Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) started its service 1963 at the height of immigration from the Chinese mainland and huge population growth. At that time, it was managed by the Medical and Health Department of the Hong Kong Government. Over the next thirty years it became the major hospital in central Kowloon, and the centre of tertiary referral from all over Hong Kong. In 1991, the Hospital Authority (HA), a Statutory Body, was established. The HA took over the management of all public hospitals in Hong Kong in 1992. Since then, QEH was jointly managed by the Hospital Authority and her own QEH Hospital Governing Committee.