The Light House for The Patients

As the Centenary Celebrations of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI) gloriously ends with a valedictory function spanning 3 days from Sept. 27 to 29, 2024, here we publish a tribute to Dr. Anandi Bai Prasad, an alumnus of MMC&RI (1934 — MBBS Batch) who started the very first Private Nursing Home in Mysore on Irwin Road in 1942 — “Prasad Nursing Home.”  In this article, Dr. Veena Bharathi, also an alumnus of MMC&RI, recollects the lady doctor’s contributions not only to the field of medicine, but also to the welfare of the society. —Ed

By Dr. Veena Bharathi

“I am light house rather than life boat. I do not rescue but instead help others to find their way to shore, guiding them by my example.”  — Modern Affirmations

The above quotation ideally describes Dr. Anandi Bai Prasad’s motivational spirit, as she ventured into starting the very first Private Nursing Home in Mysore in 1942.

Anandi Bai was born in Gangolli in Kundapura in South Kanara to Narayana Pai couple, a Gowda Saraswat community family in April 1912. She was the eighth child born along with a twin brother, to her parents.  She completed her primary schooling in Kundapura, then shifted to Bangalore along with her married, elder sister Amba Bai Sitaram. Both of them stayed in a hostel to pursue their education.

While Amba Bai finished her graduation from Maharani’s College in Bangalore, Anandi Bai finished High School, later on Intermediate and pre-Medical course from The Central College, Bangalore. Anandi Bai got an MBBS seat in Mysore Medical College (MMC) in July 1934 and joined for the prestigious course. (Mysore Medical College, which was first started in Bangalore in 1924, had got shifted to Mysore in 1930).

While studying for MBBS, Anandi Bai got to meet and know her future life partner, Doddi Ram Prasad (D.R. Prasad), a native of Bangalore, who was Anandi Bai’s classmate too, in MBBS. Anandi Bai eventually married Dr. Prasad, after both of them finished the MBBS course and the Internship training period in 1941.

First Private Nursing Home

Instead of joining for the Government job as a Lecturer or a Medical Officer (which was very easy to procure in the 1940s decade), Dr. Anandi Bai ventured into starting the very first Private Nursing Home in Mysore, initially in a rented building on Irwin Road, in 1942. Thus was born “Prasad Nursing Home,” which started running successfully with inflow of patients even from the neighbouring States. Some of  Dr. Anandi Bai’s seniors and juniors from MMC started conducting their “outpatient” practice from “Prasad Nursing Home.”

Both Dr. Prasad and Dr. Anandi Bai, by then had got specialised in treating tuberculosis, since they had successfully finished a course in Diploma in Chest Diseases, with a short-term posting at TB-Sanatorium in Mysore.

Ironically though, despite their specialisation in chest diseases, Dr. Prasad himself succumbed to ‘Lung Cancer’ in 1967, at the age of 55 years. Dr. Anandi Bai tried her best to get her husband treated, even by taking him to specialists in UK and Japan, but Dr. Prasad could not survive.

After the demise of her husband, Dr. Anandi Bai took over the responsibility of running the Nursing Home all alone, renaming the same as “Prasad Memorial Nursing Home and Hospital.” She expanded the Nursing Home from 30 beds capacity to 60 beds and the hospital boasted itself of having  the most modern OT (Operation Theatre) in that decade.

Says one of Dr. Anandi Bai’s juniors, who worked in her Nursing Home: “Dr. Stephen used to handle most of the caesarean delivery cases in Prasad Memorial Hospital, mainly because of the modern and adequate facilities which the operation theatre at the Hospital, exceptionally provided.”

Dr. Anandi Bai Prasad had also started providing free medical facilities to financially underprivileged patients and had earned the goodwill of people cutting across communities and religious barrier.

From the early 1970s, Dr. Anandi Bai started getting involved in a lot of social welfare work in Mysore. She became the main patron for Vanitha Sadana School in Krishnamurthypuram. She helped the school in the construction of Children’s Library  (Pustaka Bhandaara) and also in building other aspects of the School — infrastructure. Dr. Anandi Bai was a governing member of Mahajana Educational Institutions, by becoming a part of the Advisory Board. She was a member of the Mysore Branch of IMA (Indian Medical Association) and also President of All India Women’s Forum, Mysore branch. In the mid-80s, she was elected as the Syndicate member of Mysore University.

In 1964, Dr. Anandi Bai represented India as one of India’s “Goodwill Ambassador” in “The International Women’s Conference” in Indonesia. In 1986, Dr. Anandi Bai represented India in “The International Women’s Conference” in Mauritius, as the main representative of All India Women’s Forum.

National Award

Despite on treatment for herself for the Breast Cancer that she was suffering from since 1982, when she was travelling to Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai from Mysore, almost every month, Dr. Anandi Bai became the recipient of a National Award in December 1988.

“Bapuji Children’s Home,” which was started by Dr. Anandi Bai Prasad in the 1970s, for sheltering abandoned babies and grooming them to be respectable citizens, won her the National Award for the Best Social Service. Dr. Anandi Bai, personally flew to Delhi, to receive the award by the then President of India  Dr. R. Venkataraman.

By 1991, Dr. Anandi Bai also started “Bapuji Old Age Home” behind ESI Hospital, Mysore. A couple of philanthropists joined hands to form a Trust, to manage both “Bapuji Children’s Home” and “Bapuji Old Age Home.” The Government of Karnataka also extended financial aid to the Trust, initiated by Dr. Anandi Bai.

In April 1993, Dr. Anandi Bai, at the age of 81 years, breathed her last at “Prasad Memorial Hospital” due to Leukaemia.

The letter of honour given to her in 1988 by the working committee of “Vanitha Sadana” admiringly mentions “… You have been the ‘Dhavala Keerthi’ of our State and Nation. You are a ‘Vatsalyada Gani’ (treasure house of affection) for abandoned children and the elderly…”

The Lady Doctor, who battled her own life and health crises like a soldier, lived upto the saying by Mike Dooley: “At this very moment, there are individuals only you can reach, and differences only you can make in their lives.”