Radiology

The Historical Journey of Barnard Institute of Radiology, Chennai

Overview
• Barnard Institute of Radiology is one of the oldest radiology institutes in the world.   It has a long and interesting history.
• The first X-ray outfit (first in South East Asia) was obtained for the general hospital in the year 1900 within five years after W.C.Roentgen made his famous discovery.

Formation and Early Years
• In 1920, Government appointed Captain T.W.Barnard to organize a radiological service. The post held by Captain. Barnard initially was a temporary one but later made permanent in 1922, when the Secretary of State sanctioned it under the designation of Radiologist for the Madras Presidency. Later this was changed to Director for Government X-ray Institute, Madras.
• In 1920 when started, the new X-ray service was included to the building for an Institute, which would be a teaching center in southern India.  The “Fallow field”, a very large bungalow, was rented for about 2 years during which time there were negotiations with the owner to purchase the bungalow or to obtain it on a long lease, so as to adapt it for radiological purposes.
• Eventually, negotiations fell through and Captain.Barnard was offered and accepted the temporary buildings in the General Hospital compound, which had been erected for operation theaters.  After the necessary alterations, Their excellencies Lord and Lady Willingdon opened this as a temporary institute, on March 17th 1922.
• These rooms had been used for 12 years but soon became inadequate for the large number of patients attending, for whereas in 1920, there were 3465 sittings in the 2 small x-ray rooms at the General Hospital. In 1922, this had gone up to 11757 sittings at the temporary institute. In 1933, the figures had risen sharply to 75780.

New Building and Growth
• A new building therefore, soon become a necessity and the consulting architects and the Director planned the one presently housing the department. This formed, part of the remodeling scheme adopted for the General Hospital and Medical College compounds.
• The sanctioned estimate for the building of a new institute of Radiology was Rs.3.29 lakhs. This building opened on March 26th 1934 by Sir. George Stanley, the Governor of Madras Presidency then.
• The Institute on later days called as Barnard Institute of Radiology & Cancer was again renamed as Barnard Institute of Radiology & Oncology in 1988.

Technological Advancements
• Since the beginning this Institute was the forerunner in being equipped with latest X-ray units - A 400 KV X-Ray unit was introduced at the time of Captain T.W.Barnard, long before England, Europe and America had began X-Ray services. This when compared to the advanced and sophisticated equipments used today, was very primitive being run from a small battery of accumulators. There have been many changes since then.

Legacy
• Ever since, the Institute is abreast with modern medical equipments and fore runner in medical education. This was due to the foresight and support by the Government of Tamilnadu and the hard work done by the faculty of Barnard Institute of Radiology over generations.