Mumbai: "What's in a name" - a famous line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - finds resonance in Mumbai's new controversy: KEM.

It's all about the name of a prominent hospital run by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Founded in 1926, the Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College (GSMC) and the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital at Parel are among the foremost teaching and medical care providing institutions in India.

Traditionally, the 100-year-old medical institution has been referred to as KEM Hospital.

It is in memory of Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 - 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, who was the King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions in 1936.

The BJP-headed BMC plans to rename it as Kaushalyashrestha Ekalavya Memorial Hospital.

Senior BJP leader Mangal Prabhat Lodha, who is the Minister of Skill, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, in the Devendra Fadnavis-headed Maha Yuti dispensation, had earlier written to the BMC headquarters about changing the name in line with the Centre's policy.

The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has opposed the proposed name change. "Renaming a legacy institution does not address the real challenges faced by the hospital in current times," the MARD members said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's confidante and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut slammed Lodha. "Lodha should name the Trump Tower he built in the city after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj," he said.