BYL Nair Hospital to turn 100 next month
MUMBAI: “I have seen the college grow with time from a sapling to a fragrant tree. Hundred years ago, it was just a one-storey building with 20 beds which has now turned into a major civicrun hospital. Now, when I look at the towering building of the hospital, it gives me goosebumps,” said Dr Rustom Phiroze Soonawala, a 93-year-old alumnus (1948 batch) of Topiwala National Medical College and its associated BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, Mumbai Central.
On September 4, the hospital will turn a century old, holding testimonies of untold stories starting from the freedom movement, advancements in the field of medicine, and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, BYL Nair Hospital kick-started its month-long centenary celebrations with the inauguration of the genome sequencing machine by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Every day, the hospital records more than 2,000 patient footfalls at outpatient department (OPD). But very few know that this is the first hospital in the state that started with a nationalistic fervour, with the motto “For the Indians, By the Indians,” during the freedom movement in the 1920s.
As India was still under British rule, Indian students and doctors faced discrimination. Through donations from
Tilak Swaraj Funds, the National Medical College was established in a rented building of a pharmaceutical company in Byculla on September 4, 1921. As all medical colleges need to have a hospital to practice, People’s Free Hospital was set up at Chinchpokli with 20 beds. This laid the foundation of the first Indian medical college and hospital in the state.
“Four years later, in 1925, Dr AL Nair, proprietor of Powell and Company which dealt in medical supplies and equipment, donated two acres of land, on which the hospital stands today. He also helped the hospital with equipment,” said Dr Rajan Nerurkar, head of the pharmacology department.
Soon, the hospital faced a severe financial crunch. “It was during this time, MN Desai, popularly known as Topiwala Desai, made a generous contribution of ₹5 lakh to the college. This initiated the expansion plan of the medical college along with its hospital,” said Dr Henal Shah, head of the psychiatry department. “To honour him, the college was named ‘Topiwala National Medical College,” she added.
“Since then, we have come a long way. Now, we have 16 buildings on the campus with a 1,400bed hospital,” said Dr Rerurkar.
The hospital’s contribution during the Covid-19 pandemic is also phenomenal. It was the first hospital that was converted into a dedicated Covid hospital in Mumbai in April 2020.