The
Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, of
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, sent Dr. Wanless to
India in 1889. In 1891, he selected the rustic town of
Miraj in
Maharashtra State for the mission hospital. The Mission was started as a one-room dispensary in a very small rented place at a busy bazaar, and he was assisted by his wife, Mary, a trained nurse. The
Rajah of Miraj,
Rajah Sir Gangadharrao Ganesh (Bala Saheb) Patwardhan, provided him with land for a hospital which was formally opened in 1894, in a part of the city now known as
Wanlesswadi. With the establishment of a hospital, the need for higher quality medical care was increasingly felt, and towards that end a School of Nursing was founded in 1897 under the superintendence of Miss Elizabeth Foster. It has since steadily developed into one of the best
nursing schools in Maharashtra. Wanless established a
Tuberculosis Sanatorium in 1920. At the time of his retirement in 1928, money was raised by citizens and his friends to erect a new building called the Wanless Tuberculosis Sanatorium, now known as Wanless Chest Hospital. The Goheen Clinic was named after Dr. Robert H. H. Goheen, father of
Robert Francis Goheen, These facilities have effectively served the purposes for which they were established, that is in providing quality health care to all irrespective of
caste,
creed, religion or
financial means. Additionally, Wanless established five outpost stations attached to the hospital, and paid the hospital's staff of 125, living only on his missionary's salary sent by the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, while donating his personal staff salary to the mission. He wrote a book,
Medicine in India, on his life as a doctor in India. He died at his home, 1016 Matillja Street,
Glendale, California, on March 3, 1933, and was buried at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the same city. His wife Lillian died in 1973 at the age of 99 at their home in Glendale, California. Wanless's son Harold later carried on his father's tradition by studying medicine at the
University of Toronto. The Wanless Hospital and Wanless Chest Hospital are now located in the township of'' 'Wanlesswadi','' that is 'Wanless town', made notable for its medical institutions. The name was given it by its citizens in that part of India and is recognized by the federal government of India. Wanlesswadi has its own
Postal Index Number, 416414, and the
Indian Railways also has a station named 'Wanlesswadi' on its Miraj–Sangli Route, which opened on April 1, 1907, for the use by ill or needy patients from across India and from abroad. As a secondary and tertiary care centre, Wanless Hospital serves a large part of western
Maharashtra and
North Karnataka. == Honours ==