The Government General Hospital, one of the premier Institutions in the country was started on 16th November 1664 as a small Hospital to treat the sick soldiers of the East India Company. It was the untiring inspired efforts of Sir Edward Winter who was the agent of the company that materialised in the first British Hospital at Madras.
In its early days the Hospital was housed at the Fort St. George and in the next 25 years grew into a formal medical facility. Governor Sir. Elihy Yale was instrumental in the development of the Hospital and gave it a new premises with in the Fort in 1690. The Hospital moved out of the Fort after the Anglo French War and it took 20 long years before it could settle in the present permanent place in 1772. By the year 1772 the Hospital was training Europeans, Eurasians and natives in allopathic methods of diagnosis and treatment and methods of preparing medicines. These trained personnel’s were posted to various dispensaries in the district head quarters of the then Madras Presidency to assist the qualified doctors. By 1820 the institution had the recognition as the model hospital of the East India Company. So in 1827 Dr. D.Mortimar was appointed as the Superintendent of the Hospital. A private medical hall run by Dr. Mortimar was regularised as a medical school and it was opened by Sir Fredrick Adams, the then Governor of Madras on 2nd February 1835. The Governor promulgated an order to make the school a state sponsored one and attached it to the General Hospital.
In 1842 the Hospital opened its doors to Indians. In the next two decades, the teaching staff had increased, the duration of the course extended and the curriculum was made comprehensive. Senior courses spanning 5 years was started and private people were also admitted for the first time in the institution. In the early part of 1850 the school council submitted proposals to the government to accord the status of a College. The Government granted this request and from 1st October 1850 it became Madras Medical College.
The first batch of students graduated in 1852 and were granted the Diploma of Graduate of the Madras
Medical College. In 1857, it gained affiliation to the University of Madras. After the affiliation in 1857 the College moved to be a center of excellence imparting training in all the specialities in the field of medicine and surgery and it is now one of the premier institutions in the country with under graduate, post graduate and super speciality courses.
The Courses offered by the Madras Medical College are affiliated from 1988 to the “The Tamilnadu Dr. MGR Medical University”
This College has nine affiliated institutions with hospitals, each one of them recognized for excellence in Health care services.
This College stands with pride for having produced Doyens in the field of Medicine and forget not that you have become a part of this great institution now
MADRAS MEDICAL COLLEGE
22nd August 1639 — Founding of Madras City
16th November 1664 — Govt. General Hospital was started by
Sir Edward Winter at the Fort St. George.
1772 — Govt. General Hospital moved to the present
Place. The Hospital started training personnel.
2nd February 1835 — Medical School has started and the General
Hospital was attached to it.
1st October 1850 — Medical School was named as Madras Medical
College
1857 — Affiliated to University of Madras
1875 — Mary Ann Dacomb Scharlieb was the first
women in the whole world to be admitted to
Medical College. Hence Madras Medical
College made a History.
She later started the Royal Victoria Hospital for
centre and Gosha women which is now named
Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital,
Triplicane, Chennai-5.
- — Three Indian Women got LMS
Abala Das, Rose Govindarajulu and Gurdia Sing
1912 — Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy was the first Indian
Women to get M.B.B.S from University of
Madras. She established to Cancer Institute of
Adyar.
1938 — Sir. Dr. A.L. Mudaliar – First Indian Principal
of Madras Medical College.
GOVERNMENT GENERAL HOSPITAL
Brief History
Surat was where the English established a trading post in 1600 and the next British settlement was in Machilipatnam. In both sick were tended in ships.
But it was only with the founding of madras in 1639 and the development of English township Fort St. George by 1640 the thought of building a hospital on land arose.
And so Madras got its first Western style hospital in 1664 due to the efforts of Sir Edward Winter the governor in a house in Fort St. George, the forerunner of the last Indian health system.
From the records, it is found that this hospital was founded during 1664 and subsequently turned into Garrison Hospital in 1814. During 1835, the hospital was developed towards the academic line and started the Medical School.
In 1842, the main building was constructed in the shape of capital letter “H”.
Simultaneously the Medical School was upgraded into Madras Medical College and started functioning from 1850.
As the number of patients grew the hospital was expanded and modernised to a great extent to between 1928 and 1938. Dr. A.L.Mudaliar who was appointed as the first Indian Principal of Madras Medical College said.
“The Madras General Hospital now presents an inspiring pile of buildings of which Madras may well be proud and which delights the eye of every professional visitor to this city”.
Since 1935 various departments were created and necessary buildings were constructed for accommodating the departments and the maintenance is being taken care of by the Public Works Department.
Since the main building was aged about 163years, it was found to be structurally unsafe and hence it was decided to dismantle the old building, and in its place, two magnificent tower blocks have been constructed at a cost of about Rs. 105 crores. They incorporate modern and latest facilities of patient friendly in kind, which are on par with some of the hi-tech multi-speciality corporate hospitals in Tamilnadu and Neighboring States.
The two Tower blocks are constructed with interconnecting facilities, spacious Corridor and high ceiling, spacious wards with modern facilities, spacious O.P. units, Modern operation theatres, central laboratories, etc. Various units are so arranged as to avoid criss-cross movement of patients for consultation, diagnosis, laboratories and treatment.
Some of the Structural Aspects and special features of the recently constructed Tower Blocks
The total Plinth area of Tower Block-I is 31559 sq.meter and Tower Block-II is 33304 sq.meter. Since Chennai comes under seismic zone III, the structure is designed considering the seismic forces. A framed structure with pile foundation is used in these superstructures. The Tower Blocks are constructed with structural glazing, Aluminium composite panel cladding and Novakote finish.
Ready Mix Concrete(RMC) in the Tower Blocks ensures required grade of concrete, speedy construction, control on water-cement ratio, environment friendly better finish of concrete due to pumpable mix, less segregation, better supervision of concrete and problems due to constrains of space at site is also totally eliminated. The ground level is raised upto 1.40m(4’7″) around these blocks so as to avoid water stagnation and to allow gravity flow of rainwater. Modern operation theatres have been constructed with special type of flooring, stainless steel wall cladding and stainless steel false ceiling. Three numbers of staircases and eight numbers of lifts are provided for each tower to have easy mobility. A ramp with access to all floors is also provided. A separate fire escape staircase and garbage disposal lift are provided at the rear side of the building.
Modern and scientifically designed lighting is provided for interior and exterior of the building. A 1000KVA generator with automatic main failure panel has been installed in building. A modern A.C. plant is installed to provide air conditioning arrangements to the needy parts of Tower Block I and II such as operation theatres, ICU’s,IMCU’s,blood bank,special wards. A modern Digital EPABX system has been installed with battery power backup.’
