Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences


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The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS) is run by the Kasturba Health Society. The Society was established in 1964 under the societies registration act. The Gandhi National Memorial Trust (also called Gandhi Smarak Nidhi) handed over to it all the properties of the Kasturba Hospital together with the responsibility of running the Kasturba Hospital and earmarked a sum of Rs 10 lakhs for the society for this purpose.

The Kasturba Health Society manages the Kasturba Hospital (started in 1945), and the MGIMS, started in 1969. The MGIMS was earlier affiliated to the Nagpur University (1969-1997) and from 1998 to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nasik. The Kasturba Hospital is a 648- bed hospital, located in Sevagram, about 8 km. From Wardha town, and offers tertiary care healthcare facilities to rural patients. The MGIMS admits 65 medical students on the basis of a pre-medical entrance test (in 2004, close to 10,000 medical aspirants took the test). The institute also offers post-graduation in all major clinical and basic sciences disciplines.

History
Background

Sevagram is a small village, located about 8 km from Wardha in Maharashtra. Mahatma Gandhi came to this village when barely 1000 people lived here and set up his ashram at the outskirts of the village. Seth Jamnalal Bajaj of Wardha, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, made available about 300 acre of land and built the huts for Gandhiji, Kasturba and ashramites. The huts were built for the same material as the village homes to demonstrate sanitary and healthy living to the villagers. The ashramites took upon themselves the message of education, sanitation and cottage industries to improve their living conditions and the ashram employed a few harijans in the common kitchen to break the caste barrier.

Dr Sushila Nayar arrives in Sevagram

In 1938, Dr Sushila Nayar, a fresh medical graduate form Lady Hardinge Medical College came to Sevagram for a month. Her brother, Pyarelal, was Gandhiji’s secretary. Sushila Nayar fell in love with Gandhiji’s philosophy and went on to stay for nearly two years. As a fresh graduate she had to learn to cope with an epidemic of typhoid and cholera. Gandhiji encouraged her to teach villagers how to look after themselves. This concept of preventive and curative healthcare was later adopted as the only feasible type of health service for rural India.

Dr Sushila Nayar goes back to pursue Post graduation

Dr Sushila Nayar experienced the frustrations of any young doctor working in a village away from all help and guidance and felt the need for higher education and training. In 1940 she went to her alma mater and took up post graduation in Medicine. In 1942 she was awarded MD (Medicine) and few days later she was arrested in Bombay along with Kasturba Gandhi in the quit India movement. She was released from the Aga Khan Detention camp on May 6th, 1944.

On 2nd October, 1944- Gandhiji’s 75th birthday- it was proposed that Mahatma Gandhi would be given a purse of Rs 75 lakhs .Gandhiji decided to use this money for establishing Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust. The trust was to work mainly for women and children in the neglected villages, and Gandhiji became the first chairman of the trust.

Kasturba Hospital is born

In 1942 Gandhiji came back to Sevagram. The dispensary in the ashram was kept up and running by the village health workers trained by Sushila Nayar. Sushila Nayar too joined Gandhiji and the ashram OPD started overflowing with the patients. Gandhiji, aware that this destroyed the serenity and peace of the ashram, asked Sushila Nayar to start a new hospital in the guest house, built by Ghanshyam Das Birla about half a km from the ashram. This incidentally was the only hospital started by Gandhiji. Kasturba Hospital started as a 15 bed hospital for women and children, with Dr Sushila Nayar as the medical officer. Dr Sushila Nayar also worked out a syllabus for the training of village girls as auxiliary nurse midwives, had it approved by the Nursing Council of India and introduced it at the Kasturba Hospital in 1945. The hospital was later expanded to 50 beds and began to cater for both men and women and children. A few village young men were trained to work as compounders, dressers and laboratory technicians.

Kasturba Health Society is born

After Gandhiji’s death, Dr Sushila Nayar went to the USA in June 1948 to obtain Dr PH from Johns Hopkins Institute, Baltimore. The management of the Kasturba hospital was carried on by the Sevagram ashram from 1948 to 1954 and thereafter it was taken over by the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi (Mahatma Gandhi National Memorial Trust). Later it was decided to set up an independent registered society to mange the hospital and accordingly Kasturba health society was born on September 11, 1964. Dr Sushila Nayar, then the Union health minister, was persuaded by the then chairman of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi to become the chairperson of the society. The Gandhi Smarak Nidhi handed over the buildings, land and equipment of the Kasturba hospital to the KHS, along with the responsibility of running the hospital and earmarked a sum of Rs one million for this purpose.

Rural Medical College: A dream?

Dr Sushila Nayar was aware of the Gandhiji’s interest in rural healthcare and the importance he attached to prevention of disease and promotion of health. As union health minister she was also aware that no doctor was willing to go the village. In 1964, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, then the Prime Minister of India suggested to her start a medical college in rural areas in the hope that young doctors trained in a rural setting would understand the problems rural people have to go through and would be more willing to work in villages. In 1965 Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Sevagram along with the chief minister of Maharashtra and Dr Sushila Nayar. Dr Sushila Nayar put before them a proposal of starting a rural based medical college in Sevagram and got their approval for the experiment.

A scheme for starting a medical college in the rural setting of Sevagram, based on the Kasturba hospital which was to be expanded for this purpose was worked out and the planning commission gave its approval to it in principle. Dr Sushila Nayar took it to Vinobaji Bhave and Morarji Desai and got their blessings for the scheme.

In 1966 Lal Bahadur Shastri died and the new prime minister and the finance minister were too busy to give their attention to the scheme. After the 1967 elections, Dr Sushila Nayar was no longer the health minister, but this did not prevent her from striving for converting her dream into reality.

Genesis of MGIMS

The year 1969 was to mark the 100th birth anniversary of both Kasturba Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi and a high powered centenary committee was set up in 1965 under the president ship of President of India, with the Prime Minister as the chairman of the executive committee to chalk out a suitable programme for the Gandhi centenary and see to its implementation. As member of the executive committee, Dr Sushila Nayar proposed that the proposal for starting a medical college in Sevagram needed to be revived.

Many hurdles-bureaucratic and political- came in the way. Shri Morarji Desai, then the deputy Prime Minister and the finance minister, finally called a joint meeting of the state and central government ministers of health and finance and Dr Sushila Nayar as chairman of Kasturba health society on 8th August 1968. The project was accepted on the condition that the government of India, Maharashtra Government and the Kasturba Health society would share the expenditure on it in the proportion of 50:25:25.

The windfall

Dr Sushila accepted the challenge and set out to work out the details, collect funds, acquire land, recruit staff and equip the existing buildings for teaching Physiology, Biochemistry and physiology. She acquired 428 acre of land- partly bought, partly gifted, partly acquired. The first batch of medical students was admitted on August 12, 1969. The Nagpur University agreed to accord recognition to the college.

Once the college was recognized, Dr Sushila Nayar went about collecting funds with a missionary zeal to fulfil the task which she had undertaken. In 1970-71, the USAID came forward with a generous grant of Rs. 2 crores for the capital cost of the building and equipment. Dr Sushila Nayar and her team used this money to build her institution which today houses 648 beds. As the institute was located in Maharshtra, it was agreed that fifty per cent of students were to be selected from Maharshtra and the remaining from the rest of India.