The hospital was fully rehabilitated in 2020–2021 for use as an isolation facility for severe COVID-19 cases during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and was the site of Timor-Leste's first death from the virus.

[1] The hospital's site in Lahane [de] was selected for its elevated location and healthy climate, in contrast to the malarial conditions of central Dili.

[1] In 1892, the colony's public works department under Governor Cipriano Forjaz began planning to reconstruct the hospital, the condition of which had deteriorated since its construction three decades earlier.

[2][3] Construction began under Forjaz's successor, José Celestino da Silva, and, being funded entirely from local sources, took several years to complete.

[2] However, heavy bombardment during this period, including a strike on the isolation ward by an Australian air raid, left the hospital heavily damaged.

[12] Dias stated that the military "asked the hospital laboratory for sulfuric acid, but their apprehension about the noise from the victims' cries made them abandon the idea.

"[12] Instead, Dias claimed, they gave each of the injured a white pill with a glass of water, after which the victims gradually lost strength and their breathing weakened.

[12] Dias named two civilian staff, Chico and Araujo, and two Indonesian soldiers, Pamabas and hospital director Dr. Nyoman Winyata, as the distributors of the pills.

[12] Resistance leader José Ramos-Horta said the bodies of injured who died at the Lahane Hospital were dumped in two mass graves at Tibar, west of Dili.

[12] Stahl then published a photograph, captured previously by a Japanese television crew, which showed Dias and Winyata working at the hospital in their official capacities.

[12] During the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) period from 1999 to 2002, the hospital was administered by a Portuguese government mission.

[6] In 2011, the Council of Ministers approved a resolution granting a long-term lease to an Australian health organization to restore and operate the hospital.

[4][7] The new institution, to be named the Hospital of Hope, planned to offer "pre- and post-operative care" and provide training to Timorese healthcare professionals by Australian and other foreign staff.

[20] The hospital was fully refinished with new floors and ceilings, repaired and repainted walls, oxygen connections to each room, an air conditioning system, and interior electricity.

[23][24] In July 2024, the Ministry of Health announced that the new Lahane Cardiac Center (LCC) would begin providing heart disease treatment in November that year.

[16] The Lahane Cardiac Center (LCC), located at the hospital, has a critical heart failure ward, inpatient and emergency services, and a pharmacy.