Our Milestones

National University Centre for Women and Children (NUWoC)

2023-2024

• The Department of Paediatric Surgery is the first in Singapore to perform innovative pneumovesical laparoscopic surgical procedures, led by Dr Nyo Yoke Lin. This complex and scarless surgery replaces traditional open surgery by inserting instruments through the urinary passage to operate within the bladder, offering a minimally invasive alternative.

2020

• The Paediatric Liver Transplant programme, in collaboration with the National University Centre for Organ Transplant (NUCOT), was recognised by the International Liver Transplant Society as the only paediatric programme in Singapore. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme sustained its transplant numbers and outcomes.

2015

• Singapore’s first paired kidney exchange transplant is performed. 

2014

• NUH performs a hyper-reduced liver graft transplanted from a living donor to the youngest paediatric patient in Singapore.

2012

• The paediatric bone marrow transplant centre becomes the first in Asia to be accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy.

2010

• Singapore's first double organ (kidney and liver) transplant is performed, led by E/Prof Prabhakaran Krishnan.
• The Centre for Reproductive Education and Specialist Training (CREST) was established, providing specialised training and education for healthcare professionals to meet the growing demands for fertility treatments in the Asia Pacific region.

2009-2011

• Under the guidance of international experts such as Prof John Meehan and Prof Craig Peters, the first and second paediatric robotic surgeries were completed in Singapore.

2008

• Southeast Asis’s first robotic surgery for gynaecologic cancer is performed, setting a new standard in precision and recovery.

2001

• NUH and SGH performs the world's first successful cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor, saving the life of a 5-year-old with thalassemia major. 

1997

• Southeast Asia's first 'split liver' transplant is successfully carried out. A 'split liver' transplant involves dividing a donor's liver into two parts for transplant into two recipients.
• The first implantation of a zona-free blastocyst is successfully performed for a couple who had eight prior failed IVF attempts, leading to the birth of a healthy baby.

1996

• The Department of Paediatrics performs NUH's first matched-unrelated donor marrow transplant. 
• Singapore's first living-related liver transplant is successfully performed on an 18-month-old boy.

1995

• Singapore's first transplant using reduced graft is performed, where an adult liver is surgically reduced for transplant into a child, led by E/Prof Prabhakaran Krishnan and E/Prof Quak Seng Hock. 

1994

• The first deceased-donor kidney transplant is performed on a 10-year-old patient. 
• Prof Ariff Bongso and his team at the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology pioneered the isolation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC). hESC lines were later recognised by the US Government and the National Institutes of Health as an asset for federal research, marking a major advancement in stem cell therapy.

1991

• Singapore's first paediatric liver transplant is performed at NUH.
• Under the guidance of Prof Ariff Bongso, A/Prof Fong Chui Yee made a groundbreaking discovery with the human tubal co-culture technique, allowing embryos to be cultured for up to five days. The first baby conceived through this method was born in this year. 

1990

• The Department of Neonatology becomes the first to use high frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) successfully in the ASEAN region. With this method, our doctors are in a better position to treat newborns with severe lung disease who, without HFOV, would either not have lived or have sustained severe lung injury.

1989

• E//Prof Prabhakaran Krishnan’s pioneering work culminates in Singapore’s first successful paediatric living-related kidney transplant.
• The world’s first baby conceived via Micro-Insemination Sperm Transfer (MIST) is born, offering new hope to couples struggling with fertility.
• The Paediatric Renal Replacement Porgramme (PRRP) is officially established to provide optimal and individualised treatment for paediatric kidney patients in Singapore.
• The Department of Paediatrics establishes molecular and prenatal diagnosis for alpha-thalassemia and for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, a significant breakthrough for the department. This new technology in gene mapping for both disorders is the first to be recorded in the country and Southeast Asia. This allows the department to offer screening in many other genetic diseases by PCR, namely Spinal Muscular Atrophy, haemophilia, marfans syndrome, C6PD deficiency and retinoblastoma.

1988

• Southeast Asia's first genetic screening programme  thalassemia is introduced, enabling early detection and management of these conditions.
• Together with NUH's Division of Human Genetics, the Department of Paediatrics is the first team in Singapore and the region to successfully apply the highly sophisticated technique of gene mapping of the prenatal diagnosis of Bart's hydrops — a condition which is fatal in-utero or shortly after birth.
• Singapore's first coordinated automated peritoneal dialysis programme for children with end-stage kidney failure is established, enabling home-based treatment and a normal active life for young patients. 

1987

• The Department of Paediatrics establishes the globin chain analysis for the diagnosis of beta-thalassemia, accomplishing the first prenatal diagnosis of a carrier.
• Singapore's first successful arterial switch operation on the transposition of the great arteries is performed on a two-week-old baby with a complicated congenital heart disease.

1986

• Asia's first frozen embryo programme was launched, which allowed fertilised eggs to be preserved and transferred at an optimal time. A year later, a set of twins was successfully born, making a breakthrough in IVF technology. 
• Asia's first baby conceived via Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer (GIFT), performed by Prod PC Wong, was born, marking another advancement in assisted reproductive technologies.
• NUH is the first hospital in Singapore to introduce the technique of Percutaneous Transluminal Balloon Valvuloplasty, an alternative non-surgical technique used to treat congenital valvar pulmonary stenosis. 
• The Paediatric Neuroscience is established, allowing doctors to perform neurodiagnostic tests such as electroencephalography, nerve conduction studies and electromyography for infants and children.

1985

• The neonatal ward opens with 10 cots, equipped with high technology equipment to ensure efficient care of babies. 
• The Neonatal Unit begins cord blood congenital hypothyriodism screening. This enables the diagnosis and treatment of asymptomatic newborns within two weeks of life.
  

1983

• Singapore's first successful paediatric bone marrow transplant is performed, led by E/Prof Wong Hock Boon and E/Prof Quah Thuan Chong.
• Baby Samuel, the first IVF baby in Asia is born, marking the region's first successful IVF pregnancy.

1964

• E/Prof Wong Hock Boon identifies the link between hyperbilirubinemia, kernicterus and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency in newborns. His pioneering G6PD deficiency screening using cord blood has nearly eliminated deaths and permanent disabilities caused by severe neonatal jaundice and kernicterus in Singapore.

1960

• Prof Benjamin Sheares publishes his groundbreaking research on the internationally-recognised Sheares Neovaginoplasty technique in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. It is a life-changing surgical technique he had invented to correct vaginal birth defects in females.