Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s3.t10: Indian Medical Mission
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s3.t10
- Language
- English
Indian Medical Mission
v2.c14.s3.t10.1
On September 1, 1938, the Indian National Congress sent a Medical Mission to China, which was composed of five well trained Indian doctors. Dr Madan Mohanlal Atal was the head of the mission, and Dr M Ramchandra Cholkar was the deputy head. The other three doctors were Dr Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis, Dr Bejoy Kumar Basu and Dr Deben Mukherjee. They saved the lives of many Chinese soldiers, helped train the Chinese medical staff and thereby made outstanding contribution in helping China to gain victory against the Japanese invaders. This was a milestone in the history of India-China relations.
v2.c14.s3.t10.2
In 1937, Japan invaded China. Under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Chinese people gave a call to resist the Japanese imperialists. During this time, the awareness of the Japanese invasion also spread in India. India, then under the British rule, was also facing oppression and exploitation under the British imperialist rulers. Therefore, India empathised with the Chinese people
v2.c14.s3.t10.3
*Ye Jianying, the Eighth Route Army and all members of the Indian medical aid to China at Wuhan; September 30, 1938*
v2.c14.s3.t10.4
and throughout India, an aid-China movement developed. There were student speeches and demonstrations, there were performances organised by art and literary groups and even the urban people raised donations to aid China. On November 27, 1937, at the suggestion of Agnes Smedley, Zhu De, who was then serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Eighth Route Army, a people’s army led by the CCP during the anti-Japanese war, wrote a letter to the Indian national leader Pt Jawaharlal Nehru requesting him to send medical supplies and doctors to help the Chinese in this hour of distress.
v2.c14.s3.t10.5
In response to this request by the Chinese, at its 52ⁿᵈ Session, the Indian National Congress adopted a resolution to send a medical team to China immediately to help the Chinese people in need. The medical mission was sponsored by Pt Jawaharlal Nehru himself. A special committee was set up to collect funds for the mission and select personnel for the mission. The president of the Indian National Congress, Subhas Chandra Bose himself initiated the fund collection drive to prepare for the expenses of the Indian Medical Mission to China.
v2.c14.s3.t10.6
Finally, the Congress decided upon the members of the medical mission to be sent to China. Subhas Chandra Bose presided over a mass send-off rally in Calcutta. He himself went to the Howrah station to see the doctors off to Bombay from where they were to start for China. After fulfilling all the essential requirements and formalities, at the end of August, 1938, the members of the medical mission gathered in Bombay. The mission comprised of five members, namely, Dr Madan Mohanlal Atal from Allahabad, Dr M. Ramchandra Cholkar from Nagpur, Dr Deben Mukherji and Dr Bejoy Kumar Basu from Calcutta and Dr Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis from Sholapur. Dr M Atal was the leader of the mission and Dr M Cholkar, the deputy leader of the mission. Both of them were veterans in medical profession. The remaining three doctors were young men, all below the age of 30. On the afternoon of August 31, 1938, the Chinese residents in Bombay held a farewell banquet in their honour at the Taj Mahal Hotel. In the evening the same day, the Bombay Provincial Congress Committee and the local labour organisation held a mass rally in Jennah Hall to send them off. The chairman of the rally referred to the doctors as the unofficial ambassadors and as the ambassadors of the Indian people to China. On September 1, 1938, the mission having S S Rajputana left Bombay for China boarding the P&O Liner. Madam Sarojini Naidu, one of the most popular leaders of the Indian National Congress, came to see the medical mission off to the ship at Pallard Pier, Bombay. The mission had carried along with it 54 boxes of medicine and one bulletproof ambulance to China. On September 17, the mission reached the Chinese territory at the Guandong Province (Canton).
v2.c14.s3.t10.7
The doctors stayed in Guangzhou for six days and then they travelled towards the north, first to Changsha by a convoy of ambulance. They reached Changsha on September 25. Here, they were incorporated into the No. 15 Curative Unit of the China Red Cross. After spending four days in Changsha, on September 29, the medical team reached Wuhan which was then the seat of the Guomindang government. The doctors started to work in the 64 Rear Hospital in Wuhan. But soon they started for Yan’an in the north, which was the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army. In order to express their love and friendship for the Chinese people, each doctor put ‘Hua’, which means China in the Chinese language, after their names. Dr Atal’s name became Ai Dehua, Dr Cholkar was Chuo Kehua, Dr Mukherji became Mu Kehua, Dr Basu was Ba Suhua and Dr Kotnis was Ke Dihua. This gesture was suggested by Professor Tan Yunshan of Cheena Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan. The five doctors worked laboriously under extremely poor living and working conditions.
v2.c14.s3.t10.8
Later owing to illness, poor health conditions and various other reasons, Dr Cholkar, Dr Mukherji and Dr Atal were compelled to return to India in less than two years. After that Dr Kotnis and Dr Basu continued to work with the Eighth Route Army. They moved to the southeastern part of Shanxi and then to the southern part of Hebei province. From mid-August 1940, the two doctors settled down and started working in the Shanxi-Chahaer-Hebei Base Area, Bethune Medical School and affiliated hospitals. This place was very close to the battle front and the living and working conditions were very poor. In due course, Dr Basu was sent back to Yan’an and Dr Kotnis continued to work there.
v2.c14.s3.t10.9
Dr Kotnis worked very hard and for long hours, some times for 20 hours a day. Due to over-exhaustion his health deteriorated rapidly and he passed away on December 9, 1942 in China. He was 32 years then. After the death of Dr Kotnis, the responsibility of the mission fell entirely on the shoulders of Dr Basu who continued treating the Chinese patients at Yan’an. In June 1943, after working in China for five years, he left Yan’an and proceeded towards India to participate in the Indian National Movement.
v2.c14.s3.t10.10
The Indian Medical Mission had fulfilled its mission in China through the selfless service of the five doctors. It became a major milestone in the history of India-China relations.
v2.c14.s3.t10.11
(*Sabaree Mitra*)