Western Medicine in French Pondichéry (1690-1954)

The European practice of health management in the French territories across the world was first established in Pondichéry, India. From Pondichéry, health management practice gradually spread to other French colonies within India and elsewhere. A western-medicine based hospital managed by the Jesuits existed in the 1690s in Pondichéry. L’Hôpital Militaire — a formal and larger establishment situated close to the French East-India Company Garden — came up close to l’Église Sacré Cœur de Jésus in 1738. From 1742 a hospital functioned in Ôzhukarai, a village six km north of Pondichéry’s central business district, managed by the missionaries of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, which included 10 rooms to help the sick. This Capuchins-managed hospital was refurbished in the mid-1760s. L’Hôpital Pondichéry (the Pondichéry Hospital) came up in 1853. The French Government at Pondichéry established le Ministerè de la Santé (Department of Health) as its administrative component in 1863. A dedicated facility to train pharmacists and midwives started in 1905 and 1912, respectively. Radiology, surgical, and maternity wards were established in 1913, 1926, and 1937, respectively. After 1961, this facility was rebuilt as a contemporary hospital and the medical college was located to the northwest of the town in the Jawaharlal Institute of Post-graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) campus. The first formal medical school among all the French colonies was established in Pondichéry aligning with colonization by the French in the 19th century. L’École de Médicine de Pondichéry (l’ÉMP) was launched during the leadership of Napoléon Bontemps (Governor-General of French-India Territories) in 1863, under the superintendence of Jean Baptiste Jules Beaujean. L’ÉMP trained mostly Indians enabling them to become midwives, health inspectors, and vaccinators, besides doctors. During early days, the student number in medicine never exceeded six and they were trained for three years. In later years the number of years of training was modified to five, after which students received the title Docteur Médecin. Medical curriculum at l’ÉMP corresponded to that offered in France and was governed by the rules of Bureau de Santé Français in Paris. A few of the early Indian graduates of l’ÉMP were Paramananda Mariadassou, Amala Mariadassou, and Marcelin Ponnupillai Tirouvanziam, who practiced medicine in Pondichéry and nearby Karaikãl, another French territory. The present paper also speaks of the attitude of French surgeons towards Indian traditional medical knowledge, the trailblazing discovery of the active principle vallãrine from a local plant Hydocotyle asiatica (vallãrai, Tamil) by Jules Lépine, a pharmacien attached to Pondichéry Health Service in the 19th century, appointments of health officers in government service, and the establishment of para-medical and exploratory medical facilities viewed against similar features of Madras Medical Service.