Oral health museum shines light on medical history

Dr Omar L Kilborn and Dr Retta Gifford Kilborn, pioneers in modern medical service and education in Chengdu.[Photo/Old Canadian Photo Project Team, Peace to the World Beijing galleries]

Century old

The history of the affiliated hospitals of the West China Medical Center reflects the modern medical developments of Chengdu and western China.

The hospitals were originally established by a group of volunteers from Canada and other western countries more than a century ago.

Dr Omar L Kilborn and his wife arrived in Shanghai on Nov 3, 1891, and came to Chengdu on May 21, 1892. Kilborn opened the first Western clinic in western China in Sishengci Street in Chengdu on Nov 3, 1892.

Dr Retta Gifford Kilborn, Kilborn's second wife, was the first female doctor to work in western China.

In 1896 she opened the first women's hospital in Sichuan, near Sishengci Street, which developed into what is known today as the West China Women's and Children's Hospital.

Dr Ashley Woodward Lindsay graduated from the Royal College of Dental Surgeons in Toronto in 1906 and left Canada for Chengdu in the autumn of 1907 with his newly married wife. With help from Kilborn the Lindsay couple opened a dental clinic in Sishengci Street, marking the start of China's modern dentistry in Chengdu.

In 1910 volunteers from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada jointly founded the West China Union University, which today is known as the West China Medical Center of Sichuan University.

In 1914 Kilborn founded the Medical School of West China Union University - today's West China School of Medicine and West China Hospital. In 1917 Lindsay established the Dentistry Department of West China Union University, which is now known as the West China School/Hospital of Stomatology.

The West China Medical Center of Sichuan University has become a national medical center that combines higher medical education, medical research and a treatment center for difficult and severe illnesses.

"Although it has been a long time and all those earliest foreign volunteers have passed away, we will never forget their unselfish contribution to China's modern medical service and education," said an official from the West China Medical Center.