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Mitford Hospital established in 1820, named
after Sir Robert Mitford, Collector of Dhaka and also a long serving judge
of the Provincial Court of Appeal. During his time there was an alarming
cholera epidemic and at the height of it 150 to 200 persons died daily
in Dhaka. Medical facilities were inadequate. Sir Mitford was distressed
to see the suffering of the people. Before his death in England in 1836,
he bequeathed the bulk of his property (about Rs 800,000) to the government
of Bengal for benevolent works in Dhaka including building of a hospital.
This was disputed by his successors but finally, in 1850, the
Chancery Court partially decreed in favour of the Bengal Government,
by virtue of which it received Rs 166,000. With this fund the
hospital was started in 1854 on its present site, then known as
'Katra Pakurtali', Babu Bazar. Prior to this, the site was occupied
by a Dutch kuthi (house).
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Mitford Hospital, Dhaka,
1854 |
From the inception, the hospital was under the administration
of a board accountable to Dhaka Municipality. A female ward was established
in the hospital in 1882 with generous donations from Nawab khwaja
ahsanullah of Dhaka and Raja Rajendra Narayan Roy of Bhawal.
Nawab Ahsanullah also donated Rs 50,000 to set up Lady Dufferin Hospital
within the same compound in 1888-89. A European ward was established in
the hospital in 1887, and in 1889-90 Raja Srinath Roy of Bhaggyakul set
up an eye ward at a cost of Rs 3,00,000 in memory of his mother. It got
the recognition of a first grade hospital in 1917.
The hospital, in addition to different wards, accommodated
lecture halls, dissecting rooms, and an out-patients' department. It remained
a general hospital and did not undergo much change in size and types of
services over time. It occupies an oblong area of about 12.8 acres of
land on the river bank and the hospital complex comprises of more than
fourteen blocks of no particular architectural significance but historically
important and eventually of utilitarian character. Most of the blocks
were originally single-storied and now have been raised to four storeys.
The hospital provides both indoor and outdoor treatments as well as pathological
and diagnostic services. It serves about 1,000 outdoor patients daily.
As of 1999, the hospital had 600 beds, of which 240 were paying. [Shahida
Alam] |
