A historical outline of the development of Hand Surgery in Singapore is presented. It traces its growth from the Orthopaedic Surgery Unit at General Hospital Singapore in the early 1950's, to the present times. During this period, the Singapore Society of Hand Surgery was established in 1982, the Department of Hand Surgery at the Singapore General Hospital in 1985 and the Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery Department was officially established at the National University Hospital in 1990.