About Us
“As a legend of Hong Kong, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs) has been unfolding its story in the past 150 years in tandem with the convergence of East and West across the territory. From its inception to the present day, Tung Wah has always been the largest Chinese charitable organization in Hong Kong, with no political affiliation or religious background. Even in the context of global philanthropy, TWGHs is distinctive in character and scale among all other charities worldwide.”
Excerpted from the Conclusion of Hand-in-Hand for Benevolence: 150 Years of History of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals of Hong Kong, Summary
Tung Wah Group of Hospitals was founded in 1870 as Tung Wah Hospital. As the oldest charitable organisation in the territory, the Group has been witnessing the development of Hong Kong community. We adapt to the times and constantly develop appropriate and quality services in medical, educational, community and traditional domains, holding fast to our mission of “healing the sick and relieving the distressed, caring for the elderly and rehabilitating the disabled, promoting education and nurturing the youngsters, and raising the infant and guiding the youth”. Today, the Group has developed into a well-established charitable organisation in Hong Kong, with 363 service units, providing a comprehensive range of services. Among others, the Group manages 5 hospitals, 42 Chinese and Western medicine services units, 60 education services units, and 232 community services units that cover elderly, youth and family, rehabilitation, social enterprises and social innovation services. We also operate 24 traditional service units providing funeral, temple and ritualistic services. In addition, the Tung Wah Museum and TWGHs Maisy Ho Archives and Relics Centre are responsible for preserving the archives of TWGHs. They also raise public awareness of the Group’s history and restoration work, with the responsibility to protect and preserve local traditional culture.
Medical & Health Services
TWGHs has 42 medical and health service units, providing Chinese and Western medicine services, health screening and elderly health services. The Board of Directors takes an active role in the management of 5 hospitals through the Hospital Governing Committees, including Tung Wah Hospital, Kwong Wah Hospital, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, TWGHs Wong Tai Sin Hospital, and TWGHs Fung Yiu King Hospital. These 5 Hospitals provide 2,636 beds in total.
Other medical and health services and Chinese medicine services provided by TWGHs include 6 Chinese medicine clinical centres located in Kwong Wah Hospital (The Centre originally located at Kwong Wah Hospital (KWH) has been relocated to Tung Po Court, Reclamation Street, Yaumatei to cater for the redevelopment of KWH.), Tung Wah Hospital, TWGHs Wong Tai Sin Hospital, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital and Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, 5 integrated Chinese and Western medicine treatment centres/service units, 1 centre of integrated health management, 3 Chinese medicine mobile clinics, 2 community Chinese medicine clinics, 1 Chinese medicine control centre, 1 Chinese medicine outreaching service unit, 1 centralised decoction centre, 2 Chinese medicine general outpatient clinics, 2 well women clinics, 2 integrated diagnostic and medical centre, 1 computed tomography imaging centre, 1 endoscopy centre, 1 haemodialysis centre, 2 rehabilitation centres, 3 dental clinics, 3 establishments in support of dental services for persons with intellectual disability, outreaching dental services for the elderly and outreaching medical services for elderly respectively.
Education Services
Since TWGHs opened its first free school at Man Mo Temple in 1880, the Group has been providing education services for the community in pace with the city’s growth. As a well-established sponsoring body in the territory, today TWGHs runs 18 secondary schools, 14 primary schools, 18 kindergartens, and 2 special schools, all bearing the same motto “Diligence, Frugality, Loyalty, and Trustworthiness”. TWGHs Ho Yuk Ching Educational Psychology Services Centre was set up to provide much-needed educational psychology services for students with special education needs.
Incorporated Management Committees were formed in all TWGHs–aided schools to allow more stakeholders to take part in school administration, thus promoting a higher degree of transparency and accountability, and enhancing sustainability in the development of schools. To cope with the demand for tertiary education, TWGHs established Tung Wah College (TWC), a self-financing tertiary institution, to provide quality tertiary education, so as to nurture talents that can meet societal needs. In 2011, TWC was approved and registered at the Education Bureau under the Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (cap 320) as a degree-awarding institution. Since its establishment, TWC has nurtured over 2,000 graduates.
