Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa (Old Medical School of Goa)

A photo of the old building, restored, as seen in April 2005.

The Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa was established in 1842 and had been planned by the Chief Physician Matheus Rodrigues Cesario Moacho. This school was established by Order of the then Governor Conde das Antas, of November 5, 1842.

Since its founding until 1963, the year of its formal extinction, the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa produced some 1,327 doctors and 469 pharmacists.

In the course of more than a century of existence, the Escola Médica de Goa created professors, military surgeons, hospital and medical charities, health delegates and clinicians. Many of these gained name and fame.

Doctors trained by the Goa School (Escola de Goa) contributed, especially overseas, for the health of these provinces, both in the fight against epidemics in the colonies, as also to aid indigenous peoples. The Metropolis (Lisbon) recognized and paid due honour to the pioneers of scientific colonization in the Portuguese lands of Africa and Asia.

History

The origins of this school dates back to the beginning in the seventeenth century when the Viceroy D. Cristóvão de Sousa Coutinho approached Lisbon with a request for "two or three Masters to teach medicine to the many locals, who are very sharp and quick to learn" ("dois ou três Mestres para ensinar medicina a muitos naturais, que são mui agudos e com facilidade a aprenderiam").

In fact, since the last decades of the sixteenth century, Goa got to be known as the "cemetery of the Portuguese," an expression of the Viceroy Conde de Alvor. The unhealthiness of the Old Town was obvious, given the density of population combined with the lack of hygiene and medical care.

Until then, doctors were rare in Goa.

Famous alumni

• Agostinho Fernandes (1932-2015), Goan novellist

Coordinates: 15°27′47″N 73°51′28″E / 15.4631°N 73.8578°E