Once upon a time there was a Visakhapatnam Medical School

Despite being a very small city in terms of area, Vizag has a surprising number of historical stories to it. While some of them are heard frequently, a few remain untold. One such story is that of the Visakhapatnam Medical School, which was established way before the Andhra Medical College. Several obstacles came in the way of running a fully developed medical school, thereby putting an end to its story in 1923. Vijjeswarapu Edward Paul, an enthusiast of the city’s history, brings forward the unheard story of the Visakhapatnam Medical School.

The Government of Madras had a proposal to establish a Medical School at Vizagapatam (as Visakhapatnam was known during the British period) in the year 1900. The then District Medical Officer of Visakhapatnam, Colonel Leepingwell, mentioned to Maharajah Gode Narayana Gajapathi Row, the local Zamindar, that he is looking for a suitable site to establish a Medical School.

Maharajah G.N.Gajapathi Row contemplated building the Town Hall in honour of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee when that idea was mooted. But he could not respond in time and lost that opportunity to the Rajah of Bobbili. Ever since then, he was looking for an opportunity to build a public building in honour of Queen Victoria, the Empress of India. When he learnt that the Government was planning to establish a Medical School, he immediately offered to raise a building for it at his own cost and name it “Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medical School”. His proposal was tentatively accepted by the Madras Government when it was finally decided in 1900 to establish a Medical School in Visakhapatnam.

To name any institution in the name of the Reigning Monarch of England, it was mandatory in those days to obtain the Monarch’s consent before it was so named. Queen Victoria passed away on 22 January 1901. The Rajah Gode Narayana Gajapathi Row could not obtain the Queen’s consent to name this Medical School in her name. Thereby, the Medical School in Visakhapatnam never got the name Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medical School. Officially, it was always referred to as Vizagapatam Medical School or Medical School, Vizagapatam in all the records. But the Rajah’s family used to call it the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medical College” in their records. In the absence of the required consent from Queen Victoria, the government never accepted that name.

The Maharajah sent his offer through the Collector to Madras Government offering to provide a site to construct a building for the Medical School. His offer was officially accepted on 7 March 1902. The government decided to open the Medical School in July 1902 and was inaugurated in a rented building with 10 students. The head of the institution was designated as Superintendent. It appears that the Maharajah family paid the rent till the school building constructed by them was occupied. The Maharajah family also provided rent-free accommodation when a hostel for the students was opened.

Unfortunately, the Maharajah G.N.Gajapathi Row passed away in May 1903 even before the foundation stone for the Medical School building was laid. The responsibility of raising the building fell on his widow, Maharani Gode Chitti Janakayyamma. Finally, the foundation stone for the Medical School building, promised by late Maharajah G.N. Gajapathi Row, was laid by the Governor of Madras, Lord Ampthill on 20 February 1905. This place was earlier occupied by Old Poor House maintained by the Municipality from 1855 and later by the Gode family. This poor house was relocated to a new building constructed by Lady Chitti Janakayyamma to facilitate the construction of this Medical School in its place. The construction was completed in the year 1910.

When the school building was ready for occupation and offered to the Government, the officials at Madras instructed the then Visakhapatnam Collector to inspect the building accompanied by the Civil Surgeon and the Executive Engineer for its suitability for the Medical School. Simultaneously, the necessary legal aspects were also under examination for the transfer of the property to the Government. The District Medical & Sanitary Officer and the Executive Engineer jointly inspected the new building in October 1910. The DM&SO reported that there was no dissecting room, without which it may not be useful for Medical School. The Executive Engineer reported the roof consisted of a new type of terracing in which hollow tiles were used and it was leaking all over the building. He also pointed out some defects in rainwater draining pipes which has already caused the verandas to get swamped in time of heavy rain and wind. He suggested some rectifications to the roof and drain pipes before it was put to use. When this matter was referred to Lady Gajapathi Row, she came forward to get the defects rectified and construct the dissecting room as directed by the DM&SO at her own cost.

