Lady Dufferin Hospital

Lady Dufferin Hospital is located in Karachi, Sindh, and it is the largest women's hospital in Pakistan. The hospital, which was completed in 1898, was named after the British peeress Lady Dufferin. Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, gave birth to a son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the hospital in 1988.

Seth Edulji Dinshaw contributed a sum of Rs. 50,000/- for its establishment

The foundation laying ceremony was performed on 12 November 1894 by Lady Elgin.

In 1915, Dr. Elizabeth Stephens Imprey was appointed the new head of the hospital, but she never made it to Karachi from England. She boarded the P & O liner SS Persia as a first class passenger in Tilbury, London. The ship was sunk off Crete's coast by a German submarine on December 30, 1915. More than 340 passengers drowned, including Dr. Imprey.

Initially, a ward in this hospital was kept specifically for Parsis. In January 1917, the Virbaijee Maternity Wing was opened.

At the end of the 19th Century, the women of India were prepared to die rather than receive treatment in general hospitals in the presence of male patients. When Queen Victoria was informed of the plight of these women, she asked Lady Hariot Dufferin, the wife of the Viceroy of India at that time, to help find a solution. Lady Hariot Dufferin decided to establish hospitals exclusively for women and children. These Dufferin Hospitals were located in Karachi, Quetta, Shikarpur & Hyderabad in Pakistan and Delhi, Nagpor and Calcutta in India.

She appealed to the local philanthropists to donate to the “Dufferin Fund” in order to build these hospitals. In response to this appeal Mr. Eduljee Dinshaw, a renowned philanthropist, established the Lady Dufferin Hospital, Karachi, by a princely donation, in 1894 as a Charitable Institute. The foundation laying ceremony of Eduljee Dinshaw Wing was performed on 12 November 1894 by Lady Elgin with Kincardine and completed in 1898.

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