Lopa kothari biography of mahatma
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Mahatma Gandhi
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Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, Vol. 52, No. 3, July-September, 2006, pp. 226-229
Students Corner
A tribute to the indomitable spirit of Jivraj Mehta
Goenka AjitH, Kulkarni HS
Seth GS Medical College, KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai - 400 012
Correspondence Address:Seth GS Medical College, KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai - 400 012, ajit123goenka@yahoo.com
Code Number: jp06073
Dr. Jivraj Mehta (1887-1978) was the founder-architect of Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College and King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. He devotedly served the cause of these institutions in the unenviable post of their first Dean over an eventful period of 18 years (1925-42). This was in addition to the selfless services that he rendered to the society in numerous other positions of immense responsibility and honour. A man of simple yearnings and exemplary moral rectitude, his life is a saga of perpetual struggle for the betterment of his fellow citizens.
"He who serves his brother best, Gets nearer to God than all the rest"
- John Ruskin
Early Years
Jivraj Mehta was born on 29th August 1887 in Amreli, a small town in Saurashtra in the state of Gujarat, in the family of Narayan and Jamakben Mehta. His father, Narayan Mehta, was a small time shopkeeper who struggled to make
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I met Manubhai for the first time in 1956 in the company of Dr. Ashok B. Vaidya. As an undergraduate student of medicine at the Grant Medical College and Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Group of Hospitals, it was my privilege to take them (along with the late Dr. Ajit Phadke, renowned urologist) through the wards of my alma mater, showing them ‘interesting patients’. They had asked me to point out ward patients from whom we could learn the art and science of medicine. To have these three keen clinicians as my mentors at that formative stage of my education was a unique blessing. They elicited valuable nuggets in each case history; then examined the patient gently and with infinite courtesy. The icing on the cake, of course, was how they coupled and analysed the facts and findings of history and examination to reach a diagnosis. They proved to be lasting influences on my life and work.
Manubhai was, by then, already well known for his razor-sharp mind and unconventional thinking. He had suggested to Mr. Hamilton Bailey, (British surgeon and teacher – author of several famed text-books), a novel method for measuring the fixed adduction deformity in the diseased hip joint. Manubhai did so with some trepidation as he was still a student and Mr. Bailey wa