[1] However, the institution was officially ratified on 21 December, 1776, when the Jamaica Assembly passed an Act (17 Geo.

Initially, KPH only treated patients from Jamaica’s white population, while the black slave population were treated on sugar plantations in what was then referred to as "hot houses" until emancipation in 1838, after which they began to be accepted by the hospital.

Originally, KPH was designed as an almshouse as well as a hospital, and later became a mental asylum.

However, the asylum was relocated to Rae Town, St Andrew in 1850, where it eventually became the Bellevue Hospital.

Additionally, the hospital performs approximately 90,000 surgical procedures annually.