Parsi General Hospital History: 1905 to Today

By PalV's Kasti · Last reviewed: 29 October 2026

The Parsi General Hospital in Mumbai grew out of a fundraising appeal that Jehangir Bomanjee Petit put before the community in 1905, and it opened on 27 March 1912, according to the hospital's own published history. His father, Seth Bomanji Dinshaw Petit, answered the appeal with a property called the "Cumballa Hill Family Hotel" plus securities with a face value of ₹50,000, so the committee named the institution The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital. Sir George Clarke, Governor of Bombay, laid its foundation stone in 1907 and came back to open it. In the century since, the building was twice given over to military use in wartime, a nursing school opened in 1928, and the wings were rebuilt or renovated between 1991 and 2009 .

Why did the Petit family build a hospital only for Parsis?

The hospital's history says that in the golden age of Parsi charity, early in the 19th century, Parsi giving reached every caste and community, and that this hospital was one of only a few cases where it was kept within the community. The same account links the idea to the bubonic plague. Roughly ten years before the hospital stood, Parsis were thinking hard about how to protect themselves from the epidemic, and the Petits believed the community's health was being neglected for lack of a proper general hospital.

Its treatment schemes page today describes a Poor Patient Subsidy Fund for community members in financial distress. What the hospital offers now is covered on our Parsi General Hospital hub.

Who were Bomanji Dinshaw Petit and Jehangir Petit?

Bomanji was the 12th child of Sir Dinshaw M. Petit, First Baronet, and Lady Sakarbai Petit, the hospital's history records. He was a senior partner in a number of mills owned by the family and served as President of the Mill Owners Association. His giving was not limited to Parsis: the history names a gift to the London School of Tropical Medicine.

The same account calls his son Jehangir "the life and soul of the Hospital". It credits him with shaping the final plan, and notes that the J. B. Petit High School for Girls carries his name. It then names his younger brother Dhunjibhoy, and Maneckji, as the family members who carried his work forward.

How was the hospital set up, step by step?

The hospital's history sets out a slow start spread over seventeen years:

1. 1905: Jehangir Bomanjee Petit signs and issues a prospectus asking Parsis for funds.
2. Bomanji answers with the Cumballa Hill Family Hotel and ₹50,000 in securities. A provisional committee accepts the gift and agrees to name the hospital after him.
3. 12 April 1906: a trust deed places the property with the trustees of the Parsee Panchayet, who hold it as custodians for the hospital.
4. 1907: Sir George Clarke lays the foundation stone.
5. 1911: the provisional committee begins framing rules for running the hospital.
6. 27 March 1912: the same Governor opens the hospital.
7. 14 November 1922: the board of management registers as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and that society becomes the body in control.

The history still describes this split: the Panchayet trustees hold the property, while a Managing Committee of the separate society runs the hospital. The hotel origin survives in the hospital's own words, too. The CEO's message on its website calls the building an "over a century old hotel turned Hospital".

What happened to the hospital during the two World Wars?

In 1916, during the First World War, the Government of India took over the building for wounded military personnel, and the hospital moved into a bungalow at the entrance of B. D. Petit Road. When the Second World War began, the management offered the building for military use of its own accord and moved to a bungalow on Carmichael Road. On both occasions, the history says, the hospital gained a spell of financial stability that it badly needed.

How did the hospital grow after 1928?

Its School of Nursing dates from 1928 and still teaches the Diploma in General Nursing and Midwifery.

A bigger push came after 1949. That year Dr Gilder, then Minister of Health in the Government of Bombay, sent for his former pupil Dr Homi S. Mehta, then Police Surgeon of Bombay, to act as Honorary Secretary. Gilder was the last surviving member of the honorary visiting staff the hospital had first appointed, and had sat on its first committee. Mehta guided the hospital for 40 years, from 1950 to 1990. Working with Maneckji Petit and Dinshawji Petit, he opened new or upgraded departments of radiology, pathology, physiotherapy, ophthalmology and dental care, set up a nutrition department, and built quarters for house doctors and nurses.

A commemorative volume, The B.D. Petit Parsee General Hospital, 1912-1972, was published by an editorial board of the hospital's Executive Committee, and a copy is catalogued at the Center for Research Libraries.

Who has led the hospital since 1982?

When Maneckji Petit died in 1982, his cousin Dinshawji Hormusji Petit, a solicitor, became President. The history credits him with bringing in paying patients who were well off, so that their fees would subsidise care for the poor. He gave the hospital more than 50 years, rising from young committee member to Treasurer, Joint Honorary Secretary, Vice President and then President.

