On October 5, 2000, a new state-of-the-art Emergency Medical Services area was commissioned in the hospital.

Towards the end of the century the old order represented by Sir Robert Grant, Dr Charles Morehead and Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy was replaced by officers of the Indian Medical Service (IMS) who, far from encouraging the best talent of the college, maintained their hold on the prestigious professorial posts. After much hesitation, a few non-clinical professorial posts were opened to non-IMS Indians and Dr Y. G. Nadgir was the first to be appointed to a chair (Anatomy). The fact that an IMS ‘ officer would be professor ofmateria medica one year and teach obstetrics and gynaecology the next underlined the unwillingness of the authorities to give opportunities to capable Indians.

Each area is provided with all necessary monitoring and life support systems. The five fully equipped operating rooms are capable of handling all types of emergency surgeries including urologic, and vascular or thoracic surgery.

Fully functional biochemistry, pathology and microbiology laboratory facilities are housed within this area itself. Plain radiography and ultrasonography are also available within this area. A CT scan specifically for emergencies will be commissioned shortly.

Established at a cost of approximately Rs.30,000,000 , this service has been made possible with a generous donation of Rs. 17,500,000 from the “Jasoda Narottam Public Charity Trust” and was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh.

A unique feature of this service is that all areas of this emergency care facility are computerised and are linked up through a Local Area Network, for both clinical and administrative needs. Dedicated software has been developed for the same. In time, this data will be exploited for evaluating and defining emergency management and treatment protocols in a typical urban Indian setting and could be used to develop and set standards for emergency medical practice in India.