Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

On the 200th Anniversary of the Madras Eye Infirmary, the First Ophthalmic Hospital in Asia


Affiliations
1 School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia
2 Charles Sturt University, PO Box 883, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia
 

The first eye hospital, not onlyin India but in the whole of Asia as well, and the second oldest in the world, known as ‘Madras Eye Infirmary’ (MEI) as a public facility was established in Madras city (now Chennai) in 1819 to address the ophthalmic problems of residents of the city and the neighbourhood. Robert Richardson was its first superintendent. Whereas the Madras General Hospital, in the early days of its establishment serviced only the British army personneland civilians, the MEI, right frominception, serviced Indians for reasons unknown. This facility moved around the town during its early days, but settled in its current location in Marshalls Road (now Rukmini Lakşmipati Sãlai), Egmore (Ézhumbûr) in 1886. The MEI changed names over time: ‘Government Ophthalmic Hospital’ (GOH, in 1886), and presently the ‘Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic Hospital’. Local people fondly refer to it as the Ézhumbûr KaṇÃspatiri. Robert Elliot (1904–1913), Henry Kirkpatrick (1914–1920), Robert Wright (1920–1938), K. Koman Nayar (1940–1945) and R. E. S. Muthayya (1947–1956) are significant names in the annals of GOH. Elliott is remembered by ophthalmic surgeons throughout the world for his pioneering surgical-management technique of glaucoma, which involved a novel improvement made over the one proposed by Pierre Félix Lagrange of Bordeaux in 1907. Thisnote recounts the key milestones andscientific landmarks in the pages of the history of this public facility, while referring to the science promoted by the medical men who led this hospital at various times until 1956 and placed it on the world map of medicine.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Kam, J. H., Weinrich, T. W., Shinhmar, H., Powner, M. B., Roberts, N. W., Abo-elnour, A. and Jeffery, G., Sci. Rep., 2019, 9, 12574; doi:https://doi.org/ 10.1038/s41598-019-49121-0(accessed on 30 January 2020).

  • Ilardi, V., Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, USA, 2007, p. 378.

  • Gimpel, J., Medieval Machines: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, USA, 1975, p. 274.

  • Anderson, S. Ry., Acta Ophthalmol. Scand., 1997, 75, 338–344.

  • Deshpande, V., Indian J. Hist. Sci., 2013, 48, 175–205.

  • Marmion, V. J., Br. J. Ophthalmol., 2005, 89, 1396–1397.

  • Moorfields Eye Hospital; https://www. moorfields.nhs.uk/content/our-history (accessed on 21 January 2020).

  • Agarwal, R. K., Br. J. Ophthalmol., 1971, 55, 128–129.

  • Imperial Gazetteer of India, Henry Frowde and Oxford University Press, London, UK, vol. III, p. 520.

  • Hemingway, H. R., Tanjore, Madras District Gazetteers (ed. Francis, W.), Superintendent, Government Press, Madras, 1915, p. 126. 309.

  • Oppert, G., Verh. Berl. Gessells. Ges. Naturwiss. Med., 1907, VI, 222.

  • Merrill, G. P., Moodey, M. W. and Wherry, E. T., Handbook and Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Gems and Precious Stones in the United States National Museum, United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA, 1922, Bulletin # 118, p. 225.

  • Viswanathan-Peterson, I., J. Hist. Collect., 1999, 11, 71–93.

  • Nair, S. P., Raja Serfoji II: Science, Medicine and Enlightenment in Tanjore, Taylor and Francis, London, UK, p. 198.

  • Biswas, J., Badrinath, V. and Badrinath, S. S., Indian J. Ophthalmol., 2012, 60, 297–300.

  • Valiathan, M. S., The Legacy of Susruta, Orient BlackSwan, Hyderabad, 2007, p. 830.

  • Mukhopadyay, B. and Sharma, R. M., Anc. Sci. Life, 1992, XI, 169–173.

  • Chan, C. C., Surv. Ophthalmol., 2010, 55, 393–398.

  • Anon., In Report of the Administration of the Northwest Provinces for the Year 1867–68, Government Press, Allahabad, 1868, p. 103.

