The historical past of healthcare in Chennai that is still untouched
One with the town: The Basic Hospital started functioning within the 1640s. It has been on the identical location for the reason that 1770s.
| Picture Credit score: V. Sriram
Final week noticed a really heart-warming occasion at IIT Madras. The Division of Medical Sciences and Know-how unveiled a collection of plaques commemorating among the nice medical practitioners of the town. Requested to present a short discuss on the medical historical past of Madras, I contemplated over what actually made Chennai such a medicare capital, which it undoubtedly is.
In contrast to the story of the authorized occupation within the metropolis, which may be very well-documented, medication stays untouched. And just like the historical past of the regulation, as and when healthcare is documented, the nice stars are sure to dominate the narrative. What has helped the previous is that the Excessive Court docket is an apex physique and so provides a spotlight when chroniclers such V.C. Gopalratnam or N.L. Rajah have taken up the duty. In medication, historical past stays scattered throughout a number of establishments, none of them identified for his or her archiving expertise, and of personal follow, there are even fewer information.
Broad phases
Throughout my discuss, I dwelt on just a few broad phases within the practically 4 centuries which have passed by. The primary two noticed a number of enduring establishments come up, all of which have survived until date. The Basic Hospital started within the 1640s, and has been on the identical location for the reason that 1770s. By the top of the 18th Century, we had the Institute of Psychological Well being after which the nineteenth Century noticed the start of the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, the Girls and Youngsters’s Hospital, and the Royapettah Hospital. It’s fascinating to notice that until the 1840s, Indians didn’t have entry to western medication and depended totally on native establishments practising forms of Indian medication. That meant Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani have flourished as effectively, and proceed to take action.
Extra Indian medical doctors
The institution of the Madras Medical School in 1835 introduced forth extra Indian medical doctors and that modified the composition of the occupation. By the 1840s, GH was open to Indian sufferers as effectively. By the late 1800s, the Victoria Caste and Gosha Hospital had come up as had the Raja Sir Savalai Ramaswami Mudaliar Mendacity-in Hospital in Royapuram, which within the Nineteen Thirties would turn into an adjunct of the Stanley Medical Hospital. These would propel girls into the medical occupation.
Early Twentieth Century was the period of Indian physicians and surgeons, most being generalists versus specialists. Many are nonetheless remembered. Western mannequin faculty training, open to all, led to the shedding of taboos, and the opening of programs for nurses and pharmacists (Madras was a pioneer on this) meant the event of assist techniques as effectively. By the mid-Twentieth Century, Madras had an enormous variety of specialists. They had been pioneers in ensuring authorities hospitals started departments devoted to particular areas of well being. The Perambur Railway Hospital put the town on the world map for cardio care. The organising of government-run and personal medical and nursing schools helped the momentum.
When late within the Twentieth Century, Apollo and Sankara Nethralaya got here up, every with its personal distinctive mannequin of offering healthcare, there was a thriving medical ecosystem already in existence. However these two establishments undoubtedly raised the bar of high quality to very excessive ranges, which the older establishments quickly had been fast to meet up with.
Function of govt. community
There was no trying again after that. Whereas personal hospitals deserve credit score, there isn’t any doubt that the huge government-run sturdy well being community has performed an extended function in making the town a medical centre. The place will the following push come from? Maybe within the collaboration between medication and expertise. Which is what this division at IIT specialises in.
(V. Sriram is a author and historian.)
