Opened as Homeless Leper Asylum, Matoonga, in 1890. It was founded by Mr H A Acworth, then Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai. Fifty patients were initially sheltered.
The Leprosy Commission visited Acworth in 1890, and in 1904, the name was changed to Acworth Leprosy Asylum, and then to Acworth Leprosy Hospital in 1955.
The Asylum was fully taken over by Bombay Municipal Corporation as the Acworth Municipal Hospital for Leprosy in 1991, and at present, it has an outpatient section which provides diagnostic and therapeutic services. It has an inpatient section with about 210 patients nowadays who are maintained in the hospital free of charge. Peripheral clinics are also run at KEM Hospital, Nair Hospital, Sion Hospital and Dockyard Municipal Dispensary. Field work which promotes earliest detection in the healthy population is carried out on a wide level. Reconstructive surgery is offered by an Honorary Surgeon once a week. Both training and research are offered in the areas of New Drugs, Leprosy Vaccine and Immunological Studies.