From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sassoon Hospital | |
|---|---|
| Geography | |
| Location | Pune, Maharashtra, India |
| Coordinates | 18°31′33″N 73°52′19″E / 18.52571°N 73.87194°E |
| Organisation | |
| Type | General |
| Affiliated university | Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College |
| Services | |
| Beds | 1296 |
| History | |
| Founded | 1867 |
| Links | |
| Website | http://bjmcpune.org/ |
| Lists | Hospitals in India |
Sassoon General Hospital (Marathi: ससून सर्वोपचार रुग्णालय) is a large state-run hospital in Pune, India with over 1500 beds. The B. J. Medical College, Pune and a Nurses training School is attached to it.
The Jewish philanthropist David Sassoon from Mumbai made a generous donation to make the construction of the hospital possible in 1867. The hospital could originally accommodate 144 patients.[1]
In 1906 the foundation stone for another hospital building, the Jacob Sassoon Hospital was laid[2] and it opened in 1909. [3] It was funded by Sir Jacob Sassoon,[3] son of Elias Sassoon, great-nephew of David and the 1st Baronet of Bombay. It was built to relieve pressure on the original hospital.[4][5] Six panels of tiles depicting nursery rhymes and five of fairy tales were installed; they were designed by Margaret Thompson and manufactured by Royal Doulton.[6]
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A well-respected child-care center and orphanage, Society of Friends of Sassoon Hospitals (SOFOSH), is connected to the hospital. SOFOSH was started in August 1964 by a group of Pune citizens for the welfare of poor patients of Sassoon Hospitals.[7] Child care activities were initiated in 1973. SOFOSH's child care center, "Shreevatsa", has provided a home to orphan children ranging from newborns to six-year-olds. Many of the children are placed with adoptive families in India and overseas. A number of children are physically and mentally challenged and a growing number are afflicted by life-threatening ailments. Many of these children will never find adoptive families, and are cared for by the SOFOSH "Preetanjali" project. This also helps kids from ages 0–6 get a home in their orphanage care system; they have been matching adults up with children for 32 years now.
