Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital started out as a dispensary for freedom fighters who could not get treatment in government hospitals for injuries suffered during protests against the Raj. After Kamala ji’s death, Mahatma Gandhi took it upon himself to ensure that her dream did not die with her. He collected funds to build the hospital and in 1941, Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital came to life.
Our Founding Trustees
India’s first Prime Minister and the builder of modern nation. From donating land for the hospital to starting the cancer wing, Pandit ji shaped the Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital.
Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru
Founding Trustee
Remembered as Mahamana, Malviya ji was the founder of the Banaras Hindu University where he served as the Vice Chancellor from 1919 to 1938.
Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya
Founding Trustee
Vijaylakshmi Pandit was the first woman President of the UN General Assembly in 1953 and served as India’s ambassador to several countries.
Smt. Vijayalakshmi Pandit
Founding Trustee
Grand-daughter of the legendary Grand Old Man of India, Dadabhai Naoroji, Ms Khursheed A.D. Naoroji worked closely with Khudai Khidmatgar and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan.
Miss Khursheed A.D. Naoroji
Founding Trustee
Dr Katju was a prominent lawyer and served as Union Minister for Home and Defence, besides serving as the CM of MP and Governor of Orissa and West Bengal.
Dr. Kailas Nath Katju
Founding Trustee
Jamnalal Bajaj was an industrialist, a philanthropist, and above all, a freedom fighter who was like a son to Mahatma Gandhi. He founded the Bajaj Group of companies in 1926.
Shri Jamnalal Bajaj
Founding Trustee
Grandson of Dadabhai Naoroji, Jal AD Naoroji was an entrepreneur and a freedom fighter who was arrested in 1932 as he was seeking to take India into the airline age.
Shri. Jal A. D. Naoroji
Founding Trustee
The first CM of Gujarat, Dr. Mehta worked as a personal physician to Mahatma Gandhi and was jailed twice during the freedom struggle. He also served as the Indian high commissioner to the UK.
Dr. Jivraj N. Mehta
Founding Trustee
Bharat Ratna Dr BC Roy served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for 14 years. National Doctors’ Day is celebrated on his birthday.
Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy
Founding Trustee
Shri Mahmud was played a role in crafting the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the Muslim League. In 1923, he became a Deputy General Secretary of the AICC along with Pt Nehru.
Dr. Syed Mahmud
Founding Trustee
Smt. Kamala Nehru
A woman of great spiritual beauty
Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital traces its roots to the Freedom Struggle, when in the year 1931, Smt. Kamala Nehru converted some rooms in her ancestral house, the historic Swaraj Bhawan, into a Congress Dispensary.
This mini Hospital had both indoor and outdoor facilities manned by patriotic doctors and other paramedical staff. Presiding over it all was Kamala herself, a woman frail in health but indomitable in spirits. She gave to this institution her time, labour and above all, all her compassion till her untimely death in 1936.
After the sad and untimely demise of Smt. Kamala Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and other national leaders like Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, Dr. B. C. Roy, Pandit Uma Shankar Dikshit and others took it upon themselves to see that her work was carried on, even after her death. The Mahatma took it upon himself to ensure the dream did not die.
Gandhiji laid the foundation stone of this Hospital on Nov. 19, 1939 and later inaugurated it on Feb. 28, 1941 – the death anniversary of Kamalaji. K.N.M. Hospital, in fact, was built as a national tribute to the memory of Kamalaji who was a living monument of selfless service, sacrifice and compassion for fellow human beings.
To start with, it was a fledgling unit with just 40 beds of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, out of which 28 were free. The first Medical Superintendent of the Hospital was Dr.(Mrs) Satyapriya Mazumdar.
Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru on his birthday 14th Nov, 1943 announced that a Cancer Wing would be established in the Hospital, similar to Tata Memorial Centre, Bombay and this had an enthusiastic response from all sections of society. The Cancer wing of the Hospital was inaugurated by Shri. R. Rajagopalachari, the then Governor General of India, in 1949. Since then it has been serving the people of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other adjoining states of Northern India and some neighbouring countries such as Nepal and Bhutan.
The year 1949 marked the beginning of cancer treatment at the Hospital with the installation of Maximar Deep X-ray therapy unit for cancer therapy. The Cancer wing of the Hospital was further expanded and formally inaugurated by the then Vice President of India Dr. S. Radhakrishnan on April 8, 1959 with three Deep X-ray units, one Cobalt Unit and 200 mg Radium for Brachy therapy. This made KNMH the third centre in the country for comprehensive cancer treatment, in the early fifties, the other two being Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and Chittaranjan National Cancer Hospital, Kolkata.
A modernization program of the Cancer Wing was initiated with the installation of stationery head Janus Cobalt Unit in 1984, re-establishment of cancer wards in 1984 and commissioning of rotational head Isocentric Teletherapy Unit, Theratron 780 C, Selectron LDR (remote control after loading) unit with Caesium 137 source and RT 3000 Ultrasonography Unit. In 1987, the imaging section was further strengthened by addition of a Whole Body CT Scan CTW 700, under the Indo Japanese Aid Programme for Cancer control in India.
The Hospital initiated a Rural Health program in 1986. Rajiv ji laid the foundation stone of Kamala Nehru Memorial Rural Hospital in 1987 at Village Newada Samogarh, Naini, Allahabad which was inaugurated in 1988. The Hospital serves as a base centre for preventive oncology and cancer detection at the grass root level in the surrounding villages. A Community Oncology wing was established in the Rural Hospital in 2003.
In 1992 the Hospital was recognized as Regional Institute of Mother & Child Health by Government of India. The National AIDS Control Organisation recognised the Hospital as an AIDS Surveillance Centre in 1993, and made it a state level Voluntary Counseling & Testing Centre in 1998. In 1993, the Department of Atomic Energy co-opted this Hospital as a Centre for Research in Radiation Oncology, Medical Physics and Nuclear Medicine. On the strength of the services rendered by the Hospital, Government of India recognised KNMH as a Regional Cancer Centre in 1994 covering Uttar Pradesh and the neighbouring region.
