A Study on the Operation and Institutional Character of the Chemulpo Women’s Dispensary
- Author:
Minkee HONG
1
Author Information
- Publication Type:Article
- From:Korean Journal of Medical History 2026;35(1):41-76
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
- Abstract: This study examines the establishment and operation of the Chemulpo Women’s Dispensary to clarify the patterns and historical character of women’s medical work in Incheon during the Japanese colonial period. Previous studies have made only fragmentary references to the fact that the dispensary was founded in 1921 by Rosetta S. Hall, without sufficiently addressing its practical operations or its relationship with the local community.The findings reveal that the Chemulpo Women’s Dispensary functioned not merely as an outcome of missionary expansion, but as a regional medical hub that filled a critical gap in specialised healthcare for women and children in colonial Incheon, where public hospitals were largely oriented towards the Japanese population. Its daily operations were not unilaterally directed by Western missionaries; rather, they were sustained through the continuous participation and medical practice of Korean female physicians. This process was closely connected to the formation of women’s social roles as modern medical professionals. Furthermore, the dispensary expanded its activities beyond general outpatient care to include infant welfare, prenatal care, itinerant medical services, and hygiene education, thereby promoting public health awareness and preventative medicine within the local community. Its institutional growth during the colonial period was underpinned by close collaboration with the Methodist Church, particularly through the organisation of support committees and the deployment of Bible Women, which together facilitated the construction of local networks of care.Although the dispensary’s formal operations were suspended under Japanese repression in the 1940s, it was reopened after liberation and has maintained historical continuity as the Incheon Christian Hospital. By examining the case of the Chemulpo Women’s Dispensary, this study elucidates the localisation of Christian women’s medical institutions and contributes to broadening regional perspectives within the historiography of modern Korean medicine and the history of women’s medicine.
