Envisaged by the late His Highness Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III as a seat of learning, Medical College Baroda and Shri Sayajirao General (SSG) Hospital was founded in the city of Vadodara by the late Maharaja of Baroda, Major General Sir Pratapsingh Gaekwad January 1946. Due to the efforts of Dr. Jivraj Mehta, the then Advisor to Government of India and Bombay State on Baroda matters, the ground floor was completed in 1949. Dr. M. D. D. Guilder, the Health Minister of Bombay State, inaugurated it on 16 June 1949. The first class was 40 students.