Friend please take an active participation in this thread to discuss and give updates about Health/Hospital related projects, research, news etc revolving around Chennai. Cheers!!

Chennai is the Health Capital of India. Home to some of India's best healthcare institutions such as

* Apollo Hospitals, the largest healthcare provider in Asia,
* MIOT Hospitals,
* Sankara Nethralaya
* Sri Ramachandra Medical Center
* Madras Medical Mission(MMM),
* Frontier Lifeline
* K.M.Cherian heart foundation

Chennai is a preferred destination for medical tourists from across the globe. Some of the treatments sought after by the tourists include heart surgery, neurological problems, cancer, plastic surgery and orthopaedic procedures.

In India, Chennai attracts about 45% of all health tourists from abroad and 30%–40% of domestic tourists

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Chennai#Medical_tourism

Hospitals in Chennai

1. GOVERNMENT GENERAL HOSPITAL, CHENNAI
Government General Hospital or G.G.H. is a major hospital situated in Chennai, India. The hospital is funded and managed by the state Government of Tamil Nadu; hence it is state-owned. It was founded in 1664 by the British East India Company. In the 19th century, Madras Medical College joined it. Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_General_Hospital)

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2. STANLEY HOSPITAL, CHENNAI
Stanley Medical College (SMC) is a government medical college with hospitals, located in Chennai (Madras) in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Though the original hospital is more than 200 years old, the medical college was formally established on July 2, 1938. Stanley Medical College is ranked 9th according to the NDTV ranking of top medical colleges in India. Source: wiki
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cc: wikipedia.org

3. Apollo Hospitals
Apollo Hospitals is a major hospital chain based in Chennai, India. It was founded by Dr. Prathap C. Reddy in 1983. Apollo is the largest private healthcare provider in Asia and the third largest in the world, with hospitals in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria, Republic of Mauritius, Qatar,Oman and Kuwait. Source: Wiki
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cc: iradix.in

4. MIOT Hospitals
The Madras Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (MIOT), is a multi-crore and a multi specialty hospital built with German Collaboration. MIOT is a truly a Global hospital in India with world class specialities in the field of Joint Replacement Surgeries, Orthopaedics and Trauma.With world class technology and most advanced techniques the hospital offers the best treatment options. Source: globehealthtours.com
http://www.globehealthtours.com/images/miotexterior4.jpg
cc: globehealthtours.com

5. Sankara Nethralaya
Sankara Nethralaya is a not-for-profit missionary institution for ophthalmic care (i.e., an eye hospital) located in Chennai, India. "Sankara Nethralaya" means "The Temple of the Eye". Sankara Nethralaya receives patients from India and internationally. Source: wiki
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cc: expresshealthcare.in

6. Sri Ramachandra Medical Center
Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute (SRMC & RI), now named Sri Ramachandra University (SRU), is a university situated in Porur, Chennai, India.SRU was founded by Sri Ramachandra Education & Health Trust on September 11, 1985 by Shri NPV Ramaswamy Udayar [1936 - 1998]. Originally founded as a medical college, it became a University in December, 2006 Source: wiki
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cc: skyscrapercity.com

7. Madras Medical Mission(MMM)
Madras Medical Mission is an organization inspired by the missionary zeal of Bishop Zachariah Mar Dionysius, Metropolitan of the Madras Diocese of the Orthodox Church of India. Strengthened by the devotion and commitment of the members of this Community at Chennai (erstwhile Madras city of TamilNadu ) who promoted the registered charitable society in 1982, it strives to participate in the healing ministry by seeking to foster an environment of caring, compassion and love that enables it to respond to patient needs in enviable ways. Source: madrasmedicalmission.org
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cc: thehindu.com

8. Frontier Lifeline
http://www.topnews.in/files/Frontier-Lifeline-Hospital.jpg
cc: topnews.in

Research Institutes in Chennai

1. National Institute of Siddha
National Institute of Siddha is the premier institute in Siddha medicine situated at Tambaram, Chennai, Tamilnadu. Established by Department of AYUSH of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India with the prime aim to impart Post-graduate education and research in Siddha medicine and to provide medical care through Siddha System of Medicine to the suffering humanity to develop, promote and propagate the science and art of Siddha and to act as a centre of excellence for Siddha System. Source: wiki
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cc: nischennai.org

2. Tuberculosis Research Centre
The Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC), a permanent institute under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is an internationally recognized institution for Tuberculosis (TB) research. It is a Supranational Reference Laboratory and a WHO Collaborating Centre for TB Research and Training. Recently, an International Centre for Excellence in Research (ICER) in collaboration with NIH was established at the Centre. The Centre (formerly known as the Tuberculosis Chemotherapy Centre) was set up in Madras in 1956 as a 5-year project, under the joint auspices of the Indian Counclil of Medical Research (ICMR), the Government of Tamil Nadu, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the British Medical Research Council (BMRC). source: trc-chennai.org
http://www.trc-chennai.org/Images/newbuil.JPG
cc: trc-chennai.org

3. National Institute of Epidemiology
The National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) was established on July 2, 1999 by merging the Central JALMA Institute for Leprosy (CJIL Field Unit), Avadi with the Institute for Research in Medical Statistics (IRMS), Chennai. The broad objectives of the Institute cover Development of human resources in epidemiology and bio-statistics, Networking of the various ICMR and non-ICMR Institutes at the national level for epidemiological purposes, and Consultancy. source: nie.gov.in
http://www.nie.gov.in/images/building.jpg
cc: nie.gov.in

4. Madras Diabetes Research Foundation
Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) established in 1996 by Dr. V. Mohan, internationally acclaimed diabetologist and research scientist and his wife Dr. M. Rema, internationally known specialist in diabetic eye disorders. MDRF was founded with the vision of providing a world class environment for research in diabetes and its complications. Within its short span of existence, MDRF has built up strengths in basic, clinical and epidemiological research. The quality of its research in diabetes and its complications is evidenced by numerous original publications in reputed peer reviewed journals. The institute also collaborates with several international and national centres. Source: mdrf.in
http://mdrf.in/images/index_banner_new3.png
cc: mdrf.in

5. Adyar Cancer Institute
Adyar Cancer Institute is a cancer specialty hospital situated in the city of Chennai, India; founded by Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy on June 18, 1954. The Institute's first break came on December 24, 1956, when Atomic Energy, Canada, gifted a Cobalt-60 Teletherapy unit (radiation therapy machine). It was the first such unit in Asia.
The Institute has several other firsts to its credit. They include:
A department of Nuclear Medical Oncology in 1956;
Paediatric oncology in 1960;
Installing a linear accelerator in 1976;
Introducing Blood Component Therapy in 1978;
Introducing hyperthermia treatment in 1984;
Installing an ND-YAG Surgical Laser in 1985 and performing endoscopic laser surgery;
Intra-operative Electron Therapy is available since 1992.
First in the country to introduce RapidArc treatment in January 2009
Source: wiki

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00132/IN23_CANCER_132852f.jpg
cc: thehindu.com

http://epaper.dinakaran.com/pdf/2011/01/27/20110127a_002101004.jpg

Official site - http://www.chettinadhealthcity.com/

Location - Kelambakkam, Chennai

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http://www.chennaimedicaltourism.com/

About us - http://www.chennaimedicaltourism.com/aboutus.asp?udPage=1

WHY CHENNAI? - http://www.chennaimedicaltourism.com/whychennaipage.asp?udPage=5

The World Class Medical Attention, Remarkably Low Cost, Chennai For Tourism, Wholesome Attraction

Services - http://www.chennaimedicaltourism.com/contentpage.asp?udPage=3

Chennai's leadership position in medical tourism in India has been reinforced with this foreign Govt agreement.

Cross-posting. Courtesy: satchitananda


Originally Posted by satchitananda
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...0951941600.htm

After a gap of 29 years, there will be a direct air link between India and the Republic of Seychelles giving a major boost to movement of Indian tourists to the island nation and inbound medical tourists and traders.

Air Seychelles will commence a weekly ‘hop' service to Chennai from Seychelles' largest island Mahe on November 1 in the present Mahe-Singapore route, according to Mr M.S. Sai, Honorary Consul, Republic of Seychelles, Chennai.

The previous service between Mumbai and Mahe was suspended in 1981 following a hijack of the Air India flight, he told Business Line.

...

The Republic of Seychelles has tied up with MIOT Hospitals and Madras Medical Mission in Chennai for providing healthcare to the islands' citizens (the island's population is around 87,000). At any point of time there are around 35 patients undergoing treatment in India, he said.

...

The current Bilateral Air Service between India and Seychelles of 1978 restricts Air Seychelles operating only to Mumbai, which was stated as the ‘point of access' for the airline under the Confidential Memorandum of Understanding to the BASA. As the Mumbai-Seychelles was not making money, Chennai has replaced as the access point, he said.

...

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chenn...tion-drive-578

Sept. 13: The Tamil Nadu government launched the country’s first public immunisation drive against swine flu on Monday at the state-owned King Institute of Preventive Medicine’s Guindy campus. Following the launch of the swine flu clinic by health minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam, two vaccines - VaxiFlu-S, an injection priced at `250 a dose, and Nasovac, nasal spray, are available at nearly half the price sold in the open market.

On day one, 334 people were immunised against the influenza with 168 people going for the nasal spray. Inmates from a home for the mentally retarded were given the shot free of cost. “Anybody from three to 70 years of age can take the vaccine, though we will have to check for immunocompromised conditions like AIDS or bronchial asthma before administering the nasal vaccine,” said Dr P. Gunasekaran, deputy director, King Institute, that is receiving about 50 throat swabs to test for the infection a day of which one-fourth are positive.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/...icle830398.ece

The Apollo Hospitals Group tied-up with the prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ) Group to provide latest information to doctors on a wide range of subjects and patients through mobile phones and other electronic devices.

The MoU for the collaboration was signed by Executive Director, Apollo Group, Sangita Reddy and Chairman, BMJ Group, Michael Chamberlain here on Wednesday.

The partnership is aimed at achieving a quantum change in the amount and quality of information available to patients via mobile phones, other electronic devices, including computerised web access and patient leaflets.

Various technologies would be deployed to update doctors through training and continuous medical education.

Mr. Chamberlain said that segmented products from the BMJ on subjects like women’s health, diabetes, hypertension and obesity would enable the medical professionals and patients to manage medical problems better.

