Utzurrum: Chong Hua Hospital – a historical occasion

DOCTORS Shawn Espina, Jacquiline Espina, Weda Lim, Zoc Lim and Edwin Gimeno.
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AN ANCIENT Chinese proverb by Confucius says, “A thousand journeys begin with a single step.” And this couldn’t be more true than in the case of the humble beginnings of Chong Hua Hospital (CHH), way back in the early 1900s.

Flashback to 1909 when the Asociacion Benevola de Cebu through the efforts of Tan Unchuan and Yap Anton acquired a 49,000 square meter lot in Martires St. which became a center where Chinese sought medical treatment.

The very first seeds of CHH, we gather, were planted when an almost 4,000 square meter lot was purchased at Don Mariano Cui St., where the hospital still stands to this day.

Through the years, CHH has expanded little by little. In 1971, a five storey building was constructed with modern Xray machines. In 1977, the hospital was awarded the “Most Outstanding Private Institution” in Cebu City for that year by then City Mayor Eulogio Borres under the category, Medical Health and Welfare Institutions.

Under the stewardship of Lim Liu, who became president in 1981 (and still is today), a gargantuan step was made when they acquired a 6,000 square meter lot behind the existing hospital, which bore fruit in 1998 when the CHH majestic 12-storey twin towers were inaugurated.

From its state-of-the-art Heart Institute in 2003, to its advanced Eye Institute and Hemo-Onco Unit in 2005, CHH continues to grow. Today fast forward to 2012, they branched out to other cities, like Mandaue, where CHH recently emerged with the impressive Cancer Center.

Congratulations then to the Board of Directors for your latest expansion! Indeed, Confucius was right—‘from step one to a million steps.’ What a phenomenon!