Hi Antonio n the Mervyns !
Thanks for the info on the special Ward for Goans at the Ocean Road Hospital
when the
Germans ruled German East Africa- renamed Tanganyka in 1919 after the British
"booted" them out. I was never aware of it- even though I made several trips to
the hospital in various capacities.
Many goans were born at the Hospital even after independence in 1961;
however, as
a journalist, I was saddened to see the despicable state of affairs during my
stints in the mid to
late seventies.
And in the early 1980s , I had to make one more trip -this time to collect
personal
info for producing birth certificates for three goans whose parents did not
register their kids
with the Registrar of Births and Deaths before independence. This included one
for the late
Kenyan musician- Antonio "Cooty" Coutinho.
The conditions were horrendous and the hospital was a real squalor- filthy -
making many people feel
that the institution could not be classified as a hospital by any
internationally accepted standards.
In 1956, after Princess Margaret opened the Princess Margaret Hospital named
after her ,
many goans particularly those working in the government had another option.
(the hospital was
renamed Muhimili after independence).
And many goans including my wife- Edna nee D'Silva - were born at the Queensway
Nursing Home-
another British private owned hospital, and Vivian D'Souza has stated that
goans were given special
treatment at this Home. The Nursing Home later closed down in the late sixties
and made way for the ever popular Oyster Bay Hotel whose popular patrons- I
believe -
included a young lad who is a well known goanetter.
I am very well aware of the Nairobi situation where Asians were barred from
getting treatment at the
all-white Nairobi Hospital. That was conveyed to me by the Hospital's
Accountant- Satiro Diniz -whose wife-
Clovina is my first cousin- and the many Khoja Ismaili girls who studied
nursing at the hospital.
(Satiro, who now lives in Toronto with his wife , was very well known in
Nairobi goan circles as he was the
Bar Treasurer of the Railway Goan Institute and later Treasurer of the Nairobi
Goan Institute).
Unlike Nairobi where you had Asian owned hospitals , we did not have any
Asian owned
hospitals in Dar until 1964 when the Aga Khan Hospital opened its very small
operations . The Hindus
and other Asian ethnic groups ran dispensaries initially. Hence, I do not know
how the lower
income Indians got their major medical treatment before independence.
For the smaller towns like my small home town of Iringa in southern Tanzania,
we had a
different situation. The British run government hospitals had seperate and
special wards for non-
africans; but with a very strict condition. You had to eat all the food
provided by the hospital-
no food from home. This obviously affected the hindus who would be forced to
have beef for lunch
and the muslims who had no choice but to eat ham, bacon and sausages for
breakfast.
Many opted for other difficult alternatives, but some flouted their own rules.
This included a Khoja
Ismaili woman who came to deliver twins - eleven days before I was born in
January 1947; for when
my mother went to deliver me, all the african workers would tell my mum that
the lady ate pork-
giving my mother little time to pray fervently to Saint Anthony.
For I was supposed to be a "breech" baby and with no gynecologist or
obstetrician in sight, it seems
my mother's prayers were heard ; as three hours before I was born, a 360
degrees situation
occured in my mum's stomach. That's why I am named ANTHONY after the Saint from
Padua.
The hospital had only one room for the maternity ward, and as a result, the
Khoja woman- who did not
have any complications- was forced to go home. I do not know what would have
happened if more
than two pregnant women had to be admitted . The town had no other maternity
ward or hospital.
But like many goans whose parents had European grades in the Colonial and
later local government,
we were very priviliged to get not only special treatment, but also access to
the country's top doctors.
I can attest to my very delicate eye surgery- in my late teens- which was
undertaken by the country's top
three doctors. I might have been blind on one eye if the surgery was not
successful.
Yes, those were the unforgettable days; and when I tell grown up my kids and
my goan friends from Goa and
Bombay, they are baffled. I wonder what the feeling among the other Indians was
. Was it resentment,
jealousy or both ? Would appreciate some input.
Cheers.
Tony Barros.
Union Twnshp,
New Jersey.
