The city of Visakhapatnam with its strategic natural harbor attracted the attention of the Dutch East India company and also British East India company and ithe trade competition the british came out victorious. There are many historical sites as well as heritage sites in this area and INTACH- Vizag chapter is taking serious steps to save and protect them fr the posterity and to maintain cultural and historical connectivity. KGH -King George Hospital is one among them in the older part of the city.
The King George Hospital (KGH) which had a humble beginning in 1845 has been a catering to the heath care of the people of the coastal area including part of Odisha since its inception of a new hospital in 1923 . Now affiliated with the Andhra Medical College, this government hospital is equipped with the latest modern medical equipments and well-trained medical staff and nurses. This year it is completing 100th year.
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| king George hospital, Vishakhapatnam en.wikipedia.org |
The provincial government at Madras in 1841 sanctioned dispensaries in the towns of the present-day Tiruchirappalli Madurai, Machilipatnam, Bellary and kadapaon on experimental basis. Their contention was the new dispensaries would be sanctioned only after they were satisfied with their utility,function and response from the natives.
The English mercantile trading company -EIC was more focussed on the exploitation of natural resources and land grabbing than in the welfare of the natives. EIC official were of the the opinion that the medical care of the natives was not their concern. However, they ran the hospitals and dispensaries only for the Europeans and company workers. They were called Garrison hospitals run by the army doctors; there used to be a Garrison Hospital in the old town of Visakhapatnam. The dispensaries that were later established for natives were called civil dispensaries.
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| king George hospital, Vishakhapatnam.indiatimes.com |
Above image: The clock tower building came up around 1951. The two old blocks are on either side of the clock tower. It was started as civil dispensary in 1845 and upgraded into a 30 bedded civil hospital in 1857. Previously, it served the Madras Presidency army. The hospital's new building was inaugurated by Dewan Bahadur Sri Panaganti Ramayaningar – Hon'ble Raja of Panagal, Chief Minister of Madras on 19 July 1923 The new section with 192 beds affiliated with the Andhra Medical College was named after King George V; formerly the prince of Wales).
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| king George hospital, Vishakhapatnamyovizag.com |
In 1863 the Madras govi issued the notice that medical supplies and aid would be provided by the govt and as to to clothing, food, etc the public had to to meet the costs if not they would close the dispensary.In a tight situation, the Rajah of Vizianagaram came forward to make an endowment Rs 20,000 to meet the food charges for the poor patients and he put the money in the govt securities. The interest would meet the food expenses for the patients.
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| King gorge Hospital, Vizag. thehindu.com |
The Presidency govt took a decision to put the new hospital under its management. So between 1864 and 1918 the hospital and the dispensary were under the private management . In July 1918 the government took over the management and opened a hospital in 1923. The cost incurred was roughly Rs.6,0 9 lakh. The civil hospital was renamed as “King George Hospital in the same year
Recently the govt planned to open The ‘Sleep Lab’ project at the King George Hospital (KGH). The state-of-the-art level-1 ‘Sleep Lab’ was the first of its kind proposed to be set up in Andhra Pradesh, after the bifurcation Andhra state. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Director of Medical Education (DME) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, in 2017 in this regard.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/99248894.cms?
https://www.yovizag.com/king-george-hospital-vizag/
