Shanghai-Nanking Railway Hospital then and now
PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/1928322
The same building in 2015, at 327 Wujin Road, between North Henan and North Jiangxi Roads 武进路327号.
Unrecognizable if not for the shape of the windows, with an extra floor on top, this building was erected in 1908 to house the Shanghai-Nanking Railway Hospital 沪宁铁路医院. The 1914 issue of the US Naval Medical Bulletin describes the hospital in detail:
“The Shanghai-Nanking Railway and District Hospital was established by this corporation in 1908 for the treatment of their employees, but it being found that the space and facilities were more than that needed for their own people the hospital was opened to the general public. The institution is supported by the Shanghai-Nanking Railway Company and the fees of non-railroad patients. It is situated at 132 Range Road, between 10 and 15 minutes’ ride in a rickshaw from the Bund, on the outskirts of the foreign settlement, and only a short distance from the Shanghai-Nanking Railway station.
The hospital consists of one main four- story building and a small one in the rear used as a dispensary for the lower class railway employees. Transportation of patients to and from the hospital can be done by the municipal horse ambulance, a railroad hand ambulance, or by carriage. The building, with the exception of the operating room, which is heated by steam, is warmed by open fires or stoves. It is lighted by electricity, and possesses no elevator.
There are two wards, one for Chinese and one - the so-called naval ward - for foreigners. The two wards are absolutely separated. The naval ward has six beds and the Chinese ward ten. There are twelve private rooms, six containing two beds and six with one bed. All the floors are of varnished wood except the operating room, which is floored with some special form of cement. Transportation of patients within the hospital is done by means of carriages or stretchers.
The operating room is on the third floor and is well lighted on two sides. The nurses live on the top floor. Disinfection here, as in most other Shanghai hospitals, is done by the municipal health department. Isolation cases are not admitted. There is a small room for minor laboratory work. The hospital possesses a very good X- ray outfit and the services of a German-trained roentgenologist. It might be said that the hospital is really built around the X-ray laboratory. The charges for its use are the same as the Shanghai General Hospital. There are two kitchens-one for foreigners and one for Chinese. None of these Shanghai hospitals seem to have adequate protection against fire. In all of them the disposal of garbage and sewage is the same, i. e., it is carried away and either dumped or sold. American and British naval sick are quite frequently sent here. The charges are $6 Mexican for officers and $3 Mexican for men, exclusive of doctors’ fees.
The nursing staff consists of a matron and three nurses, all four trained in England; two male dressers - one a Hindu and the other a Chinaman - both trained in the hospital itself. The medical staff consists of two British doctors - Dr. Ziervogel, a Boer, and Dr. Patrick, a Scotchman and one Chinese doctor. Any reputable local physician, as well as naval medical officer, is allowed to treat his cases in this hospital. Before leaving port naval surgeons must make arrangements as to fees etc., with some local practitioner who is to look after their cases.
This hospital is very close to the Victoria Nursing Home, so that if desired a case could be treated in the latter, and for any radiographic work needed the patient could be referred to the Shanghai-Nanking Railway Hospital.”
The hospital closed in 1916. In the Republican era, the building housed a local Kuomintang office, and later the Shanghai Railway Intermediary Court 上海铁路运输中级法院. Range Road is now Wujin Road 武进路, and the building corresponds to today’s No. 527. The entire block is walled off and is awaiting demolition: https://j.map.baidu.com/f2/cSbK
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