Government General Hospital
Encyclopedia
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The hospital is funded and managed by the state Government of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
; hence it is state-owned. It was founded in 1664 by the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. In the 19th century, Madras Medical College
Madras Medical College
The Madras Medical College is an educational institution located in Chennai, India. It was established on February 2, 1835. It is the oldest medical college in India, along with the Medical College Kolkata.-History:...
joined it.
Early history
The Government General Hospital was started on 16 November 1664 as a small hospital to treat the sick soldiers of the British East India CompanyBritish East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. It was the untiring inspiring efforts of Sir Edward Winter who was the agent of the company that materialized in the first British Hospital at Madras.
In its early days, the Hospital was housed at the Fort St. George and in the next 25 years, it grew into a formal medical facility. Governor Sir Elihu Yale
Elihu Yale
Elihu Yale was a Welsh merchant and philanthropist, governor of the East India Company, and a benefactor of the Collegiate School of Connecticut, which in 1718 was named Yale College in his honour.- Life :...
(the initial benefactor of the world-renowned Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
) was instrumental in the development of the Hospital and gave it new premises within the Fort in 1690.
The Hospital moved out of the Fort after the Anglo-French War
Anglo-French War
Anglo-French War may refer to any war fought between England and France, including:* Anglo-French War : Rivalry between the French Capetian Dynasty and the English Plantagenet Dynasty, ended by the Battle of Bouvines.* Saintonge War...
and it took 20 long years before it could settle in the present permanent place in 1772. By the year 1772, the Hospital was training Europeans, Eurasians and natives in Western methods of diagnosis and treatment and methods of preparing medicines. These trained personnel were posted to various dispensaries in the district head-quarters of the then Madras Presidency
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...
to assist the qualified doctors. By 1820, the institution had the recognition as the model hospital of the East India Company. In 1827, Dr. D. Mortimar was appointed as the Superintendent of the Hospital.
The Madras Medical College
Madras Medical College
The Madras Medical College is an educational institution located in Chennai, India. It was established on February 2, 1835. It is the oldest medical college in India, along with the Medical College Kolkata.-History:...
started off as a private medical hall run by Dr. Mortimar, and was regularised into a medical school in 1835, which was opened by the governor, Sir Frederick Adams. The governor then promulgated an ordinance
Decree
A decree is a rule of law issued by a head of state , according to certain procedures . It has the force of law...
to make the school a state-sponsored one and attached it to the General Hospital.
Current status
The hospital has a reputation of being one of the best in the state and ranks among the top ten in the Indian subcontinentIndian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. The entire hospital block has been remodelled with the reconstruction of the massive twin towers. These replace the original hospital buildings, which were more than a century old.
While the hospital is managed by the medical superintendent, the dean is the head of the Madras Medical College(MMC)attached to the hospital.
Dispensaries attached to GGH
- Government Secretariat Dispensary
- Government High Court Dispensary
- Government Chepauk Offices Dispensary
- Government Estate Dispensary
- Government Raj Bhavan Dispensary