The Koloniaal Verslag 1873 mentions the establishment of two houses in the kampongs of Bandaran and Sawahan (Soerabaija) with the purpose of inspection of prostitutes.

The NI Government established these houses on the 1st January 1872.

The vast category of hospitals for syphilis closed due to a drastic change in medical policies. This occurred in 1911, when the Civil Medical Service executed the recommendations of the Reorganization Commission of 1906 relating to the inspection and care of patients with syphilis. The Commission based its conclusion on the fact that there was no evidence that the financial means used for the inspection and the compulsory hospitalization of prostitutes had achieved a positive effect.
Internationally this kind of regulations had already been condemned in 1877, when the Congress held at Geneva pronounced: “La Section d’Hygiène constate le complet insucces de tous les systèmes de police des moeurs ayant pour but de règlementer la pros-titution…” In 1908, la France abolished its legal regulations concerning prostitution and the NI Government followed these international developments by abolishing the medical examinations of prostitutes by physicians from 1 March 1911. Consequently, from this date all the hospitals for women with syphilis were closed.