Kashi or Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world, known to exist from the ancient Vedic era. It is the cultural & literary capital of India since time immemorial. The history of Medical Education in Varanasi is at least 2500 years old. It has produced great scholars of Ayurveda like Divodas Dhanwantri and Charaka. It was here that the great Indian Surgeon Sushruta lived and practised Medicine and Surgery around the 5th century B.C. and also compiled his famous treatise, the "Sushruta Samhita". In this perspective it was but natural that Medical Education became one of the priorities of the then developing Banaras Hindu University way back in 1920. Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, our illustrious founder and great visionary had a foresight of imparting high status to the Ayurvedic System of Medicine. As a result of which Ayurveda was introduced as a curricular subject in the Department of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma and Theology of Banaras Hindu University as early as in 1922. With the high aims of service to suffering humanity as also imparting practical training to students of Ayurveda, the foundation of 96 bedded Sir Sunderlal Hospital was laid down in 1924 by His Highness Late Prabhu Narayan Singh, the then Kashi Naresh. It derived its name from Sir Sunderlal Ji, the first Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University. Subsequently, a separate Ayurvedic College was established in 1927. In order to keep pace with the fast developments in the field of medical sciences in Western world, the study of Modern Medicine was also incorporated and the College of Medical Sciences came into existence 1960. Since then both Modern Medicine and Ayurveda are coexisting in this institution. Sir Sunderlal Hospital has continuously grown and reached to the present status of 1200 bedded modern hospital for Ayurveda and Modern Medicine disciplines. This growth of the hospital has been exponential and being maintained looking into the needs of the society (Academically, Research wise, as well as in terms of Patient Care).
Sir Sunderlal Hospital is primarily a teaching and training hospital for the undergraduates, post graduates, super specialties and research courses run by the Institute of Medical Sciences in the various disciplines of medicine, nursing and paramedics. It is the only Tertiary care Hospital providing specialty and Super Specialty services to the health care needs of about 20 Crore population of Eastern UP, Western Bihar, adjoining MP, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand as well as neighboring country of Nepal. It is a unique hospital to provide both Ayurveda and Modern Medicine services under one roof. It also cares for the health of approximately 60,000 people of the University community including students, teachers and employees and their dependents. Besides this, Sir Sunderlal Hospital acts as the main referral hospital for Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi, Military Hospital, NTPC, Coal India, BHEL, and other neighboring Hospitals of the catchment area.