Raja Mirasudar Hospital (RMH) , Thanjavur ..... Going back in to history

34 year old young Prince of Wales Edward VII from England visited India in 1875…. He had visited Thanjavur too …. (but Some sources say , he came only up to Vallam , and did not touch Thanjavur because of the Cholera epidemic in Tanjore at that time…It is certain , during later part of 19th century southern India was severely affected by Cholera… Prince of Wales had cancelled so many of his programs) …….British Empire had already started in India ….. By 1855 Maratha Rule had already ended in Thanjavur ….Shivaji II who was the last titular Maratha King, died in 1855….  British had completely taken over Thanjavur under Madras Presidency…. ….. Meeting and receiving the future king of England was unthinkable opportunity for the British Officials in those days …. Commemoration is a common practice …. Whenever King or prince visits a part of his empire, Officials had to commemorate that …..Some sources say, that The prince of Wales had expressed his willingness to build a Hospital in Tanjore…. that is how started the story of our RMH (Rajah Mirasudar Hospital) and a Medical School (Teaching Institution) ….... British Collector by that time must have started thinking, how to go about the Medical School and the New Hospital Project...Finally the time had come…there was no famine during 1876 and 1877 .. British Government was firm in establishing a Hospital as Thanks Offering….….The Great British Collector HS Thomas (HENRY SULLIVAN THOMAS) must have put on extra effort in it .. In fact he had only a short tenure (one year)  in Thanjavur...(1878---1879)… within that one year , he was able to push things and start / inaugurate the hospital straight away in 1879… Now we should know about a lady called RANI KAMATCHIAMBA BAI SAHEB …. She was the widow of the last Maratha King of Thanjavur , Shivaji II (whom I mentioned earlier)  … Though the Maratha king lost his state to the British , he was left with enormous private wealth … naturally , the widow lady of expired king had enormous private wealth … . The Lady, RANI KAMATCHIAMBA BAI SAHEB, did a good thing… She donated her 40 acres of land in the center of the city (unquestionably the best in the town) ….She might have distributed the multi-billion property to her Marathi relatives … but she did not … She simply handed over her property to the British Collector HS Thomas in 1878… Even today, you can see many memorials in the name of RANEE in Thanjavur…. The reason must be the pure affection of the people towards the Lady. There was also contribution from the other Raja’s Royal Family too…Rs 30000 came from the Charities of Maratha Raja Family …. Not only Maratha family …but our own, Land lords (Mirasdars) of Tanjore district , handed over huge money to the British collector , to build the Hospital…. I just mention few among them with their contribution amount… Mr THIRUPANANDHAL THAMBARAN paid Rs 5000….. the value of Rupees 5000 must be most valuable in 1878 …right??? …then Mr KAPISTHALAM DURASAMY MUPANAR Rupees 2500……. Then Mr PORAYAR V. THIRUVARSU MUTHU NADAR gave Rupees 2000…. Then the T. GOPALAKRISTNAR PILLAY….. so many great hearts contributed for our HOSPITAL (I am sorry ..i might have left so many names)  ….. Finally thus started our hospital and a medical school in 1880, …The total cost of the buildings for the hospital amounted to nearly Rs 66000… British collectors did a good thing …. Along with the Raja Mirasudar Hospital, they firmly established a Medical School. (Teaching Institution) …They named the New Medical School as H.R.H PRINCE OF WALES MEDICAL SCHOOL ….. (His Royal Highness Prince of Wales Medical School) …one interesting fact ….It was also called as Tanjore Medical School………Rs 100000 came from the (MADRAS PRESIDENCY) Government securities , to build this Medical School...... ….The main hall of the Hospital and the School was named as THOMAS HALL , after the British Collector who tirelessly worked for the creation of the hospital and the Medical School…Thus came the THOMAS HALL……Finally with the great contributions ,two Institutions started simultaneously in 1880….1) RMH HOSPITAL and 2) H.R.H PRINCE OF WALES MEDICAL SCHOOL … Naturally the hospital was named as Raja Mirasudar Hospital ... The school and the Hospital excelled in it’s performance. Do you know the yearly intake of the number of students?.....It was just fifteen…The Board of Examination was exactly the same as that of other two other medical school in MADRAS PRESIDENCY at that time… The entry qualification for entry in to these schools was an SSLC Pass and marks above presidency average(With good marks in English, Elementary Mathematics and Science)……The diploma  offered in those days was called LMP…(Licensed Medical Practitioner) .It was a four years course…The annual fee ranged from Rs 60 to Rs 100…(based on the category of students) ..There was gradual development through the years … A separate building for the treatment of out patients was started in 1898 by the Governor of Madras…In 1902 , it was one of the best hospitals in Madras Presidency…. The annual record for the year 1902, goes this way…. Inpatients 1537…..Outpatients 29000…. 100 OPD Patients per day ….It was OK ……… Naturally all Medical Officers were British…. The Hospital and the Medical School was under British Army Medical Service called IMS (Indian Medical Service) ….. One of the great superintendents of our hospital was LIEUT . COL . W.R.J. . SCROGGIE .CIE. IMS …. He improved the hospital very much paving the way for new buildings …My salutes to him…after all he is on par with our Dean …... In 1918, the British Government further improved the Medical School by creating new buildings…In 1918 , Sir Alexander Cardew , Madras Legislatice Council Member , opened the new Buildings….As per records , the prestigious medical school existed up to 1928……Now it is not clear , what exactly happened to the school in early thirties… The school was disbanded, probably, because of financial reasons…. So out of two brothers (RMH HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL SCHOOL), one disappeared ….sad …. (The medical school disappeared) ……We should be proud , that RMH , was associated with a prestigious medical school , nearly for about 50 years from 1880 to 1930….. No official records are available regarding the real reason for the closure of the medical school. After Independence, in 1949, Rotary Club of Thanjavur made huge contribution to our RMH and augmented the Maternity Wing….. Thereafter no full stops…. No doubt...our RMH was/is a prestigious institution on par with Stanley and Madras Medical College …….. So we were born and became Doctors, using our great RMH….. bi friends ….i may edit this , if I get more information and time