The first Indian Medical Congress was held at St Xavier’s College, Calcutta, from December 24 to December 29, 1894.
The number of members was 700, and over 200 papers were contributed, the most important of which were published in a ‘Volume of Transactions’. The organisers expressed immense gratitude to the Fathers at St Xavier’s College.
According to the Transactions, the immense hall, where the meeting was taking place, had a seating capacity of seven hundred and “was filled to overflowing with medical men. The building was gaily decorated for the occasion, and a strip of red broadcloth, with choice crotons, ferns and ornamental plants on either side led up the grand staircase to the stage at the southern end of the hall on which seats had been placed for His Excellency, the Lieutenant-Governor and other distinguished guests. Long before the appointed hour a very large number of European and Native medical gentlemen arrived, and those who did not prefer to take up advantageous positions on the grand staircase and witness the reception of His Excellency were shown to their places by the Master of Ceremonies and members of the Reception Committee, who wore red or blue rosettes. The excellent acoustic properties of the hall made it almost a matter of indifference where one sat, every word of the several speeches made being heard distinctly in all parts of the house.”
The president of the congress was Surgeon Colonel R. Harvey, and the vice-presidents were and “Joggobundhu Bose and Surjeet Coomar Sarbadhicari”.