It is affiliated with the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong and provides clinical attachment opportunities for HKU medical students.

The hospital was founded in 1922 (known then as The Yeung Wo Nursing Home) by a group of Chinese medical practitioners and residents of Hong Kong.

The nursing home had to be closed for some six months in order that the premises could be made habitable for admission of patients [citation needed].

Dr. Li Shu Fan, who had just returned to Hong Kong after serving as head of Kung Yee University Medical School in Canton, was chosen to lead the hospital in 1926.

It was under his leadership that the name of the nursing home was changed to its present form, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital.