Minister to submit proposal to rename Lady Goschen Hospital after Rani Abbakka

Minister for Kannada and Culture V Sunil Kumar on Saturday said he will submit a proposal to the chief minister on renaming the 175-year-old Lady Goschen Hospital after Rani Abbakka.

Sunil, who is also the district in-charge minister, said it is the right time to rename the hospital.

As the country is celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the onus is on us to create awareness about leaders who had waged a war against foreign rule to our children, he said.

Besides, the children born in the hospital must aspire to become like Rani Abbakka, he added.

On the proposal creating a controversy, he countered by saying who would create controversy on naming an institution after Rani Abbakka.

The government Lady Goschen Hospital, earlier known as the maternity hospital, was set up around 1848. The hospital was renamed as Lady Goschen Hospital when Lady Goschen, wife of Governor of Madras Residency, George Joachim Goschen, had visited the hospital in the early nineteenth century.

District In-charge Minister V Sunil Kumar is not the first minister to submit such a proposal. In 2013, then deputy speaker in the Assembly N Yogish Bhat had submitted a proposal to rename Lady Goschen Hospital as Rani Abbakka Hospital and District Wenlock Hospital after Kudmul Ranga Rao.