Dr Ernest Borges Road Tribute to man who spent his life fighting cancer
The street bears the name of a man who was a leading cancer surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital for over 30 years. ‘Dr Ernest Borges Road’, reads a blue signboard at the beginning of the 2-km stretch in Parel.
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The street bears the name of a man who was a leading cancer surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital for over 30 years. Express photo by Santosh Parab
Located in the heart of Mumbai is a street where thousands from across the country flock to, either for medical treatment or to care for loved ones who are ill. The street bears the name of a man who was a leading cancer surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital for over 30 years. ‘Dr Ernest Borges Road’, reads a blue signboard at the beginning of the 2-km stretch in Parel. Unlike most streets that take on a colloquial name for the ease of reference, this road has stuck with the name given to it in the 1970s.
According to the many street vendors occupying its side lanes, not much has changed on the road through the years, apart from the traffic. “In the past few years, the streets have become more chaotic and traffic snarls have increased,” says a coconut vendor who has run his business here for 40 years. The road snakes through some of the city’s top hospitals and hotels, before finally meeting Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road below the Lalbaug flyover. The hospitals it provides access to are the Tata Memorial Hospital, KEM Orthopaedic Centre and Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital. It is flanked by Parel’s contrasting landscape of glossy buildings, such as the ITC Grand Central, and rundown structures.
Dr Ernest Borges, after whom the street is named, was the Director and Superintendent of the Tata Memorial Hospital from 1967 to 1969. In tribute to his contribution to the field of cancer surgery, Tata Memorial Hospital released a handbook on September 6, 2009, to celebrate the centenary year of his birth. The book captures the fascinating journey of Dr Borges as a surgeon and mentor and details his association with the hospital.
“Apart from his competence and empathy, he gave people the courage to fight. When people do good to others, they live on in their memories. My father was one such man, whose humanitarian work and medical expertise has left an indelible mark on the people he met in his lifetime. He breathed his last on the March 3, 1969, felled by the very disease that he had worked much of his life to alleviate,” says Dr Anita Borges, his daughter. The street was originally named Hospital Avenue. It was later renamed to Dr. Ernest Borges Road after several petitions demanded the name change reached then Municipal Commissioner J B D’Souza. Today, the name ‘Dr. E Borges’ features in hospital addresses, scholarships, roads and even in the cocktail menu at the ITC Grand Central hotel.
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