The Nizams were known for promoting research in medical education in a big way.

By | Published: 12:05 am 11:55 pm

Hyderabad: The making of modern Telangana, especially in the field of medical education and development of public health institutions, began in the middle of the 19th century. Historians argue that under the patronage of the sixth Nizam, Mahboob Ali Khan, and the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, medical education thrived.

In fact, there are hardly any precedents for the way the sixth Nizam promoted research in medical education in Hyderabad Medical School, which was never seen anywhere else in India at that time.

The research of Chloroform as an anaesthesia agent at Hyderabad Medical School and the unbridled support to it by the Nizam brought worldwide attention to Hyderabad.

It was in 1885 during the reign of the sixth Nizam that Residency Surgeon, Major Edward Lawrie, took charge as the chief surgeon of Afzalgunj hospital as well as the Principal of Hyderabad Medical College.

Pioneering step

Dr. Edward Lawrie was a staunch disciple of James Simpson and Philip Syme, who were top clinicians of the 19th century and had done extensive research on various anaesthesia agents. In fact, James Simpson in 1847 for the first time used Diethyl ether as an anaesthetic to help a woman in her pregnancy, which was the first known administration of anaesthesia for child birth.

Dr Lawrie strongly believed in chloroform and its utility as an anaesthetic agent, which prompted him to conduct a series of experiments on animals (dogs and monkeys) at the Afzalgunj Hospital. The sixth Nizam was quick to realize the significance of chloroform and backed the surgeon to set up the first Chloroform Commission to conduct experiments.

The first Commission was headed by a surgeon, P. Hehir, in 1888 and widespread studies were conducted on animals and chloroform at Afzalgunj Hospital.

“The findings of the first Chloroform Commission were promising and Dr. Lawrie submitted them to The Lancet. However, the peer-reviewed scientific journal refused to acknowledge it. The development upset the Nizam because he had wholeheartedly supported the study,” says historian Adapa Satyanarayana.

Findings debunked

Debunking the findings of Dr. Lawrie, in March, 1889, The Lancet in its science editorial wrote that ‘Dr. Lawrie contents himself with bare statements of results and nothing more….. We should require more than the scanty statements of experiments performed upon dogs, before we could accept the conclusions of Hyderabad Commission’.

The Lancet rejection of the results from the first Hyderabad Chloroform Commission triggered a backlash that was unprecedented.

“The Nizam through Major Lawrie wrote a letter to The Lancet and offered 1,000 pounds towards travel expenses for an expert from the journal who would repeat the experiments that were conducted by the first Hyderabad Commission,” Adapa says.

How The Lancet intervened in experiments

The Lancet sends its representative to Hyderabad for chloroform experiments. The Lancet expert Dr. Lauder Brunton, a heart surgeon who was considered an authority on impact of drugs on heart, reached Hyderabad on October 21, 1889.

The idea was to participate in the deliberations of second Hyderabad Chloroform Commission, supervise the experiments regarding the safety of chloroform as a general anaesthetic.

“The sixth Nizam, Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, had sent 1,000 pounds for travel expenses. Lauder Brunton came to Hyderabad at a time when a huge controversy was raging across the world over efficacy of chloroform as an anaesthetist,” says says senior nephrologist Dr. A. Gopal Kishan.

The Lancet representative was also responsible for conducting the chloroform experiments, in addition to supervising the whole experiments.

The second Hyderabad Chloroform Commission commenced work on the October 23, 1889 and met daily, except on Sundays and holidays, from 7 a.m. till 5 p.m., until December 18, when the experiments were concluded.

Keen interest of Nizam

“The Lancet representative apart from participating in the experiments was a guest of the Nizam and was treated to lavish hospitality of Hyderabad. The Nizam was so keen for experiments to come through that he funded the entire stay of Dr. Brunton,” Dr. Adapa Satyanarayana said.

But, at the end of the experiments he was satisfied and eventually chloroform experiments became a landmark medical study in the world and were accepted worldwide. Dr. Brunton left Hyderabad after a 57-day stay, on December 18, 1889, but cherished the memories of the lavish hospitality of Hyderabad forever.

Later, the entire exhaustive report of the Chloroform Commission was published as “Report on Hyderabad Chloroform Commission” in 1891.

The then Prime Minister of Hyderabad, Nawab Asman Jah Bahadur, on September 11, 1891, in the Hyderabad Chloroform Report wrote: “It only remains for me to express the earnest hope that the results arrived at by the Commission may prove of service to the medical profession, and may be attended with benefit to humanity”.