New LCH

Woodstock School's partnership with LCH hospital goes right back to the foundation of the first hospital society in 1931, and the building of Landour Community Hospital in 1938. Many generations of students have been treated at the hospital, and a significant number of alumni - including at least one currently serving on the Woodstock staff - first saw the light of day in an LCH maternity ward.

It was with a real sense of delight, then, that a large number of Woodstock staff attended the ceremony to mark the official opening of the new LCH building. As described in a Brown & Gold article, the hospital has over the last year undergone a total renovation and re-equipping, with financial support from Sanjay Narang '81 and others, and is now gleaming, bright, colourful and welcoming.

Emmanuel Hospital Association, the managers of the hospital, have fulfilled their part of the transformation by recruiting a team of doctors with a variety of specialisms, including orthopedics, dentistry, obstetrics, surgery and physiotherapy, as well as general medicine. Medical Superintendant Dr. Samuel Matthew, at the opening ceremony, showed evident pride in being able to recount the range of services which the hospital will now be able to offer.

Representatives at the ceremony included Jot Singh Ghansola, MLA, Manmohan Singh Mall, Chairman of the City Board, Mussoorie, and Ramesh Bhandari, local councillor for the area where LCH is situated, all of whom made speeches. Jot Singh Ghansola commented that the change was so significant that the hospital should be renamed "New Landour Community Hospital" - although the large new sign over the door would have had to be remade!

EHA Regional Director Dr. Ann Thyle gave a short history of the hospital, and Executive Director Dr. Santosh Matthew paid tribute to the many people who had played a part in this transformation, including the architects, Pawan Jain and the electrical engineers, Lyle Lopez, both of which companies have been for some time also engaged in work on the Woodstock campus. Woodstock School received particular thanks for the support offered to LCH for many years, not least in offering places to the children of many of the doctors who have worked at the hospital.

This was a Christian thanksgiving, and the ceremony was opened by Rev. Eric Templeton, who read the Bible account of the dedication of the temple built by Solomon, and closed by Rev. Cornelius, who reminded all those there of the founding principles of LCH, and the centrality of Christian compassion and care to the work of the hospital.

Following the ceremony, tea was served and the host of guests had the opportunity to marvel at what is truly a "new LCH".