He said the information could be accessed through subscription either by individual doctors or institutions.

...

Cross-posting from Chennai projects thread. Courtesy: bonoslack7

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http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-10156-work-begins-on-chennai-hiv-clinic/

Construction is now underway on the Indian Institute of Advanced Nursing (IIAN) in Chennai, India - a comprehensive training facility specialised in the field of HIV prevention and care. Designed by John McAslan + Partners for the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the IIAN will be the first educational facility of its type in the country and aims to train 15,000 nurses over the next two years to treat the 2.31 million people currently living with HIV in India.

Comprised of two buildings - The Institute for teaching and The Hostel for student accommodation - the IIAN is spread over a five acre site, dotted with indigenous plants and local trees with medicinal properties. These structures are both anchored by individual courtyards and arranged around a collegiate square, with landscaping - also designed by JMP - connecting the campus with the local community.

Responding to the humid local climatic conditions, the project implements passive design strategies to regulate internal conditions and create comfortable working and residential spaces. The two main buildings incorporate a heavy external skin and make use of reflective materials that protect the internal environments from receiving direct solar gain. The buildings have also been orientated along the east-west axis, allowing the south and north sides to be shaded effectively.

Courtesy: Kewl Batty

Sunday Celebrity: Dr. Pratap Reddy who revolutionized health care system in India (http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/02/01/sunday-celebrity-dr-pratap-reddy-who-revolutionized-health-care-system-india)

By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
Chennai, 01 February, (Asiantribune.com):

Adyar Cancer Institute is a cancer specialty hospital situated in the city of Chennai, India; founded by Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy on June 18, 1954.

Several firsts
-------------------------
The Institute's first break came on December 24, 1956, when Atomic Energy, Canada, gifted a Cobalt-60 Teletherapy unit (radiation therapy machine). It was the first such unit in Asia.

The Institute has several other firsts to its credit. They include:
* A department of Nuclear Medical Oncology in 1956;
* Paediatric oncology in 1960;
* Installing a linear accelerator in 1976;
* Introducing Blood Component Therapy in 1978;
* Introducing hyperthermia treatment in 1984;
* Installing an ND-YAG Surgical Laser in 1985 and performing endoscopic laser surgery;
* Intra-operative Electron Therapy is available since 1992.
* First in the country to introduce RapidArc treatment in January 2009

Present facilities
---------------------
The Institute has a hospital, a research centre, a centre of preventive oncology, and a College of Oncology Sciences (a postgraduate college that conducts super-speciality courses in surgical oncology and medical oncology).

Its centre for preventive oncology has been working in conjunction with non-government organisations and government hospitals to conduct cancer screening camps and Pap smear tests at the district level and in various parts of the city.

The Institute's hereditary cancer clinic, the first in the country, is studying the genetic factors related to the disease.

The Tobacco Cessation Clinic has been helping people to fight various forms of tobacco consumption, which is the most common cause for cancer.

Annually, more than 95,000 to 100,000 patients from all parts of India visit the hospital; hardly 0.5% of whom are covered by health insurance. In fact, only 15–20% of the population can afford treatment at private hospitals. The rest must depend on hospitals like the Adyar Cancer Institute or government hospitals, where treatment is either free or subsidised. The Institute has 423 beds, of which 297 are free. Last year alone saw nearly 100,000 patients, of whom 60% received free treatment. The number of patients coming to the hospital has increased each year. Generally, 66% of them get free or subsidised treatment.

Dr. Agarwal's Eye Hospital is listed as A Major Eye Centre of the World by The International Congress of Ophthalmology.

Dr Amar Agarwal, Chairman & Managing Director, Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospital Ltd - http://vimeo.com/11319281

http://www.medindia.net/news/Chennais-Centre-for-Liver-Diseases-in-Children-80164-1.htm

A Centre for Pediatric Liver Diseases and Transplantation is a planned project of the Global Hospitals in Chennai.

Global Hospitals chairman and managing director K.Ravindranath talked, at a press conference, of the comprehensive, dedicated centre for pediatric liver diseases and transplantation.


This centre, run by specialists with experience in performing a number of pediatric liver transplants, and supported by a complement of pediatricians, will offer a complete set of treatments for children with simple to complex liver disease.

The Centre will address the alarming increase in liver diseases among children. Lifestyle changes are influencing the diet and nutrition of people today, and children are very susceptible to the worldwide fad of eating junk food. This could lead to childhood obesity and later on to fatty liver diseases.

However, doctors warn, that congenital defects are the leading causes of pediatric liver diseases in India. They urge for more awareness among parents and pediatricians of symptoms within the crucial first two weeks. If it is not addressed within this time period, it might necessitate a transplant.

At the press conference, Ramesh Kancharla, consultant pediatric hepatologist, Global Hospitals and Health urged pediatricians to check for vital signs such as normal stools, weight gain, abnormal hardness of the liver, and in some congenital conditions, abnormal facial features, if jaundice continues even after two weeks, in a new born. The causes could range from metabolic diseases of the liver, Wilson’s disease and the more common biliary atresia.

In this condition, where the bile duct is either malformed or blocked, a corrective surgery can be performed within eight weeks and this increases the chances of an improved quality of life for the child, Mohammed Rela, director – hepato biliary and liver transplantation, Global Hospitals, said.


Dr Naresh P Shanmugam, pediatric hepatologist and gastroenterologist, Global Hospitals, talked about how two to five per cent of children, three out of 1,000 children in India suffer from liver diseases.

CHENNAI: In a 14-hour surgery, doctors in the city removed the small intestine of a 30-year-old patient, left it in a preservative for four hours and removed a large tumour from his abdomen before putting the bowel back in its place.

The patient name withheld who under went the auto-bowel transplant three months ago at the Global Hospitals in Chennai, is now back home in West Bengal. Doctors who operated on him said he is doing fine but will have to be monitored for a few more months.

"He came to hospital after being turned away by several hospitals," said liver transplant surgeon Dr Mohamed Rela. Reports showed that he had a large tumour in his pancreas, the organ that produces insulin. It was a slow growing lump called neuroendocrine tumour, which extended up to his stomach, crushing the vital artery that supplies blood to the bowels. If the tumour wasn't removed, the patient's bowels could have become dysfunctional, proving fatal.

"It was a complicated surgery. There was very little space to work on," recalled Dr Rela. The transplant team decided to go ahead with an auto-bowel transplant. They cut open the abdomen and removed the small intestine from the body and placed in a special preservation solution. Doctors then carefully removed the tumor, which looked bigger than a tennis ball. They then put the small intestine back into the abdomen.

During the post surgical period, doctors ensured that the patient developed no complications. A few weeks later, the patient was discharged from the hospital.

Transplant surgeons in the city said the surgery was rare and required skill. "In such surgeries, it extremely important to do anything to save the patient," said senior surgical gasteroenterologist Dr J S Rajkumar, who heads Lifeline Hospitals.

So how far are doctors from doing a bowel transplant? Can transplant surgeons now successfully replace ailing bowels with the ones that are donated by relatives of brain dead patients? "Not yet," said Dr Rela, who has done bowel transplants in the UK. "A bowel transplant is more challenging than the surgery we did. Here the bowel is patient's own and chances of rejection is very low. But for a bowel transplant, we need a bigger team of experts and a better environment."

End-stage bowel disease patients are extremely weak and malnourished; the chances of rejection are extremely high and patients are put on immune-suppressing medications to prevent this. The post surgical ward has to be sterile enough to prevent infection and death. "We are not there yet to see success," Dr Rela said.

But Dr Anil Dhawan of King's College Hospital, London, who was in the city to address a scientific session on liver diseases, said it would not take too long. Ten years ago, India did not see big success in liver transplant when countries like UK were doing it efficiently. At that time, doctors in the UK failed in bowel transplants. Now, we see a fair amount of success. Surgeons here will find a way to do it," he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/In-rare-surgery-doctors-take-out-small-intestine-to-remove-tumour/articleshow/7399894.cms

Specialised equipments for eye surgery was given to Andhra makila saba (Durgabai deishmukh)hospital by SBI bank


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http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1447883.ece

A satellite cancer care centre of the Adyar Cancer Institute was inaugurated on Saturday at Pallikaranai.

The centre, which will be open between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on all working days, will provide free screening and testing for pre-cancer and cancerous conditions; and also disseminate information on prevention of cancer.

Speaking on the occasion, V. Shanta, chairman, Cancer Institute (WIA) said the centre was set up with the help of local community leaders and members of the women's SHG in the area.

Dr. Shanta said in women, the most commonly occurring cancers (cervix and breast) are easily accessible and treatable.

S.N. Bhat, chairman, INCA Hammocks, whose family had come forward to allow use of their building in Pallikaranai to run the centre, said the crucial message that must reach the people is that cancer is preventable, and curable.

The satellite centre was in keeping with the larger motive of the Cancer Institute – to ensure that no poor person is neglected because of an inability to pay for treatment.

E. Vidhubala of the Tobacco Cessation Centre of the Cancer Institute told members of the local community to spread the message that a free care centre had been started.

Even those who do not have any signs and symptoms of cancer can come in for a preventive check up programme.

J.S. Malliga of the Cancer Institute, said treatment would also be provided free of cost at the centre. It would have been impossible to set up such an establishment without the support of the local community, she added.

CHENNAI: Cardiac surgeons from across the country will meet this Wednesday in city for the four-day annual conference of the Indian society of cardiovascular and thoracic surgeons, which will also plan a national database that would be able give data on the number of by-pass surgeries, valve replacements and valve repairs.

"It's not just for the numbers," said association president Dr James Thomas. "We need to know how well we are doing our surgeries. Such registries can tell us what procedures aren't good enough or which ones need modifications and which ones need to be abandoned." Such registries are maintained by most of the developed countries.

At the four day conference, more than 1,500 doctors will update themselves on newer technologies such as hybrid surgeries. In some cases, patients might need interventions such as angioplasty, where doctors inflate a balloon to crush the blocks in heart's blood vessels, while some other patients are slotted for by-pass surgeries. While a procedure like angioplasty is done by a cardiologist, the surgeries are carried out by a surgeon. "Today, we combine the two," says Dr S Rajan, organising secretary of the conference.