His son Homa Petit, also a solicitor, is named in the history as the current President. The Managing Committee page still listed him as President when we checked on 29 October 2026. In a message to donors he marked the completion of 50 years on the Executive Committee on 1 January 2020.

How was the hospital rebuilt between 1991 and 2009?

From 1991 the hospital began replacing old buildings and ageing infrastructure with money from donors. The main projects, as the hospital records them:

Project	Dates	Cost (as recorded)	What it added
Jokhi Wing	Work began 1992, opened January 1995	₹15 million from Shapoorji Fakirji Jokhi, raised to ₹45 million by Keki F. Jokhi's foundation	Radiology, pathology and ECG on the ground floor, four operation theatres, and a 12-bed ICU to which 4 surgical beds were later added
A Wing renovation	1999 to March 2002	About ₹80 million	61 single rooms, a labour and delivery room, four day-care beds
Pallonji Shapoorji Home for Senior Citizens	Work began August 2005, open from 1 January 2007	About ₹56.75 million	Home for community members above 65
Main Wing renovation	October 2004 to March 2009	About ₹195 million	Free and subsidised wards, casualty, pharmacy and physiotherapy

Among the A Wing donors were the Incorporated Trustees of the Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hongkong, Canton and Macao, who also paid for most of the Main Wing's first floor. Once the major work was finished in July 2009, the hospital was running 220 beds, and 117 of them were for free and highly subsidised patients.

What has changed since the centenary?

The hospital's history page was written as the hospital was "now entering its Centenary Year". Its 106th Annual Report covered the financial year that ended on 31 March 2019.

The hospital's own pages give different bed figures for different dates. The President's message, with figures for 2016/17 to 2018/19, puts the total at 173 beds, with 96 for poor patients and 67 of those entirely free. The treatment schemes page, which carries no date, lists 44 beds earmarked in its free male and female wards. Neither page explains the fall from 220 beds in 2009.

Several new chapters followed:

• September 2019: a new Chief Executive Officer took up the post. The CEO's message, signed on the home page by Dr (Lt. Gen., retd) M. Ganguly, reports a new step-down ICU and a move to electronic medical records, and notes that a "New Hospital project fell through" .
• COVID-19: in a message to donors, the President wrote that the hospital had created a separate isolation ward and a six-bed ICU.
• 16 March 2021: the municipal corporation recognised the hospital as a COVID vaccination centre. The President's Navroze message that year said more than 420 Parsis had been treated there for COVID, and that vaccination would be free for Parsi and Irani Zoroastrians.
• 15 November 2021: a CT-scan department was inaugurated.
• 10 February 2022: an out-patient dialysis unit with two machines opened, given by Neville Sarkari in memory of his mother.

The money pressures behind these years are covered in our piece on Parsi-run hospitals.

Frequently asked questions

When was the Parsi General Hospital founded?

According to its own history, The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital opened on 27 March 1912. The idea goes back to 1905, when Jehangir Bomanjee Petit appealed to Parsis for funds. A trust deed followed on 12 April 1906, and the Governor of Bombay laid the foundation stone in 1907.

Who founded the Parsi General Hospital in Mumbai?

The hospital's history names Seth Bomanji Dinshaw Petit as founder, together with his son Jehangir. Bomanji gave the Cumballa Hill Family Hotel and ₹50,000 in securities, and the hospital bears his initials. Jehangir issued the 1905 appeal, shaped the plan, and is called "the life and soul of the Hospital".

Why is it called the B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital?

"B. D. Petit" stands for Bomanji Dinshaw Petit. When he answered his son's 1905 appeal with a property and securities worth ₹50,000 at face value, the provisional committee accepted the gift and agreed to name the hospital after him. "Parsee" is the spelling of Parsi that the hospital uses in its formal name.

Was the Parsi General Hospital used during the World Wars?

Yes. In 1916 the Government of India took over the building for wounded military personnel, and the hospital moved to a bungalow on B. D. Petit Road. In the Second World War the management offered the building for military use and moved to Carmichael Road. Both moves gave it temporary financial stability.

When did the Parsi General Hospital start its nursing school?

The hospital's website gives 1928 as the founding year of its School of Nursing. The school runs the Diploma in General Nursing and Midwifery, is recognised by the Indian Nursing Council and the Maharashtra Nursing Council, and admits only female candidates aged 17 to 35.

Who runs the Parsi General Hospital today?

A Managing Committee of the society registered in 1922 runs the hospital. On 29 October 2026 its website listed Homa D. Petit as President. He is the son of Dinshawji Hormusji Petit, who became President in 1982. The CEO's message, signed by Dr (Lt. Gen., retd) M. Ganguly, says he joined in September 2019.