Taiwan Governor-General Tainan Hospital (now MOHW Tainan Hospital)

The Taiwan Governor-General Tainan Hospital (臺灣總督府臺南醫院) traces its origins to November 1895, when the Japanese military established the Tainan Civil Administration Branch (臺南民政支部) shortly after taking control of Taiwan. Medical services were initially provided by Imperial Japanese Army physicians operating out of a military bureau within the branch office, which was housed in the former Qing Dynasty circuit intendant's office (巡道署). This marked the beginning of modern Western-style public medicine in Tainan.

In March 1896, following the promulgation of the Taiwan Governor-General's local government regulations, the medical facility was formally reorganized as the Tainan Hospital (臺南病院) in May 1896. At this early stage, the outpatient clinic operated within the Tainan Prefecture offices, while inpatients had to be transferred to the Tainan Garrison Hospital (臺南衛戍病院) at Chihkan Tower (赤崁樓). In 1898, the colonial government restructured all prefectural hospitals under direct Governor-General authority, and the facility became the Taiwan Governor-General Tainan Hospital — the earliest large public modern hospital in Tainan.

Throughout the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945), the hospital played a central role in Japan's modernization of Taiwan's public health infrastructure. It served as both a civilian hospital and a training ground for Taiwanese medical professionals, contributing to campaigns against tropical diseases such as malaria, plague, and cholera that had long afflicted the island. The hospital also supported the colonial government's public sanitation programs that dramatically improved life expectancy in Taiwan during this period.

During World War II, as Allied bombing campaigns intensified over Taiwan in 1944, the hospital suffered significant damage from air raids. The destruction was severe enough that the outpatient department was forced to temporarily relocate to Xinlou Hospital (新樓醫院), and branch medical facilities were established in Yongkang (永康) and Xinhua (新化) districts to maintain medical services for the population. The hospital continued treating both military casualties and civilian victims of the air raids throughout the final years of the war.

Following Japan's surrender in August 1945, the hospital was taken over by the Republic of China administration in November 1945 and renamed Taiwan Provincial Tainan Hospital (臺灣省立臺南醫院). Reconstruction of war-damaged structures began in 1948, costing approximately 340,000 old Taiwan dollars, of which about 126,000 came from the provincial administration and about 214,000 from American aid funds. A major expansion came in 1976 with the completion of a nine-story clinical tower, and the main entrance was relocated from Chenggong Road to Zhongshan Road. The institution was transferred to direct administration under the Department of Health in 1999, and in 2013 was renamed the Ministry of Health and Welfare Tainan Hospital (衛生福利部臺南醫院), the name it carries today. With over 128 years of continuous operation, it stands as one of the oldest hospitals in Taiwan and a living testament to the island's colonial medical history.