Speakers at the conference will arrive from the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, Switzerland, Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The conference will focus on problems such as abnormal widening of the blood vessels, aneurysm, valve diseases, and minimally-invasive surgeries. Several post-graduate students will be trained by experts during the conference.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Surgeons-to-chart-registry-of-hearts/articleshow/7505346.cms

^^ First of all I need to know this - India is said as the country with biggest no. of heart patients. but how good are indian hospitals @ treating these heart problems? Just taking the case of private and govt hospitals in chennai, are they upto the quality(if there are any benchmark practice/technology in heart medication)

Indian hospitals are better than most western ones when it comes to specialties particularly cardiology and CTVS. There are various measures (morbidity, mortality, 5 year survival rates, DALY's etc) to objectively measure these outcomes and Indian hospitals typically outperform their western peers. It is because of the sheer volume of patients our doctors see and the experience they gain while getting trained. Western doctors can only dream of those kind of numbers. Technology wise, whatever cutting edge tech available elsewhere is available in India too. Even in top notch government hospitals, there is no technology lag.

The problem with India is that this is not available to most of Indians while at the same time wealthy foreigners enjoy it at a fraction of the cost compared to their home.

^^ Good piece of info. Thanks TShyam. :)

Ms Preetha Reddy said that four new hospitals were coming up at Mumbai, Nasik, Nellore and Chennai.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article1477421.ece

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/opportunities/apollo-seeks-nod-2-states-set-four-medical-colleges-262

Apollo Hospitals has approached Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh state governments seeking permission to set up four medical colleges in these states. The company wants education to evolve as another business vertical.

Apollo proposes to have medical colleges in Chennai, Madurai, Hyderabad and Chittoor. “We have land in all these places. The hospital has sought clearance from the respective state governments. Once we get the no objection certificate from them and then the approval of the Medical Council of India, we will be able to start construction in the sites,” Preetha Reddy, MD of Apollo Hospitals told FC.

Apollo may rope in Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional, which holds 70 per cent stake in International Medical University of Malaysia.

“Some of the medical universities in the UK and the US too are quite interested in our education venture. We are in talks with them and once we get the necessary government nod, we will finalise on the collaborations. We seek to build education as a business vertical and we might also look at several models in developing the vertical,” she said.

Medical Council of India recently had lifted its bar on corporate hospital chains directly foraying into medical education.

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/apollo-double-hospital-count-invest-rs-2000-cr-266

Apollo Hospitals plans to double its count to 100 in the next five years with an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore.

Sangita Reddy, executive director (operations), Apollo Hospitals Group, told Financial Chronicle that though the company took around 27 years to touch the 50 hospitals mark, it plans to add the next 50 in five years. The chain will invest around Rs 1,400 crore in the first three years of development, and another Rs 600 crore in the next two, she said.

In the first phase, a joint venture partner will spend around Rs 200 crore, while the remaining Rs 1,200 crore would be funded by Apollo Hospitals. “Of our contribution, we have already spent around Rs 300 crore through internal accruals. The remaining Rs 900 crore will be funded through a mix of debt and equity,” she said. The company has received the shareholders approval to raise Rs 600 crore through qualified institutional investors.

The hospital chain plans to tie up with international partners for the expansion of business. “However, the partners would be needed only for the second phase of expansion. As of now, we are only in preliminary stages of talks,” said Reddy.

“We’ve a comprehensive domain knowledge of hospitals and will do our expansion in cities where we are strong as well as in tier II and III cities. All hospitals will have tertiary medical care facilities as well as new strategies to fine tune and focus on cardio, oncology, neurology, orthopedic and critical care,” she added.

Out of the 53 hospitals the group owns, 26 hospitals account for 3,300 beds. There are 10 subsidiaries with 2,200 beds, 17 licensed and managed hospitals with 2,800 beds. All put together, it has around 8,300 beds.

“We plan to increase the total bed count for the owned hospitals by 2,700-3,000 beds in the next two years taking their total count to 6,000 beds” Reddy said.

In the first phase of expansion, two hospitals have been planned in Chennai, a hospital each in Trichy and Karaikudy in Tamil Nadu, and Nellore in Andhra, apart from hospitals in Mumbai and Nashik in Maharashtra.

^^ College fees-um avanga hospital fees madri "kammiya" irukkuma? :colgate:

You are joking aren't you? Costs at Apollo are affordable and that is why a lot of people from other states visit them. I particularly like their canteen and tiny bookstall.

^^ Hmmm i see. if they make the education open only to "talented" students and not to who give money, the real benefit will be obtained. otherwise, pathoda pathinonna matha private colleges list la sendhudum.

lol...apollo needs no money. Of course talented ones would be taken in, assuming that most of them would start working in their hospitals itself.

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/opportunities/mediville-plan-draws-global-cros-357

Global clinical research organisations (CRO) are making their way to Frontier Lifeline’s soon to be opened Rs 1,000 crore Mediville medical village project.

In the first phase, to be operational by this March, Mediville will have a manufacturing facility for tissue-engineered products; a training centre to conduct medical, paramedical, biotechnological courses; and facilities for CROs to set up research centres.

Several CROs have approached Frontier Lifeline evincing interest in setting up research centres in Mediville. These include Hong Kong-based Lansen BioTech, Canadian Bio Mark, US-based Sono Metrix and Actelion of Switzerland, said Lakshminarayanan, finance controller of Frontier Lifeline Hospital.

“While India has made a remarkable growth in healthcare delivery, research still lags behind. The CROs in Mediville will have a facility for clinical and pre-clinical researches and they will also be able to conduct pre-clinical researches on large animals as well,” said K M Cherian, CEO of Frontier Lifeline Hospital.

Mediville also will start manufacture of tissue-engineered products such as amniotic membrane, bovine pericardium, bovine jugular vein and bio prosthetic heart valves. The hospital has developed nine products and has received patents for three among them.

The commercial production of the tissue-engineered products is expected to start by next year after receiving the approval of Drug Control General of India.

“This is a huge market. We will be able to provide these products at one-third the price of imported ones. While the domestic demand itself is too high, we would also look at exporting the products,” said Cherian.

CHENNAI: The state health department will soon set up a unit for rare diseases at the Institute of Child Health (ICH) and a genetic lab at the Government General Hospital to help in the early diagnosis of such diseases.

In new buildings with equipment worth Rs 30 crore, the ICH will have experts trained to treat certain rare metabolic, genetic, blood and chromosomal disorders, health secretary VK Subburaj said on Monday on the occasion of the International Day for Rare Diseases.

The experts will also generate research material to drive patient-friendly policies for people living with such disorders. "Tamil Nadu could be a role model among the states in health care but we must admit that when it comes to dealing with rare diseases, we are yet to make a beginning. Our patients are forced to go to neighbouring states or abroad even for diagnosis," Subburaj told caretakers and parents of children with rare diseases.

Suyog was one of those with Gaucher's disease, a genetic condition in which a fatty substance accumulates in cells and certain organs. It is caused by a hereditary deficiency of an enzyme. At the age of three, Suyog was diagnosed with anemia. "Doctors linked the problems to leukemia , thalisemia and several other disorders. Finally, tests in a UK Lab confirmed Gaucher's Disease," Suyog said at a meeting organised by the Fetal Care Research Foundation and Lysosomal Storage Disease Support Society. He is now on enzyme replacement therapy.

Several children with rare disorders and their parents came with a list of demands, including appeals for free treatment and subsidy for expensive life-saving drugs.

Besides access to treatment and care, the state government is also planning to prevent these ailments by intensifying fetal screening. The health department has signed up with Mediscan, a private centre, to train doctors and audit scans done in the 356 PHCs in six districts, including Chennai.

The doctors in these centres will receive training during the weekends to diagnose physical abnormalies of the fetus in the brain, spine, limbs or abdomen. Every scan and the report sent to the Mediscan team in Chennai, which will audit before the results, will be conveyed to the patients. "In some abnormalities like an lack of abdominal wall or massive spine or brain deformity parents should be told that it would be difficult for them to maintain the child. Doctors will be taught to counsel parents without interfering in their rights to decide whether to go ahead or terminate pregnancy," said Dr S Suresh, who heads Mediscan.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Rare-diseases-unit-genetic-lab-coming/articleshow/7597901.cms#ixzz1FIVneDfq

Dialysis centres of Chennai Corporation opened

Chennai Corporation on Monday opened two dialysis centres at its diagnostic laboratories near Valluvar Kottam and in Perambur to provide free treatment to underprivileged patients.

Inaugurating the facility near Valluvar Kottam, Mayor M. Subramanian said an estimated 25,000 persons needed dialysis. Each of the centres would have two machines. These centres, set up at a total cost of Rs.50 lakh, would offer dialysis to five persons daily.

In a release, he said patients are charged up to Rs.3,000 each for dialysis in private hospitals and a few voluntary organisations are offering the service at a subsidised rate. Many patients, requiring dialysis twice or thrice a week, cannot afford this. Pointing out that the Corporation would not be able to sustain the free dialysis service for long time on its own he appealed to the NGOs to support the initiative.

He said that 1,604 students were detected with symptoms of kidney diseases in a camp held recently for nearly one lakh students of Chennai Schools. Such initiatives were aimed at prevention and timely intervention.

Chennai Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan was present during the occasion.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1498743.ece

http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=61635&sid=1

The Traditional Ayush Cluster of Tamil Nadu Pvt Ltd (TACT CLUSTER), which has been in the pipeline for the last two years, will be operational in early next year. With the commencement of operation of the cluster, the manufacturers of traditional medicines in Tamil Nadu will be able to compete in the international market and exports of ‘ayushceuticals and neutraceuticals’ will go up, it is hoped.


Dr V Dharmalingam, chairman of the Tact Cluster, a separate entity formed by the Tamil Nadu Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani manufacturers in the form of a Special Purpose Vehicle, said nearly 60 per cent of the work including construction of building has been completed and order for most modern equipment has been given as per the expectation of Ayush department. The office-bearers of the cluster have assured the department of Ayush that the cluster would be ready for operation before October 2011, he told Pharmabiz.


For the project, the Union government has allotted Rs.10 crore and out of it Rs.two crore was already released to the company. With the erection of equipment, government will release another Rs.6 crore. The remaining two crores will be given for the finishing work soon after it is over.


