The Rotterdam Eye Hospital celebrates 150th anniversary

Rotterdam, Dec. 18, 2023 – 2024 will be a special year for The Rotterdam Eye Hospital from The Netherlands. The year marks the hospital’s 150th anniversary. To announce the start of the anniversary year, a large, festive bow has been hanging around the building since last weekend.

The upcoming anniversary year is all about events, reminiscing and looking ahead to the next 150 years. Among other things, the hospital will open its doors during Museum Night on March 2, a large group of doctors and staff will participate in the Rotterdam Marathon on April 14 to raise money for an eye hospital in Rwanda, and other festivities will take place including a large staff party.

Yvonne Koppelman, chairman of the board of directors of Het Oogziekenhuis: “Our reputation and quality is not built up overnight but has a long history. A history that goes back 150 years and for which we can be grateful. We could never have created the impact on the healthcare landscape in the Netherlands without the dedication of many enthusiastic colleagues but also thanks to many involved patients. Reason enough therefore to celebrate this together at Het Oogziekenhuis and together with our patients and local residents.”

The history of Het Oogziekenhuis Rotterdam goes back 150 years. In 1874, a hospital for eye sufferers opened its gates in Rotterdam. The hospital was founded by Dr. J.H. de Haas, a passionate doctor who practiced ophthalmology at a high level and to a great extent, providing much care to “impecunious” people in Rotterdam. Years later, in 1915, initiator Dr. van Moll opened a second eye hospital in Rotterdam. The bombing of Rotterdam in May 1940 put an abrupt end to both eye hospitals. This was the moment the two boards decided to join forces. Finally, a state-of-the-art eye hospital, by architect van der Steur, was opened in 1948. Under the leadership of directors Flieringa and Henkes, among others, the hospital developed further with the introduction of sub-specialties within ophthalmology that led to a great know-how development. In 1966 the medical faculty was established in Rotterdam, Het Oogziekenhuis received a university Department of Ophthalmology.

Still today, the vision of the founders is anchored in the hospital’s current culture;
Doing business with ambition, working hard and performing at the top level make that today Het Oogziekenhuis Rotterdam is known as the leading ophthalmology center in the Netherlands where patients can visit 24/7 from all over the Netherlands.

Read more about the history of Het Oogziekenhuis here.