‘108’ year-old staircase remains testament to modern developments at Gandhi Hospital

It is not easy to miss the grandeur of this metallic staircase, which adorns the lobby of the Gandhi hospital alumni building. A simple glance is enough for one to be transported back to a time when medicine as a profession was still free from the trappings of modern commerce

Hyderabad: Within the modern campus of Gandhi Hospital at Musheerabad, there remains a vestige of the past that has stood witness to the development of modern medicine for nearly a century. The present generation might have overlooked it, but the meticulously put together 108-year-old metallic staircase still puts one in awe!

It is not easy to miss the grandeur of this metallic staircase, which adorns the lobby of the Gandhi hospital alumni building. A simple glance is enough for one to be transported back to a time when medicine as a profession was still free from the trappings of modern commerce.

The huge metallic staircase is the same one, which was once located in the surgical wards of old Gandhi Hospital in Monda market, Secunderabad.

The architect and the engineer of the staircase was F M B Rosenthal, who installed it in the then King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in 1917. The KEM Hospital was established in 1851 as an infirmary in Monda market area and was renamed as Gandhi Hospital in 1958.

According to old timers, there was a manually operated lift in the staircase with four metallic pillars. After the old hospital was shifted to new premises at Musheerabad in 2004, the metallic staircase was left over in the old premises.

Between 2004 and 2006, the members Alumni Medical Education Society of Gandhi Hospitals led by its president, Dr K Lingaiah and the then vice-principal of Dr Ranganath had launched concerted efforts with the State government to ensure the metallic staircase is safely brought back and assembled at Musheerabad alumni building within the campus of Gandhi Hospital.

“We have requested many fabrication units for shifting the old staircase. All advised us to construct a new staircase but were reluctant to shift the old staircase,” says Dr A V Ratnam, secretary for the alumni association.

The senior members of the alumni said that after a lot of searching, a company Vidya Forging Unit, Ramnagar run by Satynandam came forward to take-up the task. “The company bought and installed a generator in the old hospital building in Monda market. They worked day and night for nearly 6 months to dismantle and the re-erect the entire staircase,” alumni members said.

The restored staircase was thrown-open in 2016. “To this day, we take a lot of pride in restoring and properly maintaining the entire staircase,” says Dr Ratnam.