Tony Barros wrote: > 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.
Tony, Apart from being a good hospital, Ocean Road also had Goan and Mangalorean nurses and doctors on its staff. One of them, Dr. Avita D'sa was popular enough that even those Goans who could get free medical services elsewhere, would chose to go to Ocean Road for a 'peace of mind' delivery. I bump into Dr. D'sa every-time I am in Panjim. > 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. In the mid to late sixties, Ocean Road, then a hospital for civil servants was one of the few places where the dispensary had medicines for your ailments. I was taken there all the time for only this reason. I guess the civil servants became the new rulers..... > 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. The Registrar of births and deaths after independence was a Goan. When he retired, he was replaced by another Goan. I have birth certificates signed by both these gentlemen. > 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). Well, I guess we should be thankful that they named a hospital after her. Her great grandmother was more pompous and as such they named lakes, waterfalls etc etc after Vicky. However, I do love the name, Princess Margaret Hospital. The hospital in Toronto, named after her, is one of my all time favourite names. Here is why: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45002663@N00/1565629654/sizes/l/ > 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 very first baby delivered at the Aga Khan Hospital, on the day it opened, was a Goan, who is now my brother-in-law. This is what they call, "family planing." :-) Both his mom and mine worked for the Aga Khan School and hoped the hospital would be open in time for the delivery. > 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. I am an Anthony too. My 'Anthony' story is sort of beyond belief and I doubt the story will go beyond the family. In Dar and Zanzibar, the legend was that any pregnant women who went to St. Joseph's Cathedral to pray for a safe delivery promised St. Joseph that she would name the child after him. That is why there are so many Joe's from Dar/Zanzibar. In places where there was no St. Josephs, the Goans boys names are divided equally between Tony and Joseph. > 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. Ok, Tony. It is close to mid-night on a Saturday but I am sort of sober enough to point out that you probably mean 180 degrees. Had you turned 360 degrees, sure you would have been a pre-natally bouncy, athletic baby but you would have bounced back to exactly the same position...... > 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. I would like to add here that one of the top doctors at Muhimbili today, Professor Primo Carneiro, is a Goan. Mervyn2012