The project cost of the cluster is Rs.16.5 crore and the company will mobilize an amount of Rs.6 crore from its members. Dharmalingam said he is now on tour to all the districts of the state to collect the money, more amount is expected from Madurai and Thirunelveli. Special meetings are being arranged for the mobilization and the members will be briefed about how to make use of the cluster and the new guidelines issued by the union government in respect of export of medicines.


While speaking to Pharmabiz, Dr Dharmalingam and his team expressed the hope that the cluster unit would help grow the micro, medium and small scale industries of Tamil Nadu into greater heights. It will enhance the capacity, reduce overheads, improve quality of products and packaging, thereby each small scale unit will be able to enter into export business. The cluster will have all the state-of the-art facilities for testing and analysis, product validation, safety study and manufacture.


“Apart from upgrading the manufacturing technology of ayurvedic drugs, we are developing a facility for the entrepreneurs to compete in the international market, and to develop a research & development centre in the field of ISM products, especially to promote siddha and ayurveda products. Tamil Nadu is the hub of siddha medicine and its production process will get documented through the establishment of this cluster”, the chairman of the cluster said during the interaction.


The Common Facilities for the TACT is developed at Sriperumpudur, the industrial corridor on the Chennai-Bangalore national high way, but it has an administrative office in Anna Nagar in Chennai city. The site at Sriperumpudur was bought for the purpose by TASUDMA (TN Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani Drug Manufacturers Association) for Rs.2 crore two years ago. The cluster at the two acre site will include facilities like laboratories for analytical, pharmacological, toxicological processes, raw-material bank & warehouse, common processing facility, packaging centre, display centre and common training and conference facility.


When Vijay A Mehtha, the president of TASUDMA took the preliminary steps to start the cluster two years ago, he enrolled about 20 ISM companies with GMP facilities as the founder shareholders of the Cluster to comply with the rigid norms of Ayush department. He also sought the services of various experts including Dr N Thirunarayanan, secretary of Centre of Traditional Medicines and Research for technical and other inputs. Vijay Mehta and Dr Thirunarayanan had jointly conducted several meetings of ISM manufacturers to establish the scheme. But now, the president of TASUDMA and other technical persons including CTMR Secretary are being put outside the purview of the company, they complained.

As per latest reports, a rare heart surgical operation utilizing a robot was recently carried out at the Chettinad Health City, Chennai.

The operation was conducted on 23-year-old D Vijayakanth, a resident of Vellore, on February 21 by a group of expert physicians headed by Dr. R Ravi Kumar, Director, Institute of Cardio Vascular Disease.

Vijayakanth had rheumatic valvular illness, owing to which he complained of shortness of breath and could not walk properly.

Dr. R Ravi Kumar stated that the robotically-assisted surgery entails the replacement of both the mitral as well as the aortal valve concurrently.

The surgical procedure, which cost Rs 2.25 lakh, was performed by a three armed robot.

"The best part about using a robot in cardiac surgery is that the patient's heart need not be opened and the surgery can be done using a small 4cm incision. This is not possible with normal surgeries without a robot," Dr. Ravi added.

Whilst the single valve surgical procedure was conducted in 2000, the double valve procedure happened after 11 years, Dr. Ravi also said.

He added that robotic surgical operation, which is quite new in India, can be utilized for a range of medical procedures.

The major benefit in this arena, said Dr. Ravi Kumar, was the recovery time. He forecasted that by the next 10 years about 80% of the surgical procedures in India would be done using robots.

http://www.topnews.in/chennai-doctors-conduct-rare-robotic-surgery-2316804

The same news appearing in Xinhua - a Chinese news agency :)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/health/2011-03/05/c_13763006.htm

:cheers::applause:^^

Not sure whether I can post this here. But Animal health should also be considered. ...

AN INCREASING NUMBER OF VETERINARIANS FROM CHENNAI ARE TRAVELLING TO OTHER CITIES TO CONDUCT SURGERIES

When Manju Sarsaiya’s German shepherd began limping, she was worried. She took Rambo to the best veterinarians in New Delhi but realised that the city had no orthopaedic vets. That’s when she began looking south for a solution. Manju flew in Dr S Ayyappan from Chennai and her pet was soon operated upon.
“There were no specialists in Delhi who could handle such a surgery,” says Manju. “Rambo underwent the surgery last April and walks much better now.”
For the past four years, vets from Chennai have been flying out to other metros to conduct surgeries. “The city has a good pool of animal doctors who have specialised in areas like orthopaedics and ophathalmology,” says Dr Ayyappan. A small-animal orthopaedic surgeon, he has clients in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Usually, people send in people send in medical reports and X-rays so that the vet can assess the condition of the animal. “I even sent a video of my pet labrador, Calvin, when we discovered that he had a problem with his left hind leg,” says MK Razdan, who is based in Delhi. “It helped the vet see what was wrong with his gait.”
Pet owners prefer to fly the vet down as it is easier than flying the animal down. The owner also needs to stay in town for a few weeks while the animal recovers, which is a tough proposition for working people. “It is difficult to transport pets, especially sick ones. The cargo hold needs to be well oxygenated,” says private practitioner Dr Mohamed Shafiuzama, who has specialised in general surgery and ophthalmology for animals. With clients in Coimbatore, Delhi and Hyderabad, he travels out of town at least once a month, usually to perform cataract and orthopaedic surgeries. “There are no vets who have specialised in ophthalmology available anywhere else in the country, except Chennai,” he says.
Just a couple of months ago, Dr Shafiuzama was flown to Delhi by a French couple to operate on their Great Dane. “The dog weighed 55kg and had a tumour in the forelimb,” he says. “I had to amputate the limb, but the dog can walk and his quality of life has greatly improved.”
The pet owner foots the bill, paying for the doctor’ airfare and arranging for their stay, while local vets arrange for an operation theatre. And for them, money is not an issue. “People are keen on providing optimum care for their pets to whom they have a strong emotional attachment,” says Dr Ramani Jairam, who runs Pluto Pet Clinic, a chain of veterinary clinics in Mumbai. “They are aware of the limitations of private practice and ask for specialists,” he adds. As Manju puts it, “Rambo is my baby and I will take care of him. Expenses are really not a problem.”

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOICH&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI

Heart surgery by Robo

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8760/25643796.jpg (http://img8.imageshack.us/i/25643796.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://img8.imageshack.us/i/25643796.jpg)

Chennai, Mar 9 : For the first time in India, a team of specialists at the MIOT Hospitals has performed a single stage hybrid surgery for dissecting aneurysm of thoracic aorta on a 39-year-old man from Andhra Pradesh.

Talking to reporters here today, Hospital Founder Dr P V A Mohandas and the surgical team headed by cardiac thoracic surgeon Dr V V Bashi said it was a breakthrough surgery in the treatment of dissecting aneurysm of thoracic aorta with frozen elephant Trunk procedure using hybrid graft.

''This hybrid graft is the latest available in the world and was done for the first time in India'', Dr Bashi said, adding world over only 100 of these grafts were used in countries like the US, the UK and Europe and the long term results were encouraging.

The patient, who did not wish to be named, had large aneurysm involving the aaortic arch and descending thoracic aorta which was leaking.

''There was also narrowing of the aorta due to dissecting aneurysm.''

src: http://news.chennaionline.com/newsitem.aspx?NEWSID=41373de0-badb-48a1-a3b5-681c6bc8a340&CATEGORYNAME=CHN

^^ Can anyone decode? :D

^^ Can anyone decode? :D
TShyam can :)

What happened to the National Institue of cancer proposed in chennai???

^^ Can anyone decode? :D

Aorta is the largest artery in the body. It carries oxygenated (good) blood from the heart to the rest of the body.

http://www.iradonline.org/images/aorta.gif

As you can realize, this is a very important vessel. It leaves the heart in an upward direction and after giving branches for blood supply to head and upper limbs, it takes a U turn and travels downwards from the chest into the abdomen. It ends in the lower part of the abdomen by dividing into two arteries bound for the lower limbs.

In some persons, the wall of aorta can become weak due to infections (syphillis), genetic diseases, connective tissue disorders, external injury etc., Due to the weakening, the aorta may bulge out. This condition is called aneurysm. If the bulge is in the chest, it is called thoracic aneurysm and if it is in the abdomen, it is called abdominal aneurysm.

http://www.slrctsurgery.com/images/taa_img03.jpg http://www.slrctsurgery.com/images/taa_img04.jpg http://www.slrctsurgery.com/images/taa_img05.jpg


This is a very dangerous condition because if it bursts, death occurs within minutes. Therefore surgery is done preemptively before anything untoward happens. In this particular patient, there was aneurysms at two different locations. One in the ascending aorta (upward facing part) and one in the descending thoracic aorta (immediately after U turn before it enters the abdomen). Usually such cases are very tricky to operate and surgery is done in two stages. In the first surgery, the aneurysm in the ascending aorta is corrected. Then the patient is allowed to recover for a few months and then again operated to correct for the second aneurysm. This is because, the technique is different for both aneurysms and attempts to combine both have resulted in deaths.

But the MIOT surgeons have used a new technique in which the whole procedure is completed in one operation (hence the name "single stage"). They have combined two well established independent techniques - elephant trunk technique (it has got nothing to do with elephants - its called so because the graft looks like a elephant trunk) and endovascular stent-graft technology in one procedure to achieve this. Since it combines two techniques, it is called hybrid surgery.

I think this explanation will be enough for non medical persons. If any doctors are reading this and if they want more information, they can study this article (http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/circulationaha;112/17/2619), this article (http://ejcts.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/36/6/956) and this article (http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/88/1/307) for the background, indication and procedures.

^^ :applause:

I do not know about Apollo being cheap. Last July I broke my shoulder bone and had to get a metal shaft inserted and the bill I got was a shocking 1.5 lakhs.:ohno:

You are joking aren't you? Costs at Apollo are affordable and that is why a lot of people from other states visit them. I particularly like their canteen and tiny bookstall.

Aorta is the largest artery in the body. It carries oxygenated (good) blood from the heart to the rest of the body.



But the MIOT surgeons have used a new technique in which the whole procedure is completed in one operation (hence the name "single stage"). They have combined two well established independent techniques - elephant trunk technique (it has got nothing to do with elephants - its called so because the graft looks like a elephant trunk) and endovascular stent-graft technology in one procedure to achieve this. Since it combines two techniques, it is called hybrid surgery.

