On arrival, he found that his predecessor Jan Karel van den Broek had been devoting much of his energies into production of a Japanese-Dutch/Dutch-Japanese dictionary, and acting as technical advisor on a wide range of engineering and technical questions, rather than concentrating on medicine or medical education. However, this provided Pompe van Meerdervoort with a foundation on which he was able to establish a school of western medicine on 12 November 1857.
Upon arrival, he found that his predecessor had been spending time on a Japanese-Dutch/Dutch-Japanese dictionary and acting as a technical advisor on various engineering and technical matters instead of focusing on medicine or medical education. This allowed Pompe van Meerdervoort to establish a school of western medicine on November 12, 1857.