Founded as a drug rehabilitation clinic in 1869 by the British Church Missionary Society,[1]: 35–36  it is one of the oldest hospitals in Zhejiang to offer Western medicine and one of the leading medical centres in China.

The hospital became popular under Main's leadership and expanded in 1883 with a leper colony, an orthopedic surgery, a tuberculosis clinic and the Hangchow Medical Training College.

[3] By the time Main retired in 1926, the hospital had expanded to have 500 beds, 3 surgery rooms, and hosted around 4,000 in-patients per year.

[7] The anti-imperialism movement led to personal attacks upon Main and a populist appeal for nationalising his hospital.

Gao Zhihang, the first Chinese pilot to shoot down Japanese aeroplane, was treated in the hospital on 15 August 1937.

[11] Initiated by Sturton, mediated by the diplomat representatives of the UK, France and the US in Shanghai, the Chinese and Japanese authorities agreed not to open fire within the city of Hangzhou.

[11][13][14] On the evening of 8 December 1941, the Japanese army invaded the hospital, after Japan declared war upon the US and the UK.

On the afternoon of 11 November 1942, Sturton was arrested by the Japanese army and sent to a concentration camp in Shanghai.

[4] The second batch of Chinese medical team for the Korean War was deployed in Nanxun, Zhejiang, where the hospital staff worked for a year and treated over 2,000 wounded soldiers from the battleground.

[4] The hospital also introduced the first CT scan and founded the first anesthesia quality control centre in Zhejiang.

In 2018, the hospital signed an agreement with the district government of Xiaoshan to set up a new branch in Shushan Subdistrict.

In December 2021, the centre was relocated to an ophthalmology-dedicated campus near Hangzhou Railway Station and is connected with Hangzhou Metro's Chengzhan station through Exit D. The new 8-floor eye hospital building is the largest in China, with an utilisable area of 50,000 square metres, which provides most of clinical care for eye diseases, yet the emergency care remains at Jiafanglu campus.

[21] It has 9 clinics on the Yuquan, Zijingang, Xixi, Huajiachi, Zhoushan, Haining and Zhijiang campuses of Zhejiang University, plus the residential areas of the Qiushi Community and Zijin Wenyuan.

The hospital treats 600,000 cases per year, with SAHZU experts to provide clinical diagnosis and surgical care every day.

Opened in March 2022, the campus is served by Mingxing Road station of Hangzhou Metro and several bus lines.

It is nationwide ranked 10th for general surgery, 10th for neurology, 10th for pulmonology, 4th for neurosurgery, 4th for cardiology, 4th for ophthalmology, 6th for traumatology, 7th for ultrasound medicine, 4th for emergency care, 4th for healthcare management.