Thanks and I appreciate it :applause:

தமிழக அரசின், கலைஞர் காப்பீட்டுத் திட்டத்தில் இருந்து, 30 சதவீத தனியார் மருத்துவமனைகள் விலகி உள்ளன. அதனால், நோயாளிகள் சிகிச்சை பெற முடியாமல் மிகுந்த சிரமப்படுவதால், ஆளும் கட்சிக்கு பாதகமாக, காப்பீட்டுத் திட்டம் மாறும் நிலை ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது.

தமிழக தேர்தலில், தி.மு.க., கூட்டணி, இலவச திட்டங்களை மையப்படுத்தி, பிரசாரத்தை மேற்கொள்ள திட்டம் வகுத்துள்ளது. ஆளும் கட்சியினரின் பிரசார அஸ்திரங்களில் ஒன்றான, கலைஞர் காப்பீட்டுத் திட்டம், இரண்டு ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன் துவக்கப்பட்டது. இத்திட்டம் துவக்கப்பட்ட காலத்தில், தமிழகத்தில் உள்ள, 17 மருத்துவக் கல்லூரி மருத்துவமனைகள், மாவட்ட தலைமை மருத்துவமனைகளில் மட்டுமின்றி, முக்கிய நகரங்கள், தாலுகாக்களில் உள்ள தனியார் மருத்துவமனைகளிலும் சிகிச்சையளிக்கப்பட்டது. தனியார் மருத்துவமனைகளும் போட்டி போட்டு, திட்டத்தில் தங்களை இணைத்துக் கொண்டன. 2010 மே மாதம் வரை, தமிழகத்தில் 1,01,150 நோயாளிகளுக்கு, 179 கோடி ரூபாய் சிகிச்சைக்காக செலவிடப்பட்டது.

திட்டத்தைச் செயல்படுத்தும் தனியார் இன்சூரன்ஸ் நிறுவனங்கள், நாளடைவில், பல்வேறு கெடுபிடிகளை அமல்படுத்தின. அதனால், சிகிச்சைக்கு வரும் நோயாளிகளில் பலருக்கு, சிகிச்சைக்கான தொகைகளில், குறிப்பிட்ட சதவீதம் வரை பிடித்தம் செய்யப்பட்டது. அதனால், தனியார் மருத்துவமனைகள், இன்சூரன்ஸ் நிறுவனம் வழங்கிய தொகை போக, மீதி தொகையை, நோயாளிகளிடம் இருந்து வசூலிக்கத் துவங்கின. இது, மருத்துவமனைகளின் நிர்வாகத்துக்கும், நோயாளிகளின் உறவினர்களுக்கும் மோதலை ஏற்படுத்தியது. இதனால் பல மருத்துவமனைகள், காப்பீட்டுத் திட்டத்தில் இருந்து விலகிக் கொண்டன.

2010 ஆகஸ்ட் மாதத்தில், தமிழகம் முழுவதும், 1,152 தனியார் மருத்துவமனைகள் இத்திட்டத்தில் பதிவு செய்து இணைத்திருந்தன. அக்டோபர் மாதத்தில், 125 தனியார் மருத்துவமனைகள் முதல் கட்டமாக, விலகிக் கொண்டன. தற்போது, மாதத்துக்கு சராசரியாக, 25 மருத்துவமனைகள் இத்திட்டத்தில் இருந்து விலகி வருகின்றன. தற்போதைய நிலவரப்படி தமிழகத்தில், 875 தனியார் மருத்துவமனைகளில் மட்டுமே காப்பீட்டுத் திட்டம் நடைமுறையில் உள்ளது. மேலும் பல மருத்துவமனைகள், இத்திட்டத்தில் இருந்து விடுவித்துக் கொள்ள கோரிக்கை விடுத்துள்ளன. இத்திட்டத்தில் இருந்து விலகிய தனியார் மருத்துவமனைகளின் விவரங்களை, அந்தந்த மாவட்ட நிர்வாகத்தின் மூலம், பொதுமக்களுக்கு தெரிவிக்கவில்லை. திட்டத்தில் சிகிச்சை பெற தனியார் மருத்துவமனைகளில் சேரும் நோயாளிகள், சிகிச்சைக்குப் பின், திட்டத்தில் இருந்து, சம்பந்தப்பட்ட மருத்துவமனை விலகியிருப்பதை அறிந்து அதிர்ச்சி அடைகின்றனர்.

திட்டத்தை நம்பி சிகிச்சை பெற்றவர்கள், பின் மருத்துவமனைக்கு பணம் செலுத்த முடியாமல், மிகுந்த சிரமத்தில் தள்ளப்படுகின்றனர். அரசு மருத்துவமனைகளிலும், இத்திட்டத்தில் ஆபரேஷன் மேற்கொள்ளும் டாக்டர்கள் உள்ளிட்ட ஊழியர்களுக்கு சேர வேண்டிய ஊக்கத் தொகையும் நிறுத்தி வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இது டாக்டர்கள் மத்தியில் கடும் அதிருப்தியை ஏற்படுத்தி உள்ளது. இப்படி அடுக்கடுக்கான பிரச்னைகள் தொடர்வதால், தேர்தல் நேரத்தில் கைகொடுக்கும் என்ற எதிர்பார்ப்பில், தி.மு.க.,வால் துவக்கப்பட்ட இத்திட்டம், ஆளும் கட்சிக்கு எதிராக அமையும் நிலை ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது.

Short Translation: Govt's health insurance scheme in limbo as 30% of private hospitals which initially enrolled under the scheme have deregistered themselves citing insufficient compensation from the insurance company. This has lead to discomfort for patients who are surprised to know that they have to pay from their own pockets either because of inadequate compensation from the insurance company or because they weren't aware of the fact that the particular pvt hospital have deregistered themselves. The govt has spent 179 crores on over 1 lac patients till May 2010.



Although I am a proponent of free market, there are three areas where it doesn't apply - education, healthcare and defense. In these areas, the interests of the end user (students, patients and national security) should be the over riding priority among all stake holders. Although private sector and free markets may be allowed to participate, it should be strictly regulated.

Health care ensured by insurance is the costliest form of healthcare. A recent article in the medical journal Lancet assessed and ranked the quality of health care provided and the cost of providing the service in the 7 most advanced countries in the world (US, UK, Australia, NZ, Japan, Germany and France). US was the the country which spent the most per capita on health care ($7700) but was ranked last (7th). Infact no other country spent more than $4300 per capita on health care. NZ which was ranked 3rd spent a measly $2800.

The lower ranking of US was because it was the insurance companies rather than the treating physicians who decides what treatment the patient should get leading to lower quality of health care the end user (patient) receives. This was a damning indication of the way US healthcare with its emphasis on free market and insurance companies works. Whereas all the other countries have a set up similar to ours where the government provides free healthcare (not through insurance). It is alright for private insurance to be available for people who can afford it (afterall not everyone will be willing to go to the government hospital) but it should not be backed by the government for all its citizens. The insurance company just adds a layer of extra expense without adding any value to any of the stakeholders.

My friend who is pursuing Ortho in MMC says that his profs are shifting cases to their hospital to be operated under the insurance scheme. As a result, the number of cases available for PG students have decreased dramatically. Its not even as if the doctors themselves are benefiting. They are now squeezed of their profit by the insurance companies resulting in substandard treatment for patients. Further the company has started demanding cheaper treatment (for eg: they want the doctors to try conservative medical management for urinary stone of larger size where ideally lithotripsy - surgery to remove the stone should be done. This info is given by a friend whose father is an urologist. Whatever I am saying here is true. I am not making any of these things up).

Stakeholder analysis:
As a result of this scheme,
1) The patients are losing because they are receiving substandard, less than ideal treatment.
2) The doctors end up losing because at the end, neither the company nor the patient (who are mostly people who cannot pay) is paying him. These people who are law abiding and soft dont confront anyone and just deregister themselves to avoid any further losses.
3) The medical students have lesser no of cases to study.
4) Not but not the least, the government and the tax payer is losing close to 250 crores per year (the government doctor is anyway going to get his salary - money lost to insurance companies is just extra). This money can be invested in the healthcare system to make it world class and attract even wealthier people to the public healthcare system.
To put it in perspective, AIIMS have an annual budget of 300 crore rupees. By discontinuing the insurance scheme and deploying that money in MMC, the government can turn it into AIIMS standards. So simple but yet needs political will.
5) The only stakeholder who comes out the winner making a mockery of the system is the insurance company who are exploiting everyone to their benefit. They dont add any value whatsoever but make money due to hard labour of the healthcare workers and the misery of the poorer section of the public.

I hope better sense prevails in the government ranks and they cancel this scheme with immediate effect.

I would give a dozen examples of how people getting fooled but then I have to tell about doctors and anyone who knows me will immediately recognize whom I am talking about. All these persons are some of the finest in the art and who have a high standing in the society. They would feel wounded and let down if I explain how they are exploited and fooled by a bunch of financial cronies with no human value enhancement skill but are just a bunch of blood sucking leeches feeding on their toil and effort.

Thanks doc and wlbkng

Shyam Dhool.

I didnt read it fully but you started it in a very nice way

"Although I am a proponent of free market, there are three areas where it doesn't apply - education, healthcare and defense. In these areas, the interests of the end user (students, patients and national security) should be the over riding priority among all stake holders. Although private sector and free markets may be allowed to participate, it should be strictly regulated"

Once again Dhool.

Now let me read it fully.

Thanks doc and wlbkng

You are welcome.... :)

Shyam Dhool.

I didnt read it fully but you started it in a very nice way

"Although I am a proponent of free market, there are three areas where it doesn't apply - education, healthcare and defense. In these areas, the interests of the end user (students, patients and national security) should be the over riding priority among all stake holders. Although private sector and free markets may be allowed to participate, it should be strictly regulated"

Once again Dhool.

Now let me read it fully.

Thanks. It logically makes sense if you combine it with Maslow's Heirarchy.

http://msc-technology.wikispaces.com/file/view/400px-Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg.png/32336537/400px-Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg.png

These three (health, education and security) are fundamental and form the basis of human needs (once his immediate survival is taken care of). Thats why it should not be left to the free market as it can be fickle and sometimes these components can be compromised for profits (which comes higher in the pyramid). Always the society should strive to provide a particular level universally before moving higher. That is the basis of social justice and hence societal stability.

