Among the Chinese community in Singapore, the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is often referred to in Hokkien as “sipai-po”. In fact, this term for SGH is so commonly used that most Singaporeans will know of it.

In Hokkien, the term “sipai-po” bears no direct translation of any kind to “Singapore”, “General” or “Hospital”. It is also not a colloquial bastardisation of the acronym “SGH”.

So what does “sipai-po” really mean?

Established in 1821, SGH was not founded at its present site at Outram Road.

Instead, Singapore’s oldest general hospital began its life in a military camp near Bras Basah Road and Stamford Road. It was nothing more than a wooden shed that treated both soldiers and civilians.

The hospital moved into different buildings at various locations from 1822 to 1882.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="683"] Photo from nas.gov.sg[/caption]

Before SGH occupied its present day location in Outram in 1882, however, the site was occupied by a garrison of troops from Bengal. These troops of Indian origin served the British in the defence of Singapore.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Photo from here[/caption]

They were known as sepoys, and their barracks were known as Sepoy Lines.

To Singapore’s early Chinese community, who would have mostly been living in the Chinatown settlement nearby, the area was known as “sipai-po”, meaning “sepoy plain” in Hokkien.

Old habits die hard and the name “sipai-po” stuck with the community, even after SGH took over the area.

So, that was how SGH got its unique Hokkien name.

Top photo from Wikipedia

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