Lady Harding Medical College

In New Delhi, India, there is a medical school for women called Lady Hardinge Medical College. It was founded in 1916 and joined the University of Delhi’s Faculty of Medical Sciences in 1950. The Government of India provides funding for the college.

When India’s national capital was moved to Delhi, Lady Hardinge, the wife of the country’s viceroy at the time, Baron Charles Hardinge, decided to build a medical college specifically for women because she realized that without one, Indian women would not be able to pursue a career in medicine. The college was given the name Queen Mary College & Hospital in honor of the visit by Queen Mary in 1911–1912, and the foundation stone was placed by Lady Hardinge on March 17, 1914. Up until her passing on July 11, 1914, Lady Hardinge was actively involved in raising money for the institution from princely states and the general public. On February 7, 1916, Baron Hardinge opened the institution in the Imperial Delhi Enclave. The college and hospital were given the Lady Hardinge namesake at Queen Mary’s proposal to honor the founder’s memory. 16 students were accepted into the institution, and Kate Platt served as the first principal. The students had to take their final exams at King Edward Medical College in Lahore because the college was then associated with University of the Punjab. In 1950, the institution joined the University of Delhi, and in 1954, post-graduate programs were introduced. From 1936 through 1940, Ruth Young, who had previously taught surgery as Ruth Wilson, was the college’s principal. The Children’s Hospital at Kalawati Saran, one of the two hospitals attached to the Lady Hardinge Medical College, was built in 1956.The college was initially an independent organization run by a governing committee. The Central Government’s newly established Board of Administration officially assumed control of the institution’s operation in the year 1953. According to a parliamentary act, the management was taken over by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India in February 1978.