[1][3] In the early 1890s, the Agri-Horticultural Gardens and the Phayre Museum occupied the present site of Yangon General Hospital.

[citation needed] The main building was designed by the head of the Public Works Department, Henry Hoyne-Fox, and construction started in 1904 and took five years to complete.

[5] It was fitted with all the latest modern medical improvement at that time, including operating theatres with electricity and anesthesia rooms.

It also housed the country's first bacteriological laboratory, through which several contributions to global medical science were made during the early 20th century.

[1] The building was a major massacre site during the 8888 Uprising, in which injured patients, assumed to have taken part in the anti-government protests, were killed by the Tatmadaw.