Conservation of a college

The passage of time has not been kind to the Grant Medical College building, the oldest edifice in Bombay to be built in the Tudor style of architecture. Its dilapidated condition shocked alumni of the country’s first medical college two years ago when they met at a reunion party on the campus, reported Daily News and Analysis (DNA) in its edition of September 20, 2009. So they approached Dr Noshir H. Wadia, neurologist at the Jaslok Hospital and suggested that the College, which has produced some of the best doctors India boasts of, was in dire need of conservation. That was the genesis of the move to restore the building to its erstwhile glory.

"We called upon other alumni and formed the Friends of the Grant Medical College and Sir J. J. Goup of Hospitals Trust,” Wadia told DNA. Though the government has been cooperative, Wadia says the trust is trying to collect funds from alumni settled here and abroad, charitable institutions and corporate bodies, for the restoration which it is estimated will cost a whopping five crore rupees.

Co-founder of the trust Dr Shubha Pandya is delighted that a museum will be built in the College highlighting the history of medicine and the College itself. "Old portraits on the walls, marble busts of former deans and staff members and the majestic Roll of Honors list put up on the wall — it was so thrilling to be connected to history. It’s a shame we don’t know where those remnants are lying today,” Pandya informed DNA.

Grant Medical College building in 1860 Photo: Wikipedia on the web

Pandya admits she was stunned to discover that the illustrator of the text book Gray’s Anatomy — the bible of every medical student — was a dean at the College, engaged in pioneering work on tropical diseases in India for 30 years. She has plans to bring back historic medical journals dating back to the 18th century when the library, which is in a woeful state, is restored.

The modern facilities that the conservation effort plans to incorporate have enthused the younger alumni. Dr Jehangir Sorabjee, consultant physician at the Bombay Hospital told DNA, "We plan to build a sprawling auditorium, an electronic library and a research society and introduce video conferencing which will help students learn (about) surgeries performed abroad.”

The project is unique, according to Abha Narain Lambah, the conservation architect who will handle the job, because it will pose a healthy challenge to maintain heritage while adding contemporary facilities. "Thanks to the efforts of the alumni, Bombay will have one less reason to cringe at the way we maintain our heritage structures,” the architect told DNA.