Community Services
With 232 community service units, including 67 elderly service units, 82 youth and family service units, 53 rehabilitation service units, 30 social enterprises and social innovation service units. TWGHs provides a spectrum of social welfare services for families, children and youths, the elderly, and the disabled, in harmony with the Group’s commitment to “Quality Care, Holistic Development” for communities in Hong Kong.
Traditional Services
The Group provides three main streams of traditional services, including funeral and burial services, temples and ritualistic services, and traditional cultural services, through a total of 24 service units under its management. The 3 funeral parlours operated by TWGHs offer quality services to bereaved families at reasonable fees. There are also the options of scattering of ashes at sea and in the Gardens of Remembrance, in order to promote green burial. And Tung Wah Coffin Home provides a temporary depository of coffins and bones as well as the niche rental service. 13 facilities, including temples, a fortune-telling and oblation arcade and a commemoration hall, are managed to render worshipping convenience to the public, TWGHs manages 6 traditional cultural services units, such as TWGHs MM2 Café next to Hung Shing Temple in Wan Chai, and Shop by Man Mo Temple recently opened in Central Market. We organise community events and activities regularly to promote cultural creativity and Chinese culture, striving to integrate traditional culture into the community and people’s life, thus blending preservation and fashionable trends.
Records & Heritage
TWGHs is committed to preserving and promoting its history and culture, and established the Records and Heritage Office in 2010. The Office is responsible for the management and development of the Tung Wah Museum and TWGHs Maisy Ho Archives and Relics Centre, aiming at safeguarding, opening up, and sharing the heritage of TWGHs through the promotion of cultural heritage and the provision of cultural services. The Office also organises on a regular basis public education programmes, including exhibitions, talks and cultural activities, to promote public awareness of the importance of TWGHs in the history of Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, the Group manages a number of buildings of great historical value, including Tung Wah Museum, Tung Wah Coffin Home in Sandy Bay, Tin Hau Temple in Yau Ma Tei, the Race Course Fire Memorial next to the Government Stadium, and Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road, which are all statutory monuments. We also arrange timely restoration and maintenance works for buildings, in order to preserve Hong Kong’s history and culture.
Administrative Structure
In terms of administrative structure, the Board of Directors is the governing body assisted by various committees, each overseeing a particular function or service. The Administration Headquarters comprises 11 Divisions, namely Medical Division, Education Division, Community Services Division, Property Division, Fund-raising Division, Board and Corporate Administration Division, Finance & Supplies Division, Human Resources Division, Information Technology Division, Corporate Communications Division and Audit Division, as well as Records and Heritage Office and Traditional Services Section, with the Chief Executive as head of the administration.
Each Member of the Board serves a one-year tenure with no remunerations. By introducing their social network and experience into the Group, Members of the Board successfully mobilize people from different sectors to support fund-raising activities and enhance the Group’s development; hence creating social capitals for Hong Kong to build a harmonious and mutually supportive society.
Taking into consideration of the growth of our services, the Group endeavours to optimize the utilization of government and community resources in a sound and open administrative structure. The Board also strives to strengthen TWGHs’ corporate governance, enhance transparency and accountability to attract support from more donors.
Apart from receiving government subsidies, each year TWGHs also organizes numerous fund-raising activities to raise a colossal amount of funds to cover the cost of providing free medical service and the capital cost of expanding various much needed services. Expenditures for Fund-raising events and administration & supporting functions are fully financed by TWGHs Board of Directors/Title Patrons and operating income respectively. No event and administrative costs will be deducted from donations of the general public, which as usual will go to the Group’s services for the benefit of the community. Looking to the future, the Group will continue to provide various much needed services for our community in step with the times.
The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals needs your support! For enquiries and more information, please contact us at enquiry@tungwah.org.hk.