:) Thanks Shyam. I hope they will not privatize army J/K

Although I am a proponent of free market, there are three areas where it doesn't apply - education, healthcare and defense. In these areas, the interests of the end user (students, patients and national security) should be the over riding priority among all stake holders. Although private sector and free markets may be allowed to participate, it should be strictly regulated.

Health care ensured by insurance is the costliest form of healthcare. A recent article in the medical journal Lancet assessed and ranked the quality of health care provided and the cost of providing the service in the 7 most advanced countries in the world (US, UK, Australia, NZ, Japan, Germany and France). US was the the country which spent the most per capita on health care ($7700) but was ranked last (7th). Infact no other country spent more than $4300 per capita on health care. NZ which was ranked 3rd spent a measly $2800.

The lower ranking of US was because it was the insurance companies rather than the treating physicians who decides what treatment the patient should get leading to lower quality of health care the end user (patient) receives. This was a damning indication of the way US healthcare with its emphasis on free market and insurance companies works. Whereas all the other countries have a set up similar to ours where the government provides free healthcare (not through insurance). It is alright for private insurance to be available for people who can afford it (afterall not everyone will be willing to go to the government hospital) but it should not be backed by the government for all its citizens. The insurance company just adds a layer of extra expense without adding any value to any of the stakeholders.

My friend who is pursuing Ortho in MMC says that his profs are shifting cases to their hospital to be operated under the insurance scheme. As a result, the number of cases available for PG students have decreased dramatically. Its not even as if the doctors themselves are benefiting. They are now squeezed of their profit by the insurance companies resulting in substandard treatment for patients. Further the company has started demanding cheaper treatment (for eg: they want the doctors to try conservative medical management for urinary stone of larger size where ideally lithotripsy - surgery to remove the stone should be done. This info is given by a friend whose father is an urologist. Whatever I am saying here is true. I am not making any of these things up).

Stakeholder analysis:
As a result of this scheme,
1) The patients are losing because they are receiving substandard, less than ideal treatment.
2) The doctors end up losing because at the end, neither the company nor the patient (who are mostly people who cannot pay) is paying him. These people who are law abiding and soft dont confront anyone and just deregister themselves to avoid any further losses.
3) The medical students have lesser no of cases to study.
4) Not but not the least, the government and the tax payer is losing close to 250 crores per year (the government doctor is anyway going to get his salary - money lost to insurance companies is just extra). This money can be invested in the healthcare system to make it world class and attract even wealthier people to the public healthcare system.
To put it in perspective, AIIMS have an annual budget of 300 crore rupees. By discontinuing the insurance scheme and deploying that money in MMC, the government can turn it into AIIMS standards. So simple but yet needs political will.
5) The only stakeholder who comes out the winner making a mockery of the system is the insurance company who are exploiting everyone to their benefit. They dont add any value whatsoever but make money due to hard labour of the healthcare workers and the misery of the poorer section of the public.

I hope better sense prevails in the government ranks and they cancel this scheme with immediate effect.

I would give a dozen examples of how people getting fooled but then I have to tell about doctors and anyone who knows me will immediately recognize whom I am talking about. All these persons are some of the finest in the art and who have a high standing in the society. They would feel wounded and let down if I explain how they are exploited and fooled by a bunch of financial cronies with no human value enhancement skill but are just a bunch of blood sucking leeches feeding on their toil and effort.

there is a long history to health care & it's high costs. it is expensive because of too much government regulation & not the lack of it - it is no way close to a free market as you think. free market by definition would ensure such services would be delivered much cheaper. there were a few articles on mises that would help you understand history of healthcare & it's costs in usa.

you have specified many examples and i don't understand the point of it. are you saying peope with insurance are better off or not? you started off by saying well off can get insurance and later mentioned that since doctors are getting squeazed of their profits they get sub-standard treatment.

if insurance was not available would patients go for that expensive lithotripsy (whatever that is) or try initially a more conservative medical management? i would think people would try more conservative options first before taking all those expensive tests that may/may not lead to surgeries. it depends on patient to patient and doctor-doctor.

insurance clearly has their values and most of them are not like what you have described them.

there is a long history to health care & it's high costs. it is expensive because of too much government regulation & not the lack of it - it is no way close to a free market as you think. free market by definition would ensure such services would be delivered much cheaper. there were a few articles on mises that would help you understand history of healthcare & it's costs in usa.

you have specified many examples and i don't understand the point of it. are you saying peope with insurance are better off or not? you started off by saying well off can get insurance and later mentioned that since doctors are getting squeazed of their profits they get sub-standard treatment.

if insurance was not available would patients go for that expensive lithotripsy (whatever that is) or try initially a more conservative medical management? i would think people would try more conservative options first before taking all those expensive tests that may/may not lead to surgeries. it depends on patient to patient and doctor-doctor.

insurance clearly has their values and most of them are not like what you have described them.


If govt backed insurance was not available, the patient would have gone to a govt general hospital and the surgery would have been done for free.

Insurance in itself is not bad. People who are not satisfied with govt service would be willing to pay out of pocket and if some of them think they cant gather enough resources at the time of emergency can go for insurance. Insurance is good for them. Govt backed insurance is just forcing another layer of expenditure without adding any value. It is not free market.

Regarding free markets and Austrian, I have to say Austrian is not ideal and it has its flaws. But lets not get into those in this thread. I think you are too much addicted to Peter Schiff. He has a lot of logic no doubt but being a perma bear doesnt give him much credibility. It eventually rains in desert too.

Hospital groups in Chennai are roping in Indian

CHENNAI: During the three decades that Dr Mohammed Rela worked in the UK, he wore British-branded shirts. Today, having moved to India four months ago, he finds them too expensive to buy. But the 52-year-old senior liver transplant surgeon finds everything else affordable here, be it big cars or Internet on the go.

"I love it here. It's the best time to come back home," said Dr Rela, chief transplant surgeon at Global Hospitals. "India is now beginning to take transplant medicine seriously and it's just like it was in the UK when I went there to do my post graduation. It's like someone turned the clock back for me," he says.

Like Dr Rela, several other Indian doctors settled abroad are now relocating to Chennai as they can pursue successful careers here. In the last five years, several new hospital groups like Global Hospitals and Fortis come to the city. Older ones, like Apollo Hospitals and MIOT, are expanding. And they are roping in talent from abroad. Since 2009, at least 20% of the doctors appointed in Apollo Hospitals, 40% in Global Hospitals and more than 20% in MIOT have been doctors who had settled down in the US and UK.

Hospital managements and doctors say it's usually a win-win situation. The doctors return home to earn a handsome salary that gives them a good lifestyle. And the corporate hospitals expand into super-specialities and adopt more efficient systems.

"We are always in need of trained specialists. Last year, we recruited experts in paediatric behavioural sciences, paediatric intensive therapy and transplant surgeries. We don't have such specialists here," says Dr Bhama, medical superintendent of Apollo Hospitals.

One of them was Dr Rajkumar Palaniappan, a surgical gasteroentrologist working in the UK. The doctor, who relocated last October, does keyhole surgeries for weight reduction.

Dr A Olithselvan, who was working at Leeds University, also joined Global Hospitals last year. "I knew I had better opportunities in Chennai because there are not many hepatologists here. I will have the opportunity to train youngsters," he said.

At his hepatology department, Dr Olithselvan has put certain system into place. In his unit, nurses gently remind doctors to scrub their hands after seeing every patient to prevent infections.

Hospital managements also find these specialists impressive. "Most hospitals have the latest equipment and technology. These doctors will help give better care," says MIOT hospital chairman Dr P V A Mohandoss.

The salary in India is not on par with what the doctors get in US or UK. But, in India, they get to see more patients and make more money. The cost of living in India is also cheaper. "My annual tax in the UK was 62%. Here, it's not even 30%," says urologist Dr Krishsai, who returned from UK last year.

In the US, doctors pay up to 45% as tax. Housing and education of children is expensive. "You also don't have to iron your shirts, clean your cars or make your own your bookshelves," says Dr NS Balaji, surgeon at Global Hospitals, who moved back to Chennai from UK recently.

Dr P Prabu, hematologist, who worked in the UK, decided to join Apollo Hospitals in Chennai last year. "I would probably have not come back 10 years ago. But India's healthcare system is now more efficient."

The grass on this side is not all that green. Traffic jams, lack of civic infrastructure and high pollution levels do frustrate foreign-returned doctors. "We also spend longer hours in the hospital, which means lesser time with family," says urologist Dr Krish Sai.

However, India is seen as the one of the fastest growing economies. "You don't need to wait for several days to get a telephone line, or stand in long queues to pay electricity bills," says Global Hospital chairman Dr K Ravindranath. "It's now time to have the reverse brain drain."

TOI (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Hospital-groups-in-Chennai-are-roping-in-Indian/articleshow/7689221.cms)

Heart surgery by Robo

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8760/25643796.jpg (http://img8.imageshack.us/i/25643796.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://img8.imageshack.us/i/25643796.jpg)

Nice to see some of the latest medical technologies being used in Chennai hospitals.

there is a long history to health care & it's high costs. it is expensive because of too much government regulation & not the lack of it - it is no way close to a free market as you think. free market by definition would ensure such services would be delivered much cheaper. there were a few articles on mises that would help you understand history of healthcare & it's costs in usa.

you have specified many examples and i don't understand the point of it. are you saying peope with insurance are better off or not? you started off by saying well off can get insurance and later mentioned that since doctors are getting squeazed of their profits they get sub-standard treatment.

if insurance was not available would patients go for that expensive lithotripsy (whatever that is) or try initially a more conservative medical management? i would think people would try more conservative options first before taking all those expensive tests that may/may not lead to surgeries. it depends on patient to patient and doctor-doctor.

insurance clearly has their values and most of them are not like what you have described them.

Insurance by itself is not bad. I don't think that shyam is saying that it's bad. What's bad is when they start dictating terms and decide on low-cost options for patients which may not be the best option.

Coming to insurance in US, have you heard of Obama care and what he is trying to do? :)

CHENNAI: In what was termed a first of its kind in India, doctors used stem cell therapy to restore the vision of an NRI whose condition was claimed to be irreversible by American doctors, here on Tuesday.

