www.mahidol.ac.th

A dedicated physician, educator and scientist, Prince Mahidol of Songkla (1892-1929) is known as the father of modern medicine in Thailand. This year, the centennial of his birth, his contributions to the advancement of medical care in his country are being honoured internationally.

WRITTEN BY KEITH MUNDY
The life of physician, educator and scientist, Prince Mahidol of Songkla, father of Thailand's monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was tragically short, yet his legacy lives on in Thailand's status as a regional leader in health care.

Prince Mahidol's strenuous efforts in the medical field, his establishment of new training institutions, buildings and scholarships, are rewarded to day by the elevated status and sophistication of medicine in the Kingdom.

Several official bodies, both Thai and international., are commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth with special events, awards and issues. UNESVO is honouring him by citing him in its Anniversaries of Great Personalities and Historic Events of 1991-92 and will present an exhibition on his life and work at its Paris headquarters from May 18 to 22. Thailand is instituting an international prize, Prince Mahidol's Award, to be given annually to individuals or organizations who have done distinguished work or research in the fields of medical science and public health. This first year it will be worth US$100,000.

The Thai Post Office has issued commemorative stamps of the most commonly used 2-baht value, and Siriraj Hospital, in association with Siam Commercial Bank, is selling commemorative coins in copper valued at 30 and 600 baht, and in silver and gold, worth respectively 500 and 10,000 baht. The profit from these coins will go to the Prince Mahidol's Award Foundation. To show the public Prince Mahidol's life and work, a traveling exhibition started off at Siriraj Hospital in January. For the same purpose, and to inform medical professionals, a museum will open this year on the hospital premises.

On his father's instructions he prepared for a military career with studies at Prussian military academies. Subsequently, according to his brother's wishes, he attended the Murwik Imperial German Naval Academy. He left the academy in 1914 and became an officer in the Royal Thai Navy, where, seeing his native land with mature eyes for the first time, he noted the dire need for improvement in the standards of medical practice and public health.

Resolving to work towards this, and after obtaining permission from his brother King Rama VI, he resigned from his position in the navy and enrolled in medical school. Prince Mahidol had found his life's mission and embarked on a career which was to have profoundly beneficial consequences for the entire nation.

The Prince chose Harvard University for his studies, arriving in the US in 1916. Because he had to alternate his medical training with the performance of official duties in Thailand, he received his Certificate of Public Health in 1921 and became a Doctor of Medicine only in 1928, graduating cum laude. This schema did, however, enable him to make a significant impact on Thai health care well before graduation. In 1921 he was appointed Director-General of the University Department of the Ministry of Education and set about energetic medical reforms.

He gained Rockefeller Foundation assistance from the US for medical and nursing education and upgraded the teaching of biology, physics, and chemistry, developing curricula, acquiring the latest equipment and building laboratories and classrooms. He frequently added his own personal funds to government funding, and regularly raised donations from other members of the royal family. He provided science scholarships in England to six talented students who returned to form the core of pre-medical science teaching in Thailand.

Mobilizing all possible finance, Prince Mahidol proceeded with his institutional development plan by initiating the establishment of a School of Public Health, a Dental College, a School of Pharmacy and a School of Nursing. He enhanced his eminent father's work, transforming Siriraj, the first scientific hospital in Thailand founded by King Chulalongkorn in 1888, into a modern teaching hospital. In all these endeavors, he sowed the seeds of modern Thai medicine.