The Reid Provincial Chest Hospital is yet again in the news linked to the construction of a medical college here.
The first time I visited the hospital, fortunately as a tourist, was in April 2016. A hospital never makes it to a tourist’s itinerary but this particular one, founded in 1943, has its own glorious history, besides the charming beauty.
When the taxi arrived at the gate, I was surprised at the welcoming ambience. There was no security guard (it was not a coincidence but a practice, I later found out during my several visits to the place later) and the air breathed like anything but a hospital.
The 75-year-old hospital, formerly known as Reid Provincial Sanatorium, sits quietly atop a hillock in one of the most congested localities in the city, Mawprem. To most of the people here, it is simply known as the TB hospital. Old-timers say once the approach road was an avenue with pine trees on both sides. The trees, however, have now been replaced by concrete. There is a steep ravine and the Umshyrpi flows through it.
The first hospital to treat tuberculosis in the North East derives its name from Robert N Reid, the then governor of undivided Assam. The sanatorium was inaugurated on January 20, 1943, by Lady Reid, the Marchioness of Linlithgow. Shillong was then the capital of Assam under the British government.
The cacophony around makes the establishment almost invisible despite its vastness. But once inside, the green hills and rows of pine trees, ferns, bushes and variety of flowers make the hospital look incongruous to the surrounding. A patient that Sunday Shillong spoke to over a year ago had described the place as an oasis in the middle of the concrete and “you feel the change when you come into the premises”.
The current superintendent, Dr D Nongkynrih, said during my recent visit to the hospital that she did not even know about the location of the hospital until she took charge of it in 2017. She is not the only person and there are many who are unaware of the location of one of the most important institutes in the state and hence a relook at history becomes necessary.
Reid Provincial started with only 50 beds. It was increased to 75 in 1949. It expanded gradually and in 1958, it added 121 more beds. Now, the hospital has 217 beds. It is a referral hospital for Intra-Pulmonary Koch’s infections, or tuberculosis of lungs, which is a highly infectious disease.
As it was started as a sanatorium, Reid Provincial does not have the conventional environment of a hospital. There are 18 Assam-type cottages spread over the sprawling area. Each cottage has a name, like Lakhimpur Ward, Sylhet Ward, Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Laxmi, RK Das, Darrang, etc. Most of these structures are over 60 years old.
Dr Sujoy Hazarika, whose father Dr Chaitanya Nath Hazarika was associated with the hospital for more than a decade, said people from all over the North East and other places in present Bangladesh used to come here for treatment and hence the names of a few cottages after places.
There is also a two-storeyed RCC building that houses eight wards. The hospital has its clinical laboratory and an X-Ray unit.
Hazarika and his brother, former journalist and author Sanjoy Hazarika, would accompany his father to the hospital when they were children. People once visited the place to see its well-groomed gardens and wide variety of trees, including mulberry and fruits.
“There was a plantation of yellow bamboo near the playground and it was beautiful. There were 15 gardeners so you can imagine how big the garden was. Patients went out for walks twice — in the morning and evening. It was then a healthier place for patients to live in,” the 66-year-old physician said, adding that he did not visit the hospital for the last 30 years.
The sanatorium had its own dairy. It organised annual fete for both patients and staff, reminisced Hazarika. “There were games like lucky dip and musical chair and magic shows for children. In the evening, there would be screening of films in the auditorium opposite to the office building. Patients and staff and their families had different sitting areas. Sometimes famous singers would come and perform. Local philanthropic clubs brought pastries and fruits for patients. It was fun,” he said.
The annual fete is no more organised in the hospital.
When I visited Reid Provincial in 2016, I was unaware of the history and the beauty of the place. What drew me to the hospital was Ritwik Ghatak, the Bengali director who shot a scene in one of his classics, Meghe Dhaka Tara, here. The film was released in 1960.
With time, the hospital has lost some of its sheen. The cottages show marks of old age. The blooming garden is also missing. Though trees are still aplenty, they look uncared for. “The beautiful site of the hospital will vanish if proper fencing and a control main gate are not there. Therefore, as the hospital (institution) was financially borne by the state government, more fund (budget) should be allocated so as to maintain the standard of the hospital,” former chairman of the hospital Dr KK Marbaniang had written in the 50th anniversary souvenir in 1993.
Considering its history, Reid Provincial can well be called a heritage site and automatically becomes the government’s responsibility to preserve it. Instead in 2012, the state government decided to shift the hospital to Mawdiangdiang and build a medical college and hospital at the Mawprem site. There were protests by civil society groups and much was written in the media but without any impact. The government was determined and the then chief minister Mukul Sangma also laid the foundation stone for the medical college on the premises of Reid Provincial.
Health Minister AL Hek recently said he was not happy with the decision to shift the hospital. Asked whether he would try to change it, the minister said, “The work at the new site has been going on for six years now. It is not easy and there are many legal procedures involved in changing the decision… However, the government will always consider the patients’ comfort and well-being and work accordingly.”
Hazarika said whether or not the hospital is shifted, “it won’t make any difference”. “However, it is true that the widespread greenery, the clean air, the open space and the natural beauty do have an effect on a patient and play a role in the healing process,” he added.
The hospital’s transformation from the present form to the state-of-the-art infrastructure and detachment from nature will be a heart-wrenching sight.
Is development all about destroying beauty and heritage? If not, then why cannot the government maintain the existing infrastructure and bring in new-age technology, maintaining the sanctity of the space? “If the policymakers have the will to do it, they can,” said a local resident near the hospital. He pointed out that outdoor patients will be the worst affected.
Well, only time will say whether Shillong will lose another heritage site to modernity and irrationality.
~ NM
