The United Christian Hospital was built to meet the need of the huge refugee influx in the 1950s and 60s into Hong Kong in the area adjacent to Kowloon.
In the face of the huge shanty towns that built up, the Hong Kong Government took the initiative to build Resettlement Housing in a big way, and because space was limited, this took the form of clusters of high tower flats. Kwun Tong came into being.
To provide an adequate health programme, the churches of Hong Kong, the Missionary Societies, and the Hong Kong Government, worked together to build a worthy hospital for this new town.
United Christian Hospital was opened in December 1973. It had 545 beds. Today it has 1600 beds and 3000 staff serving eastern Kowloon. It manages 5 general outpatient clinics in this area.
The mission of the hospital was, and still is, "to incorporate the spirit of Christ into the mission of the hospital and to practise it consistently through day-to-day operation."
Today Kwun Tong is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong and has a population in excess of 650,000.
Source:
Baptist Missionary Herald 1974