Anyone who has come to the city of Kozhikode must have seen the Ashoka Hospital, or if not, the hospital is well-known for giving birth since ancient times. And the Vienna clock, which has been running 24 hours a day, since the days when the time was counted by looking at the moon.
As part of the road development, the working part of the hospital including the operation theater will be demolished and replaced. The director of the hospital, Dr. Ashwin Ramakrishnan, said that it was decided to close the hospital because it might not continue to operate. There are land limitations for constructing new buildings. The director also says that it is difficult to completely demolish the building and build a new hospital in the current situation.
The hospital where so many grandfathers and grandmothers, their children and their children’s children were born will admit patients only till December 31. The hospital will be completely closed on January 15.
Ashoka Hospital was established 92 years ago in 1930 by Doctor V.I. Raman, a native of Thrissur Chavakkad. He was a renowned Gynecologist in North Malabar and did his advanced studies in Vienna, Europe. Due to his interest in European construction methods, he returned home and built a building named Ashoka Hospital and Nursing Home on Bank Road, Kozhikode, combining European construction methods and Kerala architecture.
A clock was also brought from Vienna to tell the time to the city at a time when watches and clocks were rare. The clock that chimes 12 times at twelve o’clock was first a curiosity and later became part of the city. The fourth generation of his descendants are now running the hospital.
Even if the hospital is demolished, the TMD treatment center run by the current director Dr Ashwin Ramakrishnan will remain within the compound, hospital officials said.