Shailesh (name changed), a 22-year-old US-based medical sciences student experienced a sudden loss of vision after accidentally consuming methanol.

Himanshu Bansal, a stem cell therapist from the Institute of Spinal Injury and Stem Cell Research, who treated him said, “After diagnosis and treatments, the doctors who were consulted in the US called his case irreversible and despite intensive treatment with high dose steroids, his condition continued to deteriorate, possibly due to cell death.”

For humans, methanol is said to be highly toxic. If ingested, as little as 10 ml can damage the optic nerve, thereby causing permanent blindness while 30 ml could be potentially fatal.

“During the procedure, doctors aspirated about 120 ml of autologus bone marrow from the lilac crest and concentrated it to 20 ml, processed it, and injected it into Shailesh’s optic nerve,” said Bansal. “A week after the procedure, Shailesh was able to read and differentiate colours,” he added. The procedure was carried out at Laksha Hospital, Mylapore.

“Once I return to the US, I will revisit my doctors and show them how Indian doctors have succeeded in treating me while they claimed my condition was irreversible,” said Shailesh. “We are plan to publish the achievement in a medical journal,” added Bansal.

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/stem-cell-therapy-helps-man-regain-vision/256854.html

For the first time in South India, a team of doctors at the super speciality Global Hospitals and Health City has performed an unique single portal kidney removal surgery -- Nephrectomy -- on a Nigerian patient.

The procedure is a novel technique to remove a diseased kidney, using a keyhole method. This provides significant benefits to the patient. Laparo Endoscopic Single Site Nephrectomy (LESS) is a new technique used to remove kidneys.

Dr Krish Sairam, Consultant Urological Surgeon, Department of Urology Global Hospitals, who performed the surgery told reporters here today that the 35-year-old Nigerian was suffering from recurrent left flank pain and fever.

His CT Scan and Renogram revealed a chronic 'PUJ' obstruction or a block in one of the tubes that carries urine from kidney to the bladder. '' When his case was presented to Dr. Krish Sairam, he decided to remove the kidney by using the path breaking 'LESS' procedure, compared to conventional open surgery or the regular Laparoscopic Surgery.

The advantages of this single hole minimal access surgery is less pain and lowering the risk of post-operative complications. The patient is mobile soon after surgery. It also provides better cosmetic results than regular laparoscopic surgery since it is done through the patient’s navel. There would only be a small or near invisible scar. Dr Sairam said it was a technically challenging surgery, performed probably for the first time in south India.

SRC: http://news.chennaionline.com/newsitem.aspx?NEWSID=f215ca3b-ebc0-4495-963a-7ca05b4e3364&CATEGORYNAME=CHN

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/3613/27032011020003.jpg

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/New-research-centre-tests-herbal-effect-against-Parkinsons/articleshow/7789724.cms

CHENNAI: The newly-inaugurated National Centre for Neurotoxicity Research to Assist Drug Development is studying the potential of herbal medicines in treating Parkinson's disease.

"Traditional medicines offer solutions for treatment of Parkinson's. We are seeing if the individual ingredients in these herbal preparations will aid the treatment of this condition," principal investigator of the project SL Maheswari said. The centre is collecting serum samples of patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's from the Government Medical College and patient samples from Nimhans to study the causes of the symptoms.

The study is part of a larger research work to observe the influence of heavy metals in the progress of neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. "Alzheimer's, which used to be prevalent in the West, is now being seen in India. We have so far not identified any causative agents. We are studying the heavy metal influence in Alzheimer's to see if they are involved in the disease's progress. In Parkinson's too the involvement of metals is being explored," said co-principal investigator of the neurotoxicity project, and professor and head of the department of pharmacology and environmental toxicology, University of Madras.

Though traditional medicines are gaining popularity, India lags behind in exports because of the lack of regulations in the field. Experts have called for the need to back Indian products with rigorous scientific studies to establish their quality, safety, efficacy and standards. The National Centre on Neurotoxicity Research to Assist Drug Development at the University of Madras, a brainchild of professor Maheswari, is a step in this direction.

...

CHENNAI: After a 14-hour deep brain surgery, doctors at the Apollo Specialty Hospital have managed to correct the twisted neck of an Iraqi-patient Ghassan Mohd.

Mohd was diagnosed with torticollis, a chronic neurological movement disorder that causes a twisted neck. Mohd's head was turned to one side and his chin to the other. Doctors at the hospital performed deep brain stimulation, a surgical procedure that implants a medical device called a brain pacemaker, which sends electrical impulses to specific parts of the brain. A fortnight after the surgery, doctors say Mohd faces people with his head straight and has regained 60% of his voice.

When Mohd came to the hospital, he complained that he could not read books, watch TV or drive. The disease left him with a limited range of motion of the head. He had headaches, tremors and neck pain. "Medicines were not effective. He did not show improvement with botox injections as many muscles were involved. Surgery was the only option," says Dr R Ramanarayan Consultant Neurosurgeon, Apollo Hospitals.

Experts say that the disease is eiher inherited or acquired as a result of damage to the nervous system or muscles. "In Mohd's case it was probably congenital," said Dr Ramanarayan. The incidence of torticollis, said experts, is very rare and occurs in 0.3-2% of the population.

In infants, the treatment for congenital torticollis involves stretching and positioning of the shortened neck muscle. These treatments, said doctors, are usually successful only if started within three months of birth. Doctors usually advise surgery in preschool years if other treatment methods fail. "The condition is easier to correct in infants and children. If the condition becomes chronic, numbness and tingling may develop, as the nerve roots tend to get compressed in the neck. Mohd's case was complicated because of his age," said doctors. They also added that there is not known method of preventing the disease. Early treatment is the only way to prevent worsening, doctors said.

During the procedure on Mohd, doctors inserted permanent electrodes into his brain to stimulate its parts. Deep brain stimulation has been successfully used in various conditions like Parkinsonism, essential tremors, some psychiatric disorders and cases of pain.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/14-hour-surgery-corrects-Iraqi-mans-pain-in-the-neck/articleshow/7829410.cms

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article1596040.ece

Chennai-based Dr Mehta's Hospitals – Chetpet, including Mehta Children's Hospital, was recently awarded the NABH Accreditation by the Quality Council of India.

The 75-year-old super-specialty hospital, has over 60 specialties including Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Orthopaedics, Laparoscopic Surgery, Oncology, Neonatology and Neuro-surgery.

The hospital is all set to launch in T.Nagar, National Highway 4 and Red Hills.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/omega-healthcare-to-expand-in-trichy-bangalore-chennai/635376.html

Omega healthcare, a premier offshore provider of medical coding and billing, is poised for expansion in the city, besides Bangalore and Chennai. "Omega Healthcare Management Services is to set its footprint at Tiruchirapalli from April 6 this year and operations will commence in June. A Rs 6 crore investment has been budgeted for basic infrastructure," P V Guruvayurappan, Associate VP-HR of the Bangalore based company, said. In addition, a blueprint has been drawn up to expand operations in Bangalore and Chennai, he said. Working on medical billing and coding and other aggregators of precision and hospital revenue cycle business on behalf of a host of companies, most of them located in US, Omega has huge facilities at Bangalore and Chennai, with a total headcount of over 2,800. Guruvayurappan said the six-year old company has been maintaining a consistent 30 to 35 per cent growth rate in the last three years. Other locations across South and South East Asia are also on the cards for expansion, he said.

http://www.vccircle.com/500/news/fortis-extends-cardiac-care-in-sri-lanka

Fortis Malar Hospital Ltd, a subsidiary of Fortis Healthcare (India) Ltd, has taken over the operations and management of the cardiac centre at the Oasis Hospitals Ltd, located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. With this initiative, Fortis Healthcare has expanded its presence in Sri Lanka for the first time and added to the existing facilities in India and other countries. The Colombo-based centre has been renamed as Fortis Oasis Cardiac Centre, Fortis Malar Hospitals said.

At present, Oasis is a 170-bed facility and the plan is to provide tertiary-level treatment and care in cardiology and cardiac surgery, with the support of Fortis Malar. The centre will reportedly have top-notch cardiologists and cardiac surgeons of Colombo. Also, it will be equipped to cover all aspects of cardiac care ranging from prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. Incidentally, Oasis Hospital offers medical services with special focus on oncology, general medicine, paediatric and Gynaecology.

“We are very happy to expand our presence in Sri Lanka and in partnering with Oasis Hospital. This addition is in line with our strategic objectivities to expand our reach and provide access to quality healthcare to communities at affordable costs,” said Krish Ramesh, zonal director of Fortis Healthcare Ltd.

Fortis Malar Hospital Ltd (formerly known as Malar Hospital), was acquired by Fortis Healthcare (India) Ltd in early 2008. Located in Chennai, Fortis Malar is a 170-bed facility and focuses on such areas as cardiology, cardiac surgery, orthopaedics, nephrology, gynaecology, gastroenterology , paediatrics and general medicine

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/apollo-introduces-tomosysnthesis-in-mammography/637667.html

Insisting that early detection of breast cancer can help in curing,Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, today said Full Field Digital Mammography with Tomosynthesis (3D) can help detection at earlier stages. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of inauguration of FFDM here, Reddy said diagosing breast cancer at early stages needs greater technology and FFDM with Tomosysthesis is the latest in technology. "This is the first time in India, this technology FFDM with Tomosysthesis is being introduced," he claimed. This technology, Jack Cummings of Hologic, said was effective to detech finer lumps in younger women with denser breasts, since the technology helps the physician look into smaller lumps in between the many layers of breast tissues. FFDM releases lesser radiation than the conventional screening, he claimed.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5143/5594341391_6dc3ce593b_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35164268@N02/5594341391/)
Madras Medical College (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35164268@N02/5594341391/) by VinTN (http://www.flickr.com/people/35164268@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5142/5594927238_eb22a9f9f8_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35164268@N02/5594927238/)
GH Madras (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35164268@N02/5594927238/) by VinTN (http://www.flickr.com/people/35164268@N02/), on Flickr

^^ Even GH named after RG. :ohno: It looks like, after Anna, RG's name is slowly making it into all streams of Chennai. :bash:

Anyways, exterior looks good for GH standards. How about interiors?

^^ Its because his body was kept in GH morgue. Never been to GH so no idea about interiors.

