Opening St. Mary’s Hospital

The establishment of Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital was first discussed while planning the commemoration of the "100th anniversary of the establishment of the Diocese of Joseon" on September 6, 1930. The Maintenance Foundation of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul purchased Murakami Hospital, which was operated by Japanese, located at 39 Beonji, 1 Jeongmok, Gyungseong-bu (currently 38 Beonji, Jeodong 1-ga, Jung-gu) on March 11, 1935. After receiving permission to establish a hospital on April 18, 1935 and repairing and renovating Murakmi Hospital for a year, the historic St. Mary's Hospital opened on May 11, 1936 with Bishop Larribea's benediction ceremony being held on May 1, 1936.

At the time of opening, the hospital had 538 pyeong of surface area, 335 pyeong of floor space, and 24 beds (including infectious disease rooms), outpatients’ section, pharmacy and laboratory were installed. In particular, on the second floor, an oratorium similar to the hospital priest room of today was installed as a Catholic medical institution feature.

The medical staff consisted of four doctors (Park Byeong-rae, Yoon Kun-hee, Ma Hung-ryong, and Lee Heung-bae), one Japanese pharmacist, and 10 nurses (including nine nuns belonging to the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres). The main medical treatment topics were internal medicine and pediatrics. Dr. Park Byung-rae, who was a university lecturer at the Department of Internal Medicine at Kyungsung Imperial University, was appointed as the first president of the hospital.

The name "St. Mary's Hospital' was made official on July 3, 1935 as proposed by Dr. Park Byeong-rae, the hospital president and agreed upon by Father Yoon Hyung-joon, president of Kyunghyang magazine publishing company, although Bishop Larribea, head of Kyungsung Diocese and chairman of the board, proposed Haesung.

Considering that there were only 5 Catholic medical institutions in addition to 10 Siyaksos in the country in 1936, the opening of St. Mary's Hospital marked the establishment of the first official Catholic hospital in Korea.

The average number of daily visiting patients in 1936 was 15, but after only one year, in 1937, the number increased to 60, which proved the high reliability of Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital at that time. In 1937, Ultratereum, considerably expensive equipment at the time, was purchased at 2,000 won, and there were also plans to expand the entire hospital.

At Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital, a lot of poor patients were taken care of since the hospital opening. In 1940, the hospital began full-scale charitable care (called a charity ward at that time). On September 23, 1946, the hospital acquired Sato Hospital, a private hospital, located at 1 Beonji, Jeodong 2-ga, and practiced charity medical treatment and helped long-term patients.

In 1964, a new charity clinic with a surface area of 318 pyeong, a floor space of 324 pyeong, 4 stories, a basement floor, and 32 beds was built beside the Industrial Disaster Hospital, and operating a leprosy research institute and an outpatient clinic. In 1966, they were transferred to the second affiliate St. Joseph Hospital, and continued their charity treatment. At that time, allocating charity treatment beds to Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital and Gangnam St. Mary's Hospital are changed at the same time as Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital moved to Yeouido because of the CMC charity treatment division reorganization, and the isolated building for charity treatment was closed down.

In 1942, when the Japanese military plot to use the Jesus Sacred Heart School of Theology, located at 1 Beonji, 4 Jeongmok, Wonjeong, as barracks, Bishop Rho Gi-nam, the head of Kyungsung Diocese, opened a parish council to transfer students to the Dukwon Seminary in Wonsan, Hamgyeong-do and it was decided to open a branch of Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital at the school building. After one year's construction from the spring of 1943, the branch was opened with 1,295 pyeong of surface area, 429 pyeong of floor space, 18 hospital rooms and 35 beds in May after the benediction ceremony of Bishop Rho Gi-nam on April 29, 1944. The branch hospital consisted of one doctor (Kwon Ui-jeong - deputy president), six nuns, and six nurses, all of whom treated mainly internal medicine and pediatrics. The average number of inpatients per day was 30, while the number of outpatients was 50.