Politicians demand that KEM be renamed

MUMBAI: The demand for renaming King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital picked momentum on Saturday, as it was the 153rd birth anniversary of India’s first female doctor, Anandi Gopal Joshi. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) reiterated its demand, that the city’s biggest civic-run hospital, should be renamed after the US-trained medico. The MNS members sent a letter to Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar and Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta in which they asked civic officials to rename KEM hospital after Joshi. “On Saturday on the official twitter account of our party our leaders reiterated our demand to rename KEM hospital after Joshi in which they tagged the mayor and municipal commissioner,” said one of the members.

Terming her achievement "as tall as the Himalayas," the MNS offered tributes to her and urged the Brihan-Mumbai Municipal Corporation to rename its famed KEM Hospital in Parel as a befitting tribute to Joshi's memory. The 92-year old King Edward Memorial Hospital, run and largely funded by the BMC, has around 1,800 beds which offer virtually free treatment to lakhs of in-house and outpatients annually.

Joshi’s eventual success story is special, as she overcame great hardships to achieve her ambition of becoming a doctor. She however, could not fulfil her ultimate dream of setting up a medical college for women in India owing to her untimely demise.