Retracing History: Inauguration Day, Dow Medical College 1945

By Raamish Karatela

Dow Medical College is one the oldest Medical Colleges in Pakistan. It was established under British rule in 1945 under the leadership of Sir Hugh Dow (the then Governor of Sind) and his Minister of Public Health, Dr. Hermandas Wadhwant.

It has since then served as one of the premier and prestigious institutions in Pakistan. It has produced hundreds of renowned physicians who have established themselves in leading positions across the globe. Over the past 70 years it has gone through many changes, from its inception as a small college, to being the now established, Dow University of Health Sciences.

I was given the task to retrieve the historical document of the actual inauguration day. My father and I researched various sources and newspapers of that time (1945-1946) to search for any reports about the inauguration day. Two main newspapers came up during our search, and we ended up locating the archives of The Daily Gazette and The Sind Observer—the newspapers of Sind before the partition that only my nana (Grandfather) remembered. This search brought me to the National Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. My father had located the archives stored there by email correspondence with Library of Congress staff.

Upon arriving in Washington D.C., I requested the librarian for the collection I was interested in. My task was to leaf through bound volumes of these two newspapers two months prior and two months after the inauguration day of Dow Medical College (December 10th, 1945) to find any report of the news media reporting its inauguration.

The librarian informed me that they would transfer these volumes from off-site storage to the main Journalism reading room for me to view. I visited the Library of Congress one morning and was subject to their customary security check. I deposited my bags in the check-in room and was given a Library of Congress ID Card.

The Library is not like a usual library, with rows of books as far as the eye can see. Rather it is a maze of hospital-like hallways leading to huge doors to different reading rooms (Asian Studies, Journalism, etc.) It is indeed a 21^st century Library with everything catalogued into extensive computer databases that the librarians sit behind. The books are almost hidden completely from view and only accessible after talking to a librarian who then brings out the desired volumes for you to examine at a set of tables in the reading room. Such was the case with my search. Four huge bound volumes of The Sind Observer and The Daily Gazette, with pages that would rip at the gentlest of touches faced me at the reading table. I began the tedious process of searching through the volumes for any reports of Dow Medical College’s inauguration, looking two months before and after December 10th in each newspaper.

After hours of leafing carefully through old parchment I found what I was looking for except it did not reveal itself under the name I had assumed. The article was titled “Sind Medical College In Karachi.” As I read through the article I realized that the article referred to the first functional Medical College for Sindi students in Karachi, named after Sir Hugh Dow, Dow Medical College. Sir Hugh Dow however, states in the article that “the college might have been more appropriately named after him [him referring to his Minister of Health, Dr. Hermandas Wadwhant] than after me, and indeed it would not bear my name if the existing constitution had permitted me to come to a decision otherwise.” Sir Hugh Dow explains with high praise how Dr. Hermandas Wadwhant was mainly to credit for the inauguration of Dow Medical College.

I found this particularly heartwarming and interesting, given that most British persons of power at the time were rabid Imperialists, but apparently Sir Hugh Dow and Dr. Hermandas Wadwhant were not one of them, even if their constitution disagreed with their views.

The article is reprinted in full in the following pages for the public to remember as an anomaly in history— an anomaly that spawned the tireless work of the students who attended Dow and Sind alike.

Raamish Karatela, B.A.
Freelance Researcher
Washington D.C.

Rizwan Karatela, M.D.
Wellington, FL

P.S.
For anyone who is a moviegoer, these were the pictures playing at the day of the news report (December 11^th, 1945):

At Regal Cinema: Dangerous Journey
At Palace: The Fighting Guardsman
At Capitol: Sunday Punch
At Pardise: Salome Where She Danced
At Lighthouse: Nari
At Taj Cinema: Phool
At Plaza: Paristaan

Download the full article PDF: 1945-SindObserverDowInaug