Although the Government considered it
uneconomical to recruit nurses from the United
Kingdom, and with nurses from Madras refusing
to come to Singapore, the Governor was convinced
of the need for better nursing and of having trained
nurses in the General Hospital. He instructed his
officials to study the problem and come up with
something practical. The proposed plan was to
recruit nuns from the Convent in Singapore (subject
to certain conditions) and train them locally, as it
was not possible to obtain nurses from the United
Kingdom or Madras. The nuns were the only bettereducated
European women in Singapore prepared
to do this type of work, as the majority of the
other European women were wives or daughters of
Government officials, prosperous merchants and
professional men.
The proposal was approved by the Governor,
and immediately stirred up a hornet’s nest among
the Protestant English population and included
a member of the Legislative Council and the Chief
Justice, who voiced their opposition violently at the
Legislative Council meeting of November 18, 1884.
They wanted to know why nurses could not be
recruited from the United Kingdom, especially when
there was unemployment there. The Chief Justice
was more vehement in his protests. He strongly
objected to the nursing in the hospitals being under
the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholics. He was
sure that the loyalties of the Convent Sisters would
be with the Church and not the Government, and
Singapore Med J 2005; 46(11) : 601
Singapore Med J 2005; 46(11) : 602
that eventually the Roman Catholic Bishop would
take over control of the Medical Services!
There was even a public meeting held by 144
European residents to protest against the scheme to
provide the hospitals with nurses from the Convent.
Despite the opposition, the scheme was put into
operation and the nuns assumed their duties as
nurses in the General Hospital on August 1, 1885
(exactly three years after the hospital was officially
opened). The Resident Surgeon of the General
Hospital (Dr Simon) was satisfied with their work
in 1885. The administration of the wards improved,
and the Surgeon and Apothecaries appreciated their
assistance in the treatment of bad cases.
In 1886, the nuns continued their housekeeping
duties and on-the-job training in the practical aspects
of nursing. The Resident Surgeon had plans for a
more organised course of training including lectures.
1887 and 1888 saw the nuns continuing to work
satisfactorily and conscientiously carrying out
instructions given to them. In 1890, the Resident
Surgeon wrote: “The Sisters have worked well during
the year and given every satisfaction.”
But trouble was brewing. The disciplinary
problems predicted by the Chief Justice arose.
The Mother Superior of the Convent refused to
acknowledge the PCMO’s authority to promote and
deploy the Sisters. (The nuns were, of course, under
a vow of strict obedience to their Order and Church).
In 1899, when the nun who performed the duties
of Head Nurse, General Hospital, resigned, the
PCMO selected her successor. The Mother Superior
objected and, in defiance of the PCMO’s authority,
selected her own appointee. This put the PCMO’s
back up. As neither he nor the Mother Superior was
willing to concede, there was an impasse. The PCMO
reported this bold challenge to his authority to the
Governor stressing that the state of affairs was not
conducive to good patient care, and that there was
no alternative but to terminate the agreement and
make arrangements to recruit nurses from England(2):
“On the resignation of Sister St Andre as Head
Nurse, Sister St Apoline, the Head Nurse at the
Penang General Hospital, was selected by the Medical
Department as her successor. On the request being
referred to the Lady Superior of the Singapore Convent,
it was refused, and one of the Ward Sisters, St Eusebe,
took up the duties for a time. She was an excellent Ward
Nurse in every way, but was unfamiliar with the duties
of Head Nurse, and her health had been failing for some
time. She succumbed to phthisis on the 30th April.
As a successor to Sister St Eusebe, the Lady
Superior of the Convent selected Sister St Clare, who it
so happened, was the only Sister of English nationality
in the hospital, and this Sister continued to act as
Head Nurse until the end of the year. The conditions
under which the nursing was carried out were not,
however, satisfactory, and early in this year, the Lady
Superior, finding that she could no longer undertake
to fulfil the conditions to which the Convent had
agreed originally, either as regards the supply of an
efficient Head Sister who should have absolute control
over the other Sisters or as to keeping up the full
number of the nurses required on the staff, asked to be
relieved of the work of nursing at the General Hospital.
Arrangements have accordingly been made to
procure a staff of nurses (to be supplemented by local
probationers) from England, and the Convent here
will continue the nursing until these nurses arrive.”
The PCMO also recommended that the nurses
be recruited by the Colonial Nursing Institute
(Association) on three-year renewable contracts.
The Head Nurse and Senior Nurses were expected
to train probationers(3). (This shows that local nurses
were being trained in the hospital although there
was no proper Nursing School.)
The Colonial Secretary reported to the Legislative
Council on February 27, 1900(4).
“The Lady Superior of the Sisterhood having
given notice that the present staff of Nurses supplied
from the Convent will be withdrawn as soon as
convenient to the Government, it is proposed to
replace them by trained nurses from the Colonial
Nursing Institute. The Secretary of State has been
asked to send out six nurses, one of whom will be
appointed Head Nurse. The nurses will be assisted by
local probationers. For the present, the change will only
affect the General Hospital, Singapore. The change
will come in force when the new nurses arrive.”