The rectification and construction of dissecting room were completed by November 1911. The Medical School appears to have been shifted into this building after that. As per available records, the Medical School was in this building by April 1912.

Some minor discrepancies were noticed with regard to the title of the property in the name of the Maharani, which took some time to rectify. Finally, the Maharani gave the Power of Attorney to her Diwan to execute a deed at Madras on 30 May 1912. Unfortunately, the Diwan could not go to Madras on that day and the registration date got postponed. Before the next date could be fixed, the Maharani Chitti Janakayyamma passed away on 26th July 1912.

With the death of Maharani Chitti Janakayyamma, the responsibility of executing the document fell on Rani Seetha Bai, the daughter of Maharajah Gode Narayana Gajapathi Rao, and the widow of Rajah of Wadhwan late DajirajuThakore. She executed a power of attorney to her Diwan, Budhavarapu Narayana Murthy Pantulu. Finally, the Gift Deed was registered at Madras by the end of October 1912 and signed by the Diwan on behalf of Rani Seetha Bai and the Surgeon General of Madras Government W.B.Bannerman on behalf of the Secretary of State for India. The deed covers a land to the extent of 1 acre 65.44 cents with the buildings thereon and furniture therein. One very important clause in that deed was that if the done (Govt) ceases to use the land or building for College or School imparting medical education, then the property reverts back to the donor (Maharajh’s family) or as directed by the donor.

In 1911, there was a proposal with the government to construct free residential accommodation for hostel wardens of all medical schools, within the hostel building or attached to that building. As the hostel of the Medical School was running in a private building given rent-free by the Maharani, the proposal of the Govt could not be implemented in Visakhapatnam. With the permanent School building constructed by the Gode family having come into the hands of the Government in 1912, the Surgeon General proposed to convert the ground floor into a hostel and construct residential accommodation for the warden on the west of the building. His proposal was accepted by the Government and estimates were prepared for Rs. 32,700 in May 1914.

While preparations for converting the school building into a combined school and hostel were on, the old Civil Hospital building adjacent to the school started showing signs of decay. The monsoon in 1913 caused much damage to the old structure bringing down the roof of the surgical ward, which was formerly the best part of the hospital. In December 1914 the Surgeon General along with Major E.M. Illington, Superintendent of Medical School, inspected the old Civil Hospital building and reported that “It is necessary to move the hospital into the school block at once and to house the school elsewhere”. This emergency situation put an end to the preparation of converting the school building into a combined school and hostel. New preparations were started on a war footing to convert the school building into a temporary hospital building. The medical school was shifted to the upper floor of the old Collector’s office building in the old town (the present old building of Queen Mary’s School). The building which was constructed for the sole purpose of the Medical School was occupied by the school for hardly 2 years.

Emergency preparations were made to convert the school building into a temporary hospital. Work commenced even before the estimates were approved as most wards of the old civil hospital collapsed and the remaining were declared unsafe. The temporary civil hospital occupied the school building till the new civil hospital buildings were constructed and occupied in April 1923. Immediately after that, the Vizagapatam Medical College was started in the same school building in July 1923. Ultimately the Medical School at Visakhapatnam was closed in 1927. The medical school occupied its building only for two years from the end of 1912 to the end of 1914. It never reoccupied its building before the school itself was closed.

With the initial rectifications and subsequent modifications, the building could not stand for long. The medical school building was ordered for demolition when the building was found unsafe. In its place, the present Anatomy block of the Medical College was constructed.

It is not fair to end this story without paying a tribute to the donors of the school building. Maharajah of Gode Narayana Gajapathi Row promised to construct the building in 1900 which his family fulfilled by actually constructing and legally making it over to the Government. His family paid the rent of the school till such time their promised building was made ready and occupied. The family also provided rent-free accommodation for the hostel also. Maharajah made many contributions to the development of Visakhapatnam. It was the same family that constructed and maintained the Victoria Gosha Hospital for many years. The citizens of Visakhapatnam owe him a lot. It requires separate space to mention his full contributions to our City.