KGF MINING HOSPITAL

The Mining Hospital in KGF.

A well equipped hospital to cater to the medical needs and emergencies of the miners and their families was established by the John Taylor and Sons Company as early as the 1920s. This Mining Company Hospital slowly gained the distinction of being the best hospital in the whole of the Kolar district and was staffed with eminent British and Indian doctors and British and Anglo-Indian nurses. The wards were named after retired English Officers of the Company.

This Company Hospital was later recognized by the Indian medical council as a reputed center for the treatment of Occupational Diseases, such as Tuberculosis, Silicosis, etc. Medical Treatment was free for the miners and their families. A well maintained Maternity Unit was also later established in a separate wing of the Hospital.

However, now this Company Hospital with its expensive equipment and more than 200 beds has been shut after the closure of the mines. Most of the medical equipment has been stolen. The Hospital Wards named after the erstwhile British bosses such as Gideon Ward, Henry’s Ward, Morgan Ward, etc., are completely denuded of the beds and furniture and the hospital now resembles a haunted building. Most of the equipment has been pilfered, and the building is slowly falling down in parts. No one can imagine that this hospital was once the best hospital in the whole district!!!!!