CHENNAI: Doctors and white coats. For years, the white coat has been the iconic symbol of doctors. But, the state health department may restrict the use of white coats for doctors at government hospitals as the coats have been shown to increase infection rates.

A recent study by the liver transplant team at Government Stanley Hospital showed that doctors' coats, ties and stethoscopes carried mircrobes including superbugs,' which are antibiotics-resistant bacteria. It showed that even if doctors follow stringent handwash protocol, the microbes may settle down in their sleeves, watches, finger rings and ties.

As part of a pilot study, doctors in the team were then asked to use disposable aprons and gloves or simply be naked below the elbow. They washed their hands thoroughly, separated patients with infections, restricted visitor entry and ensured clean air flow in sterile wards. Patients who came to the hospital with infections or who had developed them at the hospital were shifted to a septic ward to prevent others from getting infected. The department reduced infection rate by 80% in six months and reduced antibiotic prescriptions to 6%, says pathologist Dr Rosy Vennila, who worked on the project. "It's a practice we are now addicted to," she said.

In other wards of the hospital the use of antibiotics is at least 70%. The team submitted its recommendation for infection control in all government hospitals. It has said that doctors must be allowed to hang their coats. "We may ban white coats in all government hospitals. It's safe to prevent than cure," said health secretary VK Subburaj, on the eve of the World Health Day. The theme for this year is anti-microbial resistance, and international agencies like WHO have called for action.

At the Global Hospitals, for instance, doctors in the hepatology unit remind staff nurses to use antiseptic sanitisers. "There is a nurse on duty just to do infection audits," said Dr Olithselvan, hepatologist, Global Hospitals. If patients are infected, most hospitals are now insisting on a blood culture test to ensure they are giving the right antibiotics. "When we choose the right antibiotic, we kill the bug. If we don't, there are chances we will teach the bug to fight some drugs," said Apollo Hospitals medical superintendent Dr Bhama. "In some cases, giving wrong antibiotics can be fatal," she said.

Hospitals say that rules for infection control are constantly evolving. For instance, Apollo hospital has only selectively restricted white coats. They are not used in intensive care units. Apollo wants to do away with white coats in wards, too. "But coats have for long been identified with doctors. We fear it may become difficult for patients identify doctors in a crowded ward," said Dr Bhama.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Doctors-can-hang-their-white-coats/articleshow/7888103.cms

^^:lol: for years they might not have washed it...

^^ Even GH named after RG. :ohno: It looks like, after Anna, RG's name is slowly making it into all streams of Chennai. :bash:

Anyways, exterior looks good for GH standards. How about interiors?

I have not been inside GH but during a TV news broadcast about a year or so back, they showed that relatives of patients had occupied all staircases and corridors because they do not want to pay and stay in nearby lodges. It looked very dirty and messy like the CMBT.

http://www.thehindu.com/health/article1700037.ece

The historical lack of formal teacher training for doctors may yet be reversed by recent trends offering degree and diploma courses for medical educators across the globe, Eamonn MM Quigley, past president, World Gastroenterology Organisation, said.

Very few doctors have had formal training as teachers, Prof. Quigley, who is with the University College, Cork, Ireland, explained. Teaching is a skill, and recent teacher training programmes that have emerged try to bring modern techniques into education, with a special focus on the intricacies that medicine demands. More and more countries are adopting such methods in order to teach their doctors to teach medicine, he added.

This is precisely what the WGO attempts to do with its ‘Train the Trainers' programme — correct the deficit of a formal training as educators. The first session of the WGO's TTT was held for the first time in Chennai, between April 10 and 14, for about 50 gastroenterologists. Some of the aspects that were dealt with during the session, conducted in association with the Indian Society of Gastroenterology, included modules on adult education, teaching techniques, how to conduct high quality research, and evidence-based medicine.

Prof. Quigley's colleague at the WGO, its current treasurer David Bjorkman said the programme was a huge success and the discussions that took place were of the highest quality. The WGO was an organisation of national societies of gastroenterologists with the goal of improving digestive health across the world.

Twenty-five of the 50 participants were from India, according to conference chairman K.R. Palaniswamy. Though the response from professionals was overwhelming, the number of participants was deliberately kept to a low 50 in order to provide the kind of interactions and discussions that is an essential part of a WGO TTT.

The TTT will also be followed by a two-day continuing medical education (CME) programme to be held on Saturday and Sunday, conference organising secretary V. Balasubramanian, said. The lessons of the TTT programme would be encapsulated in a single session during the CME, he said.

Other issues that will be discussed are emergencies in gastroenterology, abdominal injuries, obscure gastrointestinal bleeds, chronic pancreatitis, dysphagia, and liver tranplants. A live workshop on endosonography and endobronchial ultrasonography will be held parallelly at the Apollo Hospital, he added.

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5126856

The British Deputy High Commission and UK Trade and Investment have evinced interest to work closely with DD Hospital and Medical College, a self-financing Medical College at Kunnvalam in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu.
Payal Satish, Trade and Investment Adviser at UK Trade and Investment, the commercial arm of the British Deputy High Commission in Chennai, has conveyed this in an e-mail to College Chairman T D Naidu.
Noting that the UK Trade and Investment would be organising a Medical Education and Training seminar during the last week of June 2011, Satish wanted to discuss this with Naidu, in his capacity as Chairman of DD Hospital and President of All India Medical Association.
He said the purpose of UK Trade and Investment was to help UK-based companies find partners in India and vice versa.
UK Trade and Investment also helps companies in India set up subsidiaries in the UK, he added.

http://www.equitybulls.com/admin/news2006/news_det.asp?id=89799

In order to forward integrate from products to services Amrutanjan Health Care Ltd has entered into a New Business Activity viz., Pain Management. The Board of Directors of the Company has granted approval for the same. The Objects clause of the company was also revised with the approval of the Shareholders through postal ballot, for this purpose.

Further the Company has informed that, the said objects, the Company is shortly to open its first centre for specialized Pain Management in T. Nagar, Chennai, which would provide treatment from non-invasive to invasive interventions.

http://www.timeswellness.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=11&contentid=20110421201104201645293297d84bcbe

First of a kind surgery involved simultaneous replacement of two heart valves

Fabiola Monteiro
Posted On Thursday, April 21, 2011

In a first of its kind robotic assisted cardiac surgery, two of the heart valves of a 23-year-old man were replaced. Dr R Ravi Kumar, Director of the Institute of Cardio Vascular Disease at Chettinad Health City, Chennai and his team who were responsible for this feat were present to address a press conference.

The patient
The patient was a 23-year-old man, a driver by profession. He complained of shortness of breath and could walk only about 10 to 15 feet. On evaluation, which included an echocardiogram, the patient was diagnosed with rheumatic valve disease. He had mitral regurtation (leak), mitral stenosis and aortic valve regurtation (leak). He was put on a bypass machine and his heart was stopped. With the assistance of a high precision robot, both the valves were removed and replaced with mechanical mitral and aortic valves.

Speaking at the conference, Dr Kumar said, “Robotic assisted cardiac surgery was introduced in the year 2000 in USA. Robotic surgery was a novel change in medical therapy that was soon recognized all over the world for its accuracy. The first mitral valve was repaired by Dr Chitwood in the USA. Over the decade, many attempts and advances have been made in robotic surgery to replace and repair heart valves. Single valve repair and replacement in mitral position have been successful since the beginning. The first mitral valve replacement using robotic assistance was done in India during 2006. Replacement of aortic valve was successfully done at Chettinad Health City in December, 2007. But the art of using robotic surgery was never attempted for double valve replacement. This process has been considered technically challenging until now”.

Previously, tricky surgeries like the Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy (PTE), operating on a patient with a rare condition called Situs Inversus Solitaris with Dextrocardia etc., have been performed but this case was more difficult because both valves had to be replaced simultaneously if he had to function normally in the future.

Kumar added that this would be an era that would witness an evolution in the field of medicine and 'New Age Robotics’. Chettinad Health City, a state of the Art Multi-Specialty hospital, is now the first hospital in the world to have succeeded in this endeavor in the field of heart surgery.

CHENNAI: Every day at least 30 stray dogs are vaccinated for rabies at the dog pound maintained by the Blue Cross volunteers. The volunteers often boast that Chennai is a model rabies -free city. But they do not know that there were 15 rabies deaths in the city in the last four months.

Rabies control in the city hinges on four stakeholders: hospitals that treat patients, Chennai Corporation, NGOs, and the state health authorities. And these agencies have not been communicating with each other. "In no review meetings has the Chennai Corporation mentioned rabies deaths," say NGOs such as Blue Cross who carry out birth control programmes and anti-rabies vaccination for stray dogs. "Could the deaths be due to other animals?" Dawn Williams, resident manager for Blue Cross, asked in disbelief.

Blue Cross, along with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals and the People for Animals, has taken up the work of identifying, sterilising and vaccinating stray dogs in the Chennai Corporation limits. Though sterilisation is a one-time effort to reduce dog population, vaccinations need to be carried out every year.

For the first round of vaccination, the dogs are sterilised and given anti-rabies shots. After vaccination, the ears of the dogs are notched to identify them for follow up. The animal welfare activists claim that the yearly follow up vaccinations are not difficult to do, since dogs are territorial animals and the NGOs keep a record of the number of dogs in a particular area and vaccinate them.

"Dogs do not relocate and it is easy to find them after a year in the same locality. This way we do not miss any dog," said Blue Cross joint secretary joint secretary Sathya Radhakrishnan. The organisation says that they have been vaccinating since 1964 and the stray dog population has reduced drastically.

But resident welfare associations vehemently disagree. "There seems to be a new pup everyday in our neighbourhood. And we see many new dogs moving in to mate with the bitches," said Federation of T Nagar Residents joint secretary VS Jayaraman.

Residents argue that there is no guarantee that the dogs sterlised are followed up for vaccinations. "They chase you in the night. On several days, we have seen people fall off their bikes or scream on road. No one knows which dog was vaccinated when. I wish they had a collar that would give us the vaccination date," says R Lakshminarayanan, a resident of Natesan Nagar in Virugambakkam.

Animal welfare activists say that collars will help, but with no funding from the civic body, they don't think it's achievable. "The corporation has given us the place. The money they allot per dog is hardly enough for feeding and vaccines. If they share at least 50% of the cost of surgery, we would be able to do