Flower delivery to
Obwalden Cantonal Hospital

The Obwalden Canton Hospital (KSOW) in Sarnen is the only hospital in the Obwalden Canton. It is an institution under public law. The KSOW ensures basic acute medical and psychiatric care for the population of Obwalden, as well as psychiatric care for the Nidwalden population.

As early as 1525, there was documented evidence of a Spittel on the Spitalmatte in Sarnen. The poor and needy were treated there. In 1850, the cantonal parliament decided to replace the Spittel with a new hospital and penitentiary. When the new hospital opened on January 22, 1856, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, today's Ingenbohler Sisters, came to Sarnen to take over the care of the patients. An expansion was planned from 1897 and was opened in 1911. Between 1954 and 1956 the hospital was expanded again. In 1972, the new hospital law brought, among other things, the change to the chief physician system: against the opposition of the general practitioners, chief physicians were hired for the first time to take over the hospital operations. In 1996, a new treatment wing costing 40 million francs was completed and the psychiatric clinic was opened.

The Obwalden Cantonal Hospital has 63 beds, all in single and double rooms in the new bed wing of the acute hospital that went into operation in 2014. In 2016, for the first time, over 4,000 patients were treated as inpatients and 40,200 outpatient consultations were carried out. The hospital has around 500 employees and is therefore ranked 57th in the list of the largest employers in Central Switzerland.