Mitford Hospital, Dhaka
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Mitford Hospital is a public hospital located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is situated in the historic Old Dhaka area. The hospital serves as a teaching hospital of Sir Salimullah Medical College.
The hospital is named after the
History
In 1887 a European ward (in patient department) was established in the hospital. The hospital, in addition to the main wards, accommodated lecture halls, dissecting rooms, an out-patients department and a European ward for in-patients. A medical school attached to the hospital was built in 1875. The present building was erected in 1889 which was mainly raised through private subscriptions. It accommodated two lecture halls, two separate dissecting rooms one for males and one for females, a laboratory, gymnasium and a hostel was added later.
Architectural value
Occupying an oblong area of about 12.8 acres of land on the river bank, the hospital complex comprises more than fourteen different blocks of no particular architectural significance but historically important and eminently of utilitarian character. Most of these blocks, built at different times in the last hundred years or more, and which originally were single-storeyed, have now been raised to four storeys.
The Medical College block is a fairly handsome large building located at the south-eastern corner near the river bank with an attractive large garden in front. It was originally erected in 1889, toughly in the shape on English ‘H’ with two symmetrical projections in the middle on the north and the south, one accommodating a
The Ahsanullah Ward, consisting of a group of old buildings across a lane on the west, has now been pulled down to accommodate a modern eleven-storeyed building. To its north is the Lady Duffering Ward, a 135’-0” long east-west running block facing north, the Hare Ward which is 142’-0” long and the Manmatha Nath Ward. Further to the west, away from the river bank is the lady student's hostel which is 120’-0” X 55’-0” and the larger nurses home block measuring 180’-0” X 80’-0”.
The King Edward Memorial Ward which measures 328’-0” X 80’-0’ is an impressive three-storeyed building with a 40’-0” broad projecting
The nucleus of this institution of great public utility, established over a century back was the generous gift of Mitford, after whom it was originally named. It has now been renamed after Nawab Salimullah Bahadur in the 1960s and has developed and expanded with the time and with the donations of a number of public-spirited luminaries of Dhaka, after whom several isolated block of buildings have been dedicated. However, it is a great pity that the name of the original patron, Robert Mitford who bequeathed a substantial part of his life's savings for the founding of this institution has now been completely forgotten and not a single block of the existing buildings has been allowed to cherish his memory.
References
- Ahmed, Nazimuddin, Buildings of the British Raj in Bangladesh, Edited by John Sanday, University Press Limited, 1st Edition, Page no. 46–49, ISBN No: 9840510916
- Mamun, Muntasir, Dhaka: Smriti Bismritir Nagari, 3rd Edition, Page No: 201-206, ISBN No: 984 412 1043
- Banglapedia: Mitford Hospital
Further reading
- Sharif Uddin Ahmed, Mitford Hospital and Dhaka Medical School – History and Heritage,1858-1947 (in Bengali ), Academic Press and Publishers Limited, Dhaka, 2007.