At beginning, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital was established in June 16,1957 under the premises of providing clinical training for its faculty and students, improving the welfare of the nation, providing health care and medical treatment for the general public, and facilitating medical research and development. Due to the lack of space at the time, some of KMU's classrooms doubled as the patient ward, and the outpatient clinic was actually conducted outside the hospital in rented civilian housing. Today, the stage-5 expansion will be finished by the end of 2002. In accordance to our upgrades in hospital equipment, we also strive to make the services itself more economic and enjoyable to our patients.

Due to the competitiveness, KMUH operates under efficiency and competency. Its performance has being highly appraised by the general public and the government agency, In 1979 the R.O.C. Ministry of Education and the of Health announced that KMU is the first class teaching hospital, in the rank with National Taiwan University Hospital, and Veterans General Hospital. Yet, KMUH is the private hospital without the funding from the government. Until 1985, KMUH had received such honor from the MOE medical evaluation, which took place every other year. In 1988, Department of Health followed to evaluate KMUH by the Medical Care Regulations . Once again, KMUH is reconfirmed to be a long-established medical center, one of four in the country, and the first in South Taiwan. With the solid foundation, KMUH will maintain the honor and its quality with the helps from all staff members.

KMUH was accredited by the Department of Health and the Ministry of Education as one of the regional teaching hospital in 1999. We installed the Digital Picture Archiving and Communication System, and became the first filmless hospital in Taiwan. We also won the first prize of National Biotechnology Development and Medical Care in 2000. March 2002, KMUH started to use MRI to promote the accuracy of clinical medicine and shorten the uncomfortable period for the patient; MRI is one of the best means detects seizures, strokes, and cancer. KMUH is one of the early hospitals to established Cancer Center in May. One of the unique qualities of the Cancer Center is to combine the related cancer information, to unify the identification of the cancer period, to report cancer treatment handbook, and to provide cancer patient with a complete service.

To coordinate with the Bureau of National Health Insurance's IDS project, KMUH started to use the Distance Medical Treatment System in June 2002. Through the audio-visual system, the doctors will be able to help the patients in rural areas. By the audio-visual system, doctors will be able to monitor the patients thus promote quality and efficiency of treatment and medical services.

With the challenges in the future, KMUH is never satisfied with our current achievements. Orienting towards our goal, KMUH works harder to cover not only the medical treatment but also the management of the national health. In the future, the medical concentration will be emphasizing in the local areas, enforcing the intra-department clinical medical treatment, maintaining the current medical network, and preparing for the national satellite medical system. Furthermore, to the medical network, KMUH is working toward the target goal of leading the South Taiwan Medical facilities, implementing international research cooperation, working together with the top medical universities in the U.S., Japan and Europe, and striving for being the top ranked medical centers in the world.