The British Lady who founded India's first all-women medical college

It was in 1911, that King George V was on a visit to India. He announced that the Imperial capital will shift from Calcutta to Delhi. So when the then Viceroy of India Baron Charles Hardinge and his wife Winifred Selina Stuart moved to Delhi, they observed that there were no medical colleges there. The medical field has always been exclusive to the men, who would go to cities like Agra, Calcutta and Chennai to pursue their studies.This lack of women representation in the medical field made the women reluctant to seek medical help. Conservative women were not allowed to study alongside their male counterparts. Her speech given during the foundation ceremony, is indicative of the vision that went behind establishing the first of its kind, an all women medical college in India. This is an excerpt from her speech published in Times of India on March 18, 1914 -
“At the present time there are 89 female students scattered over the colleges of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, and Lahore, but very few of these are either Hindus or Mussulmans. The majority of them are either Parsis, native Christians or members of the domiciled [European] community, and it is obvious that if we wish to extend female medical aid to all classes of women of India we must increase the number of Hindu and Mahomedan medical women who thoroughly understand the ways, the customs, and the language of the zenana.”
Lady Hardinge played a major role in pushing this project to fruition. The princely states of Jaipur, Patiala, Nizam of Hyderabad and few more contributed a total of 15 lakhs for this project. But she could not see the hospital functioning as she passed away just a few months after the foundation was laid. The Lady Hardinge medical college and hospital was inaugurated in 1916, by Lord Hardinge. During his speech at the inaugural ceremony, he emphasized that high mortality in infants and children were of a major concern to him and thus by constructing this medical college he believes that this evil can be defeated.
On the suggestion of Queen Mary, the college and hospital was named after Lady Hardinge to celebrate her immense contribution to the medical field for women. The college even had a tryst with the Indian National Movement. During the satyagraha movement, Gandhiji visited the college and addressed the students there, who showed their solidarity with the movement by spinning khadi thread in the convocation hall.
The college started by taking in 16 females per year and eventually increased its number to 130 by 1970. Due to its association with Duffrein fund and its council, the college teaching staff was exclusively drawn from its members until independence. In 1950, it was affiliated with Delhi University. The post graduate courses began in 1954, but it was exclusive only to the women. However in 1970, both men and women were admitted for the PG course. In accordance with the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation In Admission) Act 2006, LHMC decided to increase the UG admissions to 150 in 2008 and now the number has increased to 200 seats.
Thumb Image Courtesy: TOI.COM
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