to facilitate
patient flow as well as for the teaching
of junior ophthalmologists. In other
words, the Ophthalmology Service
has not only provided accessible, high
quality and comprehensive eye care to
children, it is also involved in teaching
and clinical research. Public forum on eye
diseases and paediatric ophthalmology
workshops for general practitioners and
paediatricians are also conducted from
time to time.
Today, the vision of the ophthalmology
department is to deliver high quality
comprehensive eye care to children, to
provide training to the ophthalmologists,
and to conduct research in paediatric eye
diseases.