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| Govt. Eye Hospital Thanjavur. deccanchronicle.com |
According to the principal of the Thanjavur Medical College Dr. Kumudha Lingaraj, the Ophthalmology department of RMH (Rajah Mirasudar Hospital) is the third oldest one in the world. The first one being Moorefield Eye Hospital at Charterhouse Square London (established in 1805). It was a dispensary for curing eye and ear diseases The second oldest in the world is Royapettah (Madras) Eye hospital which is now more than 200 years old (founded in 1819 by Robert Richardson). Because of space crunch it was shifted to Chennai Egmore hospital. The Eye hospital in Thanjavur is the third oldest in the world!!
Established in 1880 during the Raj under direct administration from London, the RMH was built on a land donated by the then Maratha queen of Thanjavur. The land used to be a big garden (Bagh prior to that). According to Dr. R. Krishnamurthy, a senior doctor, "It is a fact that the ophthalmic ward was opened in R.M.Hospital on land donated by Rani Kamatchi Bai Saheb(a), grand daughter of Rajah Serfoji - II, who ruled Thanjavur and also practiced 'Native Medicine and Ophthalmology''.
Since 1919 the Eye department has been continuously catering to the needs of not only patients from Thanjavur district, but also from neighboring districts like Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Tiruchy, Pudukottai, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Karur and their suburbs; a minimum of 400 out-patients from these places. In 2019 the building completed 100 years of existence. The eye doctors here cater to the needs of 30 to 40 in-patients daily in the past and the number is going up in the past few years Currently about 90 to 100 patients are being treated here. According to the Doctors in the eye hospital 600 major surgeries like cataract, glaucoma, lid reconstruction, cornea transplantation and 300 minor procedures are done every month.
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| Govt. Eye Hospital Thanjavur. deccanchronicle.com |
The Ophthalmic ward at RMH is functioning in a 100-year-old colonial building adjacent to Errattai Masthan durgah on the south side and next to Ranee's clock tower on the north side on the busy Gandhiji Road. It can also be accessed from the hospital road.
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| RMH Eye hospital building,Jharokha window Thanjavur, TN. dailythanthi.com |
It is a single-story brick-lime masonry Madras-terraced structure with thick walls and high ceiling which is supported by quality wooden rafters and beams. The pointed arched entrance, arched windows and projected hanging balconies on the first floor suggest the building was constructed in Indo-Saracenic architecture. This type of design - a blend of European and Indian features was popularized by the famous British architect Robert Chisholm who had built several buildings in Madras and elsewhere. The Senate House, Presidency college, Chepauk palace, etc The building was designed ingeniously with high ceiling and thick walls to keep indoors cool. In some places it seems, the original window designs, etc., are repaired in a different manner. In the future special care should be paid to retain the heritage features of the colonial structure.
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| Jharokha, Rajasthan. mapio.ne |
Above image: The Jharokha is a stone window projecting from the wall face of a building in an upper story, overlooking a street, market, court or any other open space. A common feature in classical Indian architecture, most prominent in Rajasthan. It is a sort of decorative work to enhance the beauty of the building. The RMH Eye hospital has features similar to Jharokha on the first floor which are visible from the road side. ..........
When I visited this hospital more than 4 years ago along with my daughter to get an Eye certificate to renew her driver license, the building was not well kept and it looked as if it had not even received one or two coats of whitewash and paint for several years. The tall wooden doors were squeaky and looked faded without proper paint job. Some new structures came up in the recent past and were not in sync with a fine colonial ambiance. When I saw part of the building I was quite upset and saddened because there was no periodic maintenance work to keep the old structure in good nick.
The Ophthalmology department of the Thanjavur Medical College, functioning from Rajah Mirasudhar Government Hospital (RMH) celebrated its 100th year in 2019. Little do we know that its growth is closely linked with the Thanjavur Maratha family and landlords (mirasudars) of Thanjavur district of past era. RMH came up through public subscription, major contribution of about Rs 33000 was made by the Maratha Queen Kamatchi Bai Saheba and the rest were from prominent landlords.
From the plaque in the hospital we understand it was opened to public in 1926 by George Joachim Goschen (2nd viscount Goschen Hawkhurst), Governor of Madras Presidency. He was a British politician MP for East Grinstead from 1895 to 1906 and as Governor of Madras from 1924 to 1929. It was on 13 December 1919 the foundation stone was laid for the Ophthalmic ward by Sir. E. H. Wallace, ICS, Judge and Collector of Tanjore.
The hospital building was dedicated to the memory of the end of World War I (it lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918) as per 1919 Verisellas Peace Treaty' in Paris. WWI was the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated 8.5 million combatant deaths and 13 million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war. Roughly 67000 Indians died in WWI and equal number of people were wounded. Besides resulting genocides, the related 1918 Spanish flu pandemic caused many millions of deaths worldwide including India.
Records of Saraswathi Mahal library established by the Nayaks initially later well developed by Rajah Serfoji - II, point out that Raja Serfoji was interested in native medicine and had a good knowledge of Ophthalmology. He also did surgery for 'cataract couching' (extraction of lens) in 1828, and it was done at Dhanwantri Arokyasala, Thanjavur.
Besides keen interest in arts, education and literature, Rajah Serfoji - II had a flare for medical treatment using native medicine. He evinced keen interest in native medicine - Sidha, Ayurvedha and Unani. Giving importance to western system of medicine from 1810 onwards, he founded an institution called 'Nava Vaithiya Kalanithi Sala' in 1827. Dhanvantri hall being his medical centre, it acted as medical research center in Thanjavur.
His descendants continued to show interest in medicine and after Serfoji's death the Arokya Sala services continued unabated for a pretty long time about 50 years,. Subsequently, princess Kamatchi Bai Saheba, the grand daughter of the king. being a charitable person, giving due importance to public welfare and health care, granted 40 acres of land opposite to Big Temple (present RMH hospital). The RMH is a legacy of the Maratha family. Sir Sullivan Thomas was the then Collector of Thanjavur in 1876.
Among the landlords of Thanjavur the donors included: Tiruppanandal Kasi Mutt, Poondi Veeraiya Vandayar, Kabisthalam Duraisamy Moopanar, Poraiyar Thavasimuthu Nadar and Gopala Krishnan donated money to build the hospital. The hospital became 'Rajah Mirasudhar Hospital' which later became part of the Thanjavur Medical College.
The Prince of Wales - (later Edward VII), who visited India in 1875, advised opening medical schools to issue a certificate called 'Licentiate Medical Practioner' (L.M.P) in six places in India including Thanjavur, Nagpur, Madurai, Visakapattinam, Royapuram (Chennai) and Calicut. Thus, Tanjore Prince of Wales LMP Medical School, started functioning at Thanjavur. in the later years it was closed for unknown rasons. In 1879, Sir Sullivan Thomas, had new buildings, operation theatres and emergency surgical halls, built at RMH to keep abreast of the latest developments in medicine. The emergency and OP ward is popularly even to day known as 'Thomas Hall' and served emergency medical services for about 130 years, for the people of Thanjavur and surrounding areas.
Good news is under the Smart City project the 100 year old colonial building that houses the eye hospital will be repaired and conserved back to old glory. Yet another good news is a sum of Rs 16.47 crores will be spent to establish a Regional Eye Care Center in the Thanjavur Government Raja Mirasudar Hospital (RMH). It will be under the Department of Ophthalmology of Thanjavur Medical college. In this regard the GO for this had been issued recently. The money will be spent for constructing a 120-bed block to house the center.
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