Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals

Under the guidance of Mountstuart Elphinstone attempts were made to offer Indians an opportunity to learn and practice Medicine along western lines.

He instituted a detailed inquiry into the ways and means by which Indians could have better medical care and education.

As he struggled and strove to push through his ambition for a wisely planned medical college in Bombay, he met strong opposition.

It was a society that would bring together the medical officers of the Bombay Presidency and encourage a spirit of scientific enquiry.

They also drew up and circulated a questionnaire aimed at collecting information on the current medical practices among the Indians.

Grant developed a proposal in March 1838 in which the subject of medical education for the Indians of this presidency was fully discussed in detail.

The East India Company, as conveyed in its letter dated 18 July 1838, happily endorsed the proposal for a medical college.

However, nine days before the arrival of this news, Grant succumbed to an attack of cerebral apoplexy while vacationing in Dapori, near Pune.

A historic public meeting was held in the town hall by the citizens of Bombay to mourn his death.

The Sanskrit scholar Jagannath Shankarsheth proposed that it would be a fitting tribute that the medical college should be established and that it should bear his name.

The foundation stone was laid on 3 January 1843 and the School of Practice was opened for reception of the sick from 15 May 1845.

In 1845, admittance to the college was accorded without exception for caste or creed to candidates between the ages of 16 and 20 with respectable connection and general intelligence; grammatical knowledge of their vernacular language, arithmetic including Rules of Proportion and a thorough knowledge of English with fluency was expected.

Each candidate was required to present a certificate of good conduct from the headmaster of the school in which he had studied and also one expressly stating that he was possessed of the necessary information and capable of undergoing the examination proposed.

The books selected for testing the knowledge of English were Milton's Paradise Lost, Robertson's Histories, or a similar classical standard.

In following years, however, it became so good that students declined to take advantage of holidays but preferred to attend classes.

[citation needed] Immediately after the First World War, there was a great rush of students to the college.

To continue to provide effective instruction training at the bedside of patients, the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital was used as a teaching center in the subjects of Medicine and Surgery in 1924.

Robert Koch's work on Vibrio cholerae was done in two rooms of the old animal house behind coroner's court.

[citation needed] During the early 1900s all prestigious professional posts were held by British I.M.S. officers, while Indians were given only non-clinical appointments.

Students, professors and practitioners began shifting to Topiwala National Medical College near Victoria Gardens.

The hospital has 2844 beds and caters to an annual load of 1,200,000 out-patients and 80,000 in-patients, from all parts of Maharashtra and central India.

With gradual additions and expansions since its initial foundation, the campus has a mix of buildings depicting both modern Indian and Colonial architecture.

It also provides residential facilities to its teaching faculty, resident doctors, medical students, nurses and other hospital workers.

The anatomy hall of Grant Medical College was featured in the movie Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

as central lecture hall in the fictional medical school attended by the lead character.

In addition to the main campus situated at Byculla, it also has a sea facing gymkhana at marine drive in south Mumbai.

Recently The JJ hospital campus also includes the Richardson Cruddas building next to it for research purposes .