I'm an American expat who lives in this neighborhood. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I…read moream only now visiting this museum. My expectation was kind of a 3 going in, but definitely a solid 4 coming out.
What makes this place a 4 on Yelp?
1) Although most likely only for a limited time, they have a special exhibition of "3D Human Body." Totally kid friendly and educational. Mostly all things in print on the walls (pictures and words), but interesting none the less. The exhibition ends with a small area that showcases the SARS outbreak of 2003 and how it was identified and eradicated. Kind of interesting as an outsider who was aware when this happened, but knew the global reach this had.
2) Dating back to 1906 as the Government Bacteriological Institute, how great to see an old building that has not been knocked down to build a residential complex.
3) Plague, SARS, bacterias, infectious diseases, epidemics, sanitation issues,...kind of gross, but also like a car wreck...you don't want to look, but you have to! The history or these kinds of outbreaks here in Hong Kong (actually right in this neighborhood!) over the last 100+ years is outlined and showcased here at this facility, where they once were focusing on research, public health improvements, medical advances, etc.
4) Zhang Yanzi is an artist who is from mainland China (represented by Ora-Ora gallery) who was on special display during my visit. Very cool, merging art and medicine, really great contemporary art that is a good fit on topic and size for the space of the museum. Kind of neat to have the old and the new of this museum merged under the same roof.
5) From the top floor to the basement, they have loads of old school medical equipment on display. From an operation table from 100 years ago to the original lab table they used, it is kind of cool that all this stuff was preserved.
6) This is not your average museum. It is small compared to many and definitely a unique topic, but really kind of cool. There are only around 30 medical museums on the planet. How cool that there is one right here in HK!
For $20HKD per adult, you will learn something new. I did not expect to find this all so interesting, but I did.