On the quarter-millennial anniversary of the Madras General Hospital

Abstract

The General Hospital (GH) of Madras (presently Chennai) grew out of a hospital intended for the personnel attached to the Madras army—a Military Hospital (MH)—established within the Fort St George in 1664. Although the GH grew out of this MH, its relocation at its present Périamét (then known as Narimédu, Hog’s Hill) site in 1772, bearing the name ‘General Hospital’ marks its 250th anniversary in 2022. From being MH that serviced the ‘white’ residents of Madras, it opened to locals in 1899. In 2011, it was renamed as the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Today, it has grown into a stunning medical facility in India treating about 12 000 patients a day. We chronicle the growth of the MH into the GH. Notable that the first formally conducted medical forensic examination in the whole of India occurred in this facility in August 1693, when this institution was MH. Surgeon Samuel Browne’s erroneous dispensation of a medication resulted in the death of James Wheeler, a prominent English-East India Company (EEIC) civil servant in Madras. Following an order to execute an investigation by the Governor, Fort St George, an autopsy of the body of Wheeler was carried out by Surgeon Edward Bulkley. Further to referring to such landmark historical details of early time segments of the MH and GH, we briefly refer to the remarkable medical work of Charles Donovan, William Niblock and Mysore Ramaswami Guruswami Mudaliar, who worked at the GH in the early decades of the 20th century.

Public hospitals in Madras and people associated with them

“…This is a follow-up article of the one on the Madras General Hospital. 1 Here, we chronicle the events and developments in the other major public health facilities in Madras town, of which the early lock and naval hospitals are extinct. Because people and edifices cannot be separated in historical chronicles, we have also referred to a few key people, who contributed by setting milestones in this context.…”

Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic Hospital

“…With large number of British soldiers contracting keratoconjunctivitis during the period of the Napoleonic battle at Abu Qir and civilians suffering from cataract and influenza-related ophthalmia, Moorfields Eye Hospital was established in London in 1805 as the first dedicated eye hospital in the world. [ 1 ] It was not long before a similar need was felt owing to the rising eye problems among soldiers of the Madras Army. The Madras Eye Infirmary was conceived at Fort St. George, where the Board of Directors, at the suggestion of Dr. Benjamin Travers, the British ophthalmic surgeon and health advisor to the East India Company, decided to establish an eye hospital modeled in the lines of Moorfields.…”

“…It was born in July 1819 in Royapettah, near the old Madras Club, with Dr. Robert Richardson as the first superintendent. [ 1 ] Dr. Richardson was a student of Dr. Travers and was serving as an assistant surgeon in Madras Medical Service from 1905. [ 1 ]…”

“…[ 1 ] Dr. Richardson was a student of Dr. Travers and was serving as an assistant surgeon in Madras Medical Service from 1905. [ 1 ]…”

“…The diseases being treated at that time included amaurosis, incipient and Morgagnian cataracts, acute, chronic, and suppurative ophthalmias, corneal ulcers, nebula, albugo, and nightblindness. [ 1 , 2 ] In 1820, it moved to a tramshed in Egmore and was renamed Egmore Eye Hospital, one that has stuck to it and is fondly remembered by many. In 1884, it shifted again, and this time to its final location, the Marshalls Road of yesteryears.…”