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The dhobi ghat is situated to the east and its water is carried to the main
drain on the Connaught Road by means of an open masonry gutter.
The disinfecting platform is situated to the west end of the compound close
to the Bhangies' quarters, and the waste water is carried to the main on the Sussex
Road.
The compound is extensive, and the tastefully arranged flower pots along the
sides of the pucca built road make the place a charming spot. The passages between
the wards and the contact camp are also pucea built and are properly drained.
History.
The epidemics of 1896-97 had made Bombay desolate and the rich and
the poor left their homes and went to live far off in distant lands, not minding all the
discomforts, to avoid the dire malady, thereby paralysing the trade and industry of
the city and threatening ruin on the City. But Bombay was again habited and every-
thing went on as usual up to October of 1897, when unfortunately for the people a
recrudescence of the plague broke out early in December 1897 and it was thought
advisable to do something to keep the labouring classes from running away and thus
tivoid paralysis of trade and industry again.
Some of the leading men of the Maratha community at the instance of Sirdar
Mir Abdool Ali, Khan Bahadoor, with the consent of Sir James Campbell, the then
Plague Commissioner, met to consider the serious question, and it was resolved to cull
a meeting of the Marathas of all denominations and to open a hospital for all
Hindoos except the lower castes of Mahar, Mangs, £c., where they could get several
facilities and comforts of their homes and where their superstitious prejudices would
be respected and the relations of the patients allowed to live in the same compound,
so that they might not feel themselves forcibly separated from their dear ones.
A meeting of the Marathas of all classes was held under the presidency of
Sirdar Mir Abdool Ali, Khan Sahadoor, about the end of December 1897, when it was
resolved to build a hospital for the Marathas and to open a subscription list for car-
rying out the laudable object. It was also resolved to approach the mill-owners who
had suffered a good deal during the first visitation of the epidemic and request their
association and co-operation. Sirdar Mir Abdool Ali kindly promised to give his sup-
port to this scheme and went on collecting funds for the hospital from his friends and
other charitable people. Sir James Campbell with the assistance of Sir George
Cotton and Sir Dinshaw Petit collected subscriptions from mill-owners at the rate
of Rs. 100 per each 2,000 spindles. The fund collected by the Sirdar was utilized
in building sheds, making roads and other superstructures, while that collected by
Sir James Campbell was spent in building latrines, drains, stand-pipes and other re-
quirements of the hospital.
The work of erecting sheds was commenced on the 4th January 1898, and
was carried under the direct supervision of Sirdar Mir Abdool Ali, Rao Bahadoor
Dhondiba Hanmantrao Barde, and Rao Bahadoor Vitoba Krishnaji Vancleker,
and two plague wards, one observation ward, a contact camp, segregation camp,
office, dispensary and out-houses, &c., stood up like mushrooms within a period of
15 days. Cots, woollen blankets, bed sheets, kamblies, lamps, lanterns, dresses for
the patients, &c., were supplied out of the fund collected by the Sirdar, while the
Plague Committee undertook to maintain the hospital patients and the contacts and
to bear the cost of the establishment,
Mr. L, B. Dhargalker, L. M. & S., was nominated by the Committee as au
honorary Medical Officer in charge of the hospital, and Mr. Gangaram Dhurmaji was
appointed as Vaidya of the hospital.