King Edward Memorial Hospital(Mumbai )

Description

Founded in 1926 the Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College GSMC and the King Edward Memorial KEM Hospital are amongst the foremost teaching and medical care providing institutions in India The medical college school provides training to about 2000 students in undergraduate postgraduate and superspeciality medical courses in undergraduate and postgraduate physical and occupational therapy Masters and PhD courses in various allied specialties A nursing school is also maintained by these institutions

With about 390 staff physicians and 550 resident doctors the 1800 bedded hospital treats about 18 million outpatients and 85000 inpatients annually and provides both basic care and advanced treatment facilities in all fields of medicine and surgery

Funded mainly by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai these institutions render yeomen service virtually free of cost mostly to the underprivileged sections of the society

History

Modern medicine was introduced to India by the Europeans With the foundation of the Grant Medical College in Bombay in 1845 the native citizens of the presidency were given an opportunity to study western medicine from some outstanding teachers The college soon gained a worldwide reputation and its founderprincipal Dr Charles Morehead was invited to help the University of London in formulating its programme for medical education

Towards the end of the century the old order represented by Sir Robert Grant Dr Charles Morehead and Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy was replaced by officers of the Indian Medical Service IMS who far from encouraging the best talent of the college maintained their hold on the prestigious professorial posts After much hesitation a few nonclinical professorial posts were opened to nonIMS Indians and Dr Y G Nadgir was the first to be appointed to a chair Anatomy The fact that an IMS officer would be professor ofmateria medica one year and teach obstetrics and gynaecology the next underlined the unwillingness of the authorities to give opportunities to capable Indians

Nationalist Indians strove to correct this imbalance Among them was Dr K N Bahadurji the first Indian to obtain the coveted MD degree of the University of London When he was denied the post of Professor of Medicine at the Grant Medical College an IMS officer holding only the Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians diploma LRCP being appointed instead he advocated the establishment of a new medical college staffed by Indians that would break the monopoly of the IMS He placed the idea before Sir Pherozshah Mehta the lion of Bombay and other members of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Dr Bahadurji died on 15 August 1898 before his plans could materialize

GENESIS AND FOUNDATION In 1907 under the Police Charges Act the work of medical relief within the city of Bombay was entrusted to the Municipal Corporation In 1909 an ad hoc committee of the corporation decided that the time had come for the Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College in 1925 Photo by Keshav M Godhia to be associated with the proposed hospital At the instance of Sir Pherozshah Mehta the donors also insisted that the professors and teachers to be employed should I all be properly qualified independent Indian gentlemen I not in government service The Municipality approached the Bombay Medical Union for a detailed scheme for the organization of the medical college and hospital Dr Jivraj Mehta just returned from London after obtaining an MDdegree was approached by the union He suggested a radical departure from the traditional design of teaching hospitals in India where isolated blocks housed separate departments Dr Mehta proposed that the entire medical college be housed in one large building and the hospital including the outpatient block in a separate building This would facilitate coordination between the various departments The two buildings were to be interconnected by covered corridors so that patients students and staff could easily go from one building to another during heavy monsoon rains The Seth GSMedical College and KEM Hospital were the first multistoreyed institutions of their kind The KEM Hospital was the first Indian hospital housing the outpatient department within the main hospital building

The plans were submitted to WAPite who had designed the Kings College Hospital in London and was then a leading authority on hospital construction The local architect was GWittet In those days it was thought that if an architect happened to be an Englishman he was not only a fit person to draw up plans for a hospital but also to select its equipment Wittet drew up a long list of equipment to be imported from England including even ordinary beds for the wards lockers and mobile screens

The equipment committee consisting of Dr Rustom Cooper Dr PTPatel and ColHamilton insisted on obtaining most items from Bombay Wittet strongly expressed his resentment but was disregarded When the hospital and the college were formally inaugurated on 22 January 1926 Wittet was presented a gold cigarette cas 5 by the Governor of Bombay Sir Leslie Orme Wilson in appreciation of his services In the very first week however a large piece of the plastered ceiling of the operation theatre came down and within the first fortnight the tiled floor cracked The total cost of construction of the hospital was Rs2527699 and that of the college Rs 1364574

In making the first appointments to the staff the Municipal Corporation was largely guided by Dr G V Deshmukha very active member of the corporation and also a big noise in the profession Cooper Dr Jivraj Mehta was elected Dean of the college and hospital The first batch of teachers included DrMDDGilder Dr PCBharucha Dr ASErulkar Dr P T Patel Dr G V Deshmukh DrRNCooper Dr VLParmar DrNA Purandare DrVRKhanolkar and DrBBYodhwho according to Dr Jivraj Mehta were individuals of the highest capability and deepest integrity There was a great bond of striving towards a common aim ensuring a brilliant success for these institutions Remember these were the first medical institutions in the country staffed by Indians at the professorial and other levels and there was a great sense of pride in all of us

The list of members of the staff in 1926 shows their designations as Honorary surgeon and lecturer in surgeryHonorary physician and lecturer in medicine and so on Dr Rustom Cooper explained

King Edward VII Memorial Hospital Photo by Dr JayeshBMehta

Seth GSMedical College The first batch of students with members of the staff 1925

To ensure smooth working some departures from accepted policies were instituted It was the usual practice in hospitals to have surgeons in order of seniority The senior surgeon became ipsofacto professor of surgery The surgeons at the KEM Hospital decided differently It was resolved to drop the high sounding title of professor and call the surgeons just lecturers It must be said to the credit of Drs G V Deshmukh and A PBacha that though they had a senior standing in the profession they agreed to this arrangement This plan was accepted by all the other departments and has been responsible for the great fellow feeling that has always prevailed Many heartaches and petty jealousies were thus averted

Part of the success was also due to the extraordinary qualities of DrJivraj Mehta 1 would come over to the hospital in the middle of the night keep my car outside the hospital compound so that no one knew in advance of my presence and moved about the hospital entering the wards through the servants staircase to check for myself that no one on duty misused his time I preferred using the small winding staircases near the toilet blocks so that I could check on the sanitary facilities Call books were checked regularly and doctors not attending within a reasonable period were disciplined I would taste the patients food from time to time and walk into the students hostel and residents quarters at midnight to see how they lived and worked

Development
The Seth GS Medical College the twelfth medical college in the country opened its doors on I June 1925 to 46 students six of them women The formal opening followed the next year and it was affiliated to the University of Bombay The hospital with 125 beds started admitting patients on 15 January 1926

Both the medical College and the hospital quickly gained a reputation and patients were attracted in large numbers The demand for more beds led to a progressive expansion of the hospital Table I shows the growth of hospital services

most patients are poor the Municipal Corporation tried to provide hospital services free of charge But increases in costs over the past decades have made it necessary to recover some of the expenses from those who could afford to pay

There has also been an increase in the number of students joining the medical college Table II The establishment of the school of nursing in 1927 the first school of occupational therapy in India by Mrs Kamala V Nimbkar in 1950 and that of physiotherapy in 1953 made it possible for students to get training in these paramedicadisciplines The ECI Institute of electrophysiology was added to the school of physiotherapy in 1974

HONORARIES AND FULL TIMERS Initially the institutions adopted the dual system of teachers in keeping with the British pattern

Anatomy physiology pathology pharmacology preventive and social medicine were taught by fulltime teachers Whereas medicine surgery obstetrics gynaecology and other clinical subjects were taught by individuals who worked parttime for the institutions on an honorarium and were hence termed honoraries The honoraries being outstanding clinicians earned their living from their private practice They spent most of their working hours in the college and hospital The quothonoraryquot system worked very well at that time as the number of students and patients were small
Dr Jivraj Mehta sought to stimulate research as soon as the institutions started working smoothly Besides obtaining funds for research from external agencies Dr Mehta approached the honoraries who had lucrative practices He received generous contributions from Drs PC Bharucha MDDGilder N APurandare and Rustom Cooper DrMehtas account of the attitude of IMS officers towards applications for grants from Indian doctors is revealing It was necessary to approach Sir Walter Fletcher adviser to the Government of India on medical research to improve the situation Incidentally it was Dr Jivraj Mehta who insisted that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences should be located in New Delhi instead of DehraDun as advised by the Fletcher Committee

As the number of patients and students progressively increased it became difficult for honoraries to devote sufficient time to their wards teaching and research The situation was worsened by competition in private practice Barring a few exceptions thehonorariesquot found themselves unable to do justice to their three responsibilities

Achievements
The achievements of the institutions that hit the national headlines or won awards such as the Lasker or Padma Bhushan include the contribution on Rauwolfia serpentina by Dr Rustom Jal Vakil the first heart transplant in India by Dr PKSen and the first documented Indian testtube baby by Dr Indira Hinduja

The major contribution was made towards the development of a good system of undergraduate and postgraduate education the creation of a system where the poor can obtain good and free medical care and the creation of an ethos of service

Problems
With limited financial resources it is becoming difficult to meet everyday requirements and it has not been financially possible to acquire modern equipment such as a computerized tomographic scanner The staff feel discriminated against in the allotment of fellowships equipment gifted by foreign governments and grants from international health organizations Moreover because of commercialism there is a danger of our work ethos being eroded The harmony among members of the staff is under strain resulting in the neglect of patient care student education and research

King Edward VII Memorial Hospital The first batch of students with members of the staff 1928

Assistant Dean and Assistant Medical Officers Quarters
Nurses Home
Lady Students Hostel
Haffkine Institute
Nowrosiee Wadia Maternity Hospital
Bai jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children
Cancer Research Institute
Tata Memorial Hospital
Turner Sanatorium
Ramesh Pramchand Tuberculosis HofpiMteSuwrt
Bai Sakerbai Petit Hospital for Animals
Veterinary College
Cardio Vascular and Thoracic Center
Institute For Research in Reproduction
Seth Dhurmal Bajaj Orthopaedic Center and Research Institute
The Central Vaccination Dept Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital
campus

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE The struggle to remain in the forefront of Indian medicine however continues A recently constructed twelvestoreyed building houses new departments and has allowed some old ones to expand The present orthopaedics centre is to be converted into a convalescent centre A facility for producing blood products that will meet our most complex needs is being evolved An intensive care unit for patients with serious neurological diseases is being planned Preventive and Social Medicine are also being applied to new areas

Epilogue
In their sixtysecond year these institutions continue to play important roles in medical education and patient care Students can register for training in every branch of medical science The teachers are qualified and recognized as guides for all diplomas and degrees offered by the University of Bombay and other academic licensing bodies Patients from all over India are attended to by residents and consultants in departments ranging from dermatology to psychiatry and neurosurgery to proctology Several departments have gained national renown We hope the enviable past of these institutes will flow into a promising future

Suggested Reading
Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College and King Edward VII Memorial Hospital Silver Jubilee Souvenir 22 January 1926 22 January 1951 Editor NandkumarHKeswani 1951

Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital Golden Jubilee Souvenir 22 January 1926 22 January 1976 Editors SMBhatnagar M LKothari 1976

Seth GS Medical College and KFM Hospital Handbook Editors S M Bhatnagar M L Kothari LopaA Mehta 1980

Annual Administrative Reports of the KEM Hospital and Seth G S Medical College published by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay