In 1945, as the world began to rebuild at the end of World War II, in the north of the subcontinent, an Italian architect and war prisoner designed the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) for Christian missionaries to serve the people of the region.

The hospital was opened in 1927 in an old building near Liaquat Bagh on Murree Road by the Christian Mission of Philadelphia, and it moved to the new building in Satellite Town in 1946. The mission donated the hospital to the Punjab government in 1977, after which it became the largest teaching hospital in the division.

With its humble beginnings as 200-bed institution, HFH now offers 1,050 beds. It is affiliated with the Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU), whose vice chancellor Dr Mohammad Umer in fact trained as a doctor at HFH and spent more than 35 years in service there.

The story of the hospital begins with the arrival of nuns in the garrison city. In 1909, St Catherine’s Hospital opened behind the Presentation Convent in Rawalpindi, where Dr Anna Dangel, an Austrian, worked for years. Sister Anna Dangel in turn founded the Medical Mission of Sisters in the United States in 1925.

It was under her leadership, along with other mission sisters, that HFH was established in 1927. The first hospital of its kind in the area, it soon gained a reputation for its maternity services.

When it moved to its present premises in the 40s, many of its doctors and nurses at the time were sisters, along with locals.

The hospital had two storeys that housed 200-bed wards, an emergency room, an operation room, a labour room, nurseries, a private block, semi-private rooms, a pharmacy, laboratory, an outpatient department and so on. The entire building was built using donations from Hindu, Christian and Muslim philanthropists in the city.

A chapel was also built in the hospital, and on the third floor a nursing school served as a training centre, a venue for graduation ceremonies and even activities. A tower, visible from afar and rising from this level, is a landmark of the building.

The basement, meanwhile, housed maintenance, carpeting, electric, tailoring and cleaning workshops, as well as a large laundry. This basement could accommodate all the hospital’s patients during emergency situations, according to a Disaster Plan.

RMU Vice Chancellor Dr Umer told Dawn that missionaries established the hospital to provide high quality medical services to patients from the region, and they had sought to continue this objective after the hospital was donated to the Punjab government.

He said the hospital was elevated to a university’s teaching hospital and upgraded to 1,050 beds with modern facilities, because of which patients come from Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistanseeking treatment.

He added that the medical university has tried to preserve the old building in its original shape. Although repairs and maintenance has been carried out over the years, they did not disturb the old structure, he said.

“Interestingly, the building was constructed on donations. All the bricks were made in the hospital’s brick kiln. The Christian missionaries collected donations and plaques in various wards are proof of that,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2019