On the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Sassoon General Hospital is offering a sneak peak into his life. On Wednesday, a small room at Sassoon hospital, which served as the operation theatre for Gandhi on January 12, 1924, will be opened for public visits.
As an annual practice, the room is accessible to people who wish to be in the space where the father of the nation was once operated upon.
The room was painted afresh and the building in which it is located is filled with the lights of the Indian tricolour. Located on the first floor, one needs to walk upstairs through the British-era construction to reach it, the same path used by 55-year-old Gandhi in January 1924.
“The room will be open for public viewing after the Dean opens it and pays his respect at 9:30am. The visitors can visit and see the memoriam in the room. However, they will have to deposit their mobile phones and cameras at the security outside, as videography and photography at the site is prohibited as per a government resolution to that effect. It is a heritage site,” said Dr Murlidhar Tambe who is filling in for recently-appointed Dr Ajay Chandanwale as the dean.
At the end of two flights of stone stairs, the visitors will be greeted with a board that announces the room where Gandhi underwent the surgery for appendicitis on January 12, 1924. Inside, there is a passageway which displays photographs, notes, telegrams and official communication by and about Gandhi.
The surgery was performed by a Britisher, Colonel Maddock and a telegram by Gandhi to Col Maddock in January, 1924, giving his consent for the surgery, sits as proof of how a piece of history conspired in the city which was then known as Poona.
A painting of the surgery performed on Gandhi, signed by a painter named Mahendra, has been displayed inside the room.
A wooden stool, a trolley, a stretcher and a hurricane lamp will be on display inside the room. Even though the hurricane lamp is missing from the painting, it was an integral part of the medical procedure as stormy weather robbed the hospital room of electricity mid-surgery, leaving the lamp as the sole source of light.
The report of the surgery was sent in the form of a telegram to Vallabhai Patel by the hospital, informing him that “bapu” will not be out of danger for at least three days after the surgery.
Gandhi’s health was also subject of regular letters from the then superintendent of jail to the then Inspector General of Prisons, Bombay Presidency, Poona.
The hospital has also organised an elocution competition with seven competitors. Dr Seema Dhawan from the National Institute of Naturopathy, will be addressing a gathering of hospital staff and students on Gandhi and naturopathy on Wednesday.
First Published: Oct 01, 2019 19:57 IST