  • Nair, A., Med. Hist., 2017, 61, 181– 199.

  • Anon., Br. J. Ophthalmol., 1919, 3, 208– 209.

  • Treacher-Collins, E., The History and Traditions of the Moorfields Eye Hospital – One Hundred Years of Ophthalmic Discovery and Development, H. K. Lewis and Company, London, UK, 1929, p. 226.

  • Crawford, D. G., Roll of the Indian Medical Service, W. Thacker and Company, London, UK, 1930, p. 347.

  • Lorimer, A., Report on the Medical Topography and Statistics of the Presidency Division of the Madras Army, Including Fort St. George and Its Dependencies, Within the Limits of the Supreme Court (Compiled from the Records of Medical Board Office), Government of Madras, printed by W. Thorpe, Vepery Mission Press, Madras, 1842, pp. 111 + xxiv (appendices).

  • Fayrer, J., Indian Med. Gaz., 1901, 36, 234–235.

  • Anon., Indian Med. Gaz., 1901, 36, 236– 237.

  • Elliot, R. H., Ophthalmoscope, 1909, 7, 804–806.

  • Benedict, W. L., Arch. Ophthalmol., 1940, 24, 1100–1112.

  • Lagrange, P. F., Gaz. Hebd. Sci. Méd. Bordeaux, 1907, 28, 2–4.

  • Elliot, R. H., Sclero-corneal Trephining in the Operative Treatment of Glaucoma, George Pulman and Sons, London, UK, 1914, p. 187.

  • Elliot, R. H., A Treatise on Glaucoma, Henry Frowde, Hodder and Stoughton, London, UK, 1918, p. 546.

  • Price, L., Aust. J. Ophthalmol., 1984, 12, 257–269.

  • Kirkpatrick, H., Indian Med. Gaz., 1918, 53, 452–459.

  • Elliot, R. H., Tropical Ophthalmology, Henry Frowde, Hodder and Stoughton, London, UK, 1920, p. 525.

  • Wright, R. E., Br. J. Ophthalmol., 1932, XVI, 248–250.

  • Elliot, R. H., Glaucoma, A Handbook for the General Practitioners, H. K. Lewis and Company, London, UK, p. 60. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. We thank Suresh Dalapathy, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, for his help-ful review of the prefinal draft.


Abstract Views: 439

PDF Views: 150




  • On the 200th Anniversary of the Madras Eye Infirmary, the First Ophthalmic Hospital in Asia

Abstract Views: 439  |  PDF Views: 150

Authors

Ramya Raman
School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia
Anantanarayanan Raman
Charles Sturt University, PO Box 883, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia

Abstract


The first eye hospital, not onlyin India but in the whole of Asia as well, and the second oldest in the world, known as ‘Madras Eye Infirmary’ (MEI) as a public facility was established in Madras city (now Chennai) in 1819 to address the ophthalmic problems of residents of the city and the neighbourhood. Robert Richardson was its first superintendent. Whereas the Madras General Hospital, in the early days of its establishment serviced only the British army personneland civilians, the MEI, right frominception, serviced Indians for reasons unknown. This facility moved around the town during its early days, but settled in its current location in Marshalls Road (now Rukmini Lakşmipati Sãlai), Egmore (Ézhumbûr) in 1886. The MEI changed names over time: ‘Government Ophthalmic Hospital’ (GOH, in 1886), and presently the ‘Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic Hospital’. Local people fondly refer to it as the Ézhumbûr KaṇÃspatiri. Robert Elliot (1904–1913), Henry Kirkpatrick (1914–1920), Robert Wright (1920–1938), K. Koman Nayar (1940–1945) and R. E. S. Muthayya (1947–1956) are significant names in the annals of GOH. Elliott is remembered by ophthalmic surgeons throughout the world for his pioneering surgical-management technique of glaucoma, which involved a novel improvement made over the one proposed by Pierre Félix Lagrange of Bordeaux in 1907. Thisnote recounts the key milestones andscientific landmarks in the pages of the history of this public facility, while referring to the science promoted by the medical men who led this hospital at various times until 1956 and placed it on the world map of medicine.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv118%2Fi8%2F1313-1321