>Vinayaraj at 13:30, 15 May 2021

2021-05-15T13:30:45Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Acacio Gabriel Viegas
| image = Acacio Gabriel Viegas statue.jpg
| caption = Statue of Viegas near [[Metro Adlabs]]
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1856|4|1}}
| birth_place = [[Arpora]], [[Goa]], [[Portuguese India]]
| death_date = February 21, 1933
| death_place = [[Bombay]], [[British India]]
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| residence =
| nationality = Indian
| other_names =
| known_for = Discovery of [[bubonic plague]] in Mumbai
| education = Medicine
| alma_mater = [[University of Bombay]]
| employer = [[Bombay Municipal Corporation]]
| occupation = Physician, Councillor
| title = President of the [[Bombay Municipal Corporation]]
| salary =
| networth =
| height =
| weight =
| term = 1888–1908
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| boards =
| spouse =
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| children =
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}}

'''Acacio Gabriel Viegas''' (1 April 1856—February 21, 1933) was a [[Physician|medical practitioner]] who was credited with the discovery of the outbreak of [[bubonic plague]] in [[Mumbai|Bombay]], India, in 1896. His timely discovery helped save many lives in the city and was credited with the inoculation of 18,000 residents. He was also the president of the [[Bombay Municipal Corporation]].

==Early life==
Acacio Viegas was born on 1 April 1856 in [[Arpora]], [[Goa]]. After the completion of his primary education, he joined [[St Xavier's High School, Bombay]], where he completed his matriculation in 1874 with a distinction.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} He then enrolled in the [[Grant Medical College]], securing a [[British undergraduate degree classification|First Class]] at the [[L.M. & S.]] degree examination held in 1880. Viegas then set up practice at [[Mandvi, Mumbai|Mandvi]] in the south Bombay area.

==As president==

Not satisfied with serving the public only through medicine, he successfully contested the civic election from 1888 till 1907. In 1906 he became the President of the Municipal Corporation, enjoying the distinction of being the first native [[Christians|Christian]] to do so.

He was an active member of the Standing Committee and the Improvement Trust. He then focused his attention to improving the living conditions of the city's poor and down-trodden. He also tried to minimise the increases of public utility costs. As president, Viegas promoted medical relief and introduced compulsory free education.

Viegas was also a member of the [[Bombay University]] Syndicate, and was the pioneer of the Faculty of Scientific Technology. He also introduced [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] into the syllabus and supported the creation of special colleges for women. He was also an examiner in Medicine at the degree level and Foundation-Fellow of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

==Plague==
In 1896, a mysterious disease hit the city in the Nowroji Hill slums. The disease spread rapidly affecting many city residents and became an [[epidemic]]. Those in the medical field were puzzled by this disease which saw a mass exodus from the city. The city's commerce was badly hit, and the flourishing textile industry was grounded.

Viegas correctly diagnosed the disease as [[bubonic plague]] and tended to patients at great personal risk. He then launched a vociferous campaign to clean up slums and exterminate rats, the carriers of the plague.

To confirm Viegas' findings, four teams of independent experts were brought in. With his diagnosis proving to be correct, the Governor of Bombay invited [[W M Haffkine]], who had earlier formulated a vaccine for [[cholera]], do the same for the epidemic. Haffkine's vaccine saved thousands of lives with Viegas personally inoculating around eighteen thousand residents.

After his death in 1933, a life-size statue of him was erected in the [[Cowasji Jehangir Hall]] opposite [[Metro BIG Cinemas|Metro Cinema]] on his birth centenary in 1956, by the Governor of [[Bombay Presidency]], [[Harekrushna Mahtab]], as a tribute to the services rendered to the city. A street in the [[Dhobitalao]] area is also named after him.

==References==
{{reflist}}
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20041223191023/http://www.goacom.com/goanow/2000/nov/lookingback.html Dr Acacio Viegas]'', Goan Achievers in Bombay, Dr Teresa Albuquerque, Goacom: Goanow – Looking Back (Nov 2000 issue)
* ''[http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503/eminent-goans.html Goans are all over the world, doing all kinds of things]'' ([https://www.webcitation.org/5klXovslO?url=http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503/eminent-goans.html Archived] 2009-10-24), [[Frederick Noronha]]

==External links==
{{Commons category|Acacio Gabriel Viegas}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viegas, Acacio Gabriel}}
[[Category:Goans in science and technology]]
[[Category:1856 births]]
[[Category:1933 deaths]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Mumbai]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:University of Mumbai alumni]]
[[Category:People from North Goa district]]
[[Category:Indian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Goa]]

Acacio Gabriel Viegas - Revision history

>Vinayaraj at 13:30, 15 May 2021