Historical Bankipore General Hospital building part of PMCH, Patna to be saved

 The Bihar state government's  proposal to demolish the  96 year old  Bankipore General Hospital building  and other structures  situated on Ashok Rajpath  Patna  had sent a shock wave among the  Gandhian scholars and heritage lovers. Reason:  It was 

Bankipore General Hospital building of PMCH.,medicaldialogues.in

Prince of Wales gettyimages.in

Above image: prince of Wales (1841 - 1910), eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and later King Edward VII. (Photo by W. & D. Downey/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Ninety-nine years ago on this day, the then Prince of Wales visited  Patna as part of his royal tour of India, and the first medical college of Bihar and Orissa was named after him to commemorate his visit to what was then a young provincial capital. .............

Patna city, Bihar, India mapsofindia.com

to  this hospital Gandhi visited three  months before India's freedom in August 1947 and where on May 15, 1947 his niece Manu Gandhi  underwent  an appendicitis surgery that was witnessed by Gandhiji.  A freedom fighter native to Patna said, "Manu had a tremendous pain in her stomach and she was taken to the PMCH for appendicitis operation."  Yet another unknown fact  is the doctors allowed  Gandhiji to be in the  OT and sit  next to the operation table, in his loin cloth - 'dhoti' and a mask on his face. The Mahatma, who lost his wife a few years ago in Pune, MH in his diary (May 15, 1947), mentioned  “I had put on a surgical mask and watched the whole operation”.

''Mahatma Gandhi himself was operated for appendicitis in January 1924 at Sassoon Hospital in Pune, under a hurricane lamp, as there was a power outage. That old OT is now a memorial, and Patna should also save this historic building'', According to A. Annamalai, director of Delhi-based National Gandhi Museum. 

Patna Medical College, Patna.en.wikipedia.org

The Bihar cabinet already approved a proposal to revamp the Patna Medical College and Hospital and convert it into the largest hospital in the world  and as part of this mega project many old and heritage structures are set to be pulled down. 

Bankipore General Hospital building of Patna Medical College hindustantimes.com

Countless  alumni members, heritage lovers and scholars made an appeal to the Bihar government to spare the iconic heritage sites  so that they  could be "restored and preserved for the posterity". May old trimmers feel demolishing the buildings that have links with Gandhiji's legacy is painful and unacceptable. “The old ''Bankipore railway station'' in Patna   was pulled down. Here, Gandhi had arrived via a train on the way to Champaran in 1917 where he first launched   his concept of Satyagrapha on an experimental basis against the British. He  came here  to  fight for the farmers protesting against  growing  indigo with barely any payment by the colonists.   The Champaran Satyagraha  was a turning point for Gandhiji and it  gave  him  a new direction and vigor to lead the  freedom struggle. Now, the government has set its eyes on  the historic time-honored  PMCH building. 

When Naturam Godse assassinated  Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1848 when he was on his way to his mass prayer at  Delhi's Birla House, he  had collapsed in the arms of  Manu Gandhi, a close associate of Gandhi in his continued crusade against the British imperialists. Manu Gandhi, a young freedom fighter,  always accompanied Gandhiji on his trips to various places during the tumultuous freedom movement, She came to Patna along with him on a few occasion and also visited  some parts of west Bengal post communal riots and disturbances.

https://medicaldialogues.in/news/education/medical-colleges/patna-medical-college-hospital-turns-96-meritorious-students-awarded-gold-medals-doctors-felicitated-75050

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/patna-news/gandhians-plead-to-bihar-govt-to-not-demolish-