KGMC Hospital

The medical college was formally opened in October 1911, the year when His Majesty King George V and Queen Mary visited India, by the then Lt. Governor of United Provinces - Sir John Prescott Hewett. Every year since 1916, the 'topper' of the Final Professional Examination is decorated with the 'Hewett Medal' in honor of the man who opened the portals of the college to 'Georgians'. Dr KS Nigam was the first Hewett medallist of this college. Col. W Selby was the first Principal and Professor of Surgery and Lt. Col. CA Sprawson was the first physician. To start with the total faculty consisted of 5 professors and 2 lecturers. On the advice of the General Medical Council of Great Britain, a framework of admissions and courses of study was organised. Initially, the college was affiliated to the Allahabad University.

The first hospital associated with Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University was built in 1914, and was called King George Hospital . The funds allocated to the college could hardly be expected to cover the cost of a hospital on a comparable scale. Thus this task was undertaken by the Government of India. The building was again designed by Sir Swinton Jacob after making a spot study of great medical centres in Europe and adapting it the needs of this country. It was ready in time for the clinical training of the first batch of students in 1914. A 226 bed hospital was formally inaugurated by the Viceroy Lord Harding on the 10th January 1914. In his speech the Viceroy reaffirmed the confident hope of the King Emperor that the college and its apparatus would be the 'best in the East'. To select the hospital equipment, Major Selby spent several months in England, interviewing manufacturers and inspecting their apparatus.
The first postgraduate examination in Medicine and Pathology was held in 1918. The Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University and associated King George's Hospital were formally transferred under the Lucknow University in 1921, on the establishment of the University of Lucknow and the campus had the privilege of hosting the first convocation of the University on 30th October, 1922. In the year 1931, great need was felt of a women's hospital. The Queen Mary's Hospital across the Shahmina Road was built and formally inaugurated on 4th November 1932 with a bed strength of 52. In 1951, a 3 storied building called Gandhi Memorial Hospital was constructed for medical cases with a bed strength of 144. It was at this stage that the name King George's Hospital was changed to Gandhi Memorial & Associated Hospitals. In 1955 another block housing the Children's Hospital was added. Yet another block was built for the Surgery department. The Departments of Orthopedic Surgery, E.N.T. and Anesthesia were also created in the fifties. The speciality departments of Neurology, Cardiology, Psychiatry and Plastic Surgery came up in the seventies. The surgical superspeciality departments of Urology, Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery and Surgical Oncology were carved out from the Department of Surgery in 1998.
During the years 1981 to 1992 the college and hospital were taken over by the State Government and all administrative control was through the State Government instead of Lucknow University. However, this situation again reverted back in

In 1956, this hospital had the distinction of being selected by the Rockefeller Foundation for setting up a Residency Training Programme and funds were obtained for a 5 storied Residents' Hostel. The programme has run successfully here and has been emulated in all the medical colleges of the state. In the 1980's the college was selected as a site for establishment of a Clinical Epidemiology Unit by the International Clinical Epidemiology Network. In 1991, the Unit was formally inaugurated and since has been upgraded as the KGMC Institute of Clinical Epidemiology (KGMCICE).
A major milestone in the history of this institution is its conversion and upgradation as the Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University. This came about by an act passed on the 16th September 2002 by the Government of Uttar Pradesh under Chief Minister Sushree Mayawati. This is the only medical university in the north and one of 3 such universities in the country. Substantial funds were earmarked for the new university. The 1st Vice Chancellor of this university was Prof KM Singh, followed in May 2003 by the appointment of Padmshri Prof Mahendra Bhandari on this post. In December 2003, on the request of alumni and teachers, its historical name was restored and the new university came to be known as the King George Medical University. However, in 2007, with the return of Sushree Mayawati as Chief Minister, the institution's name was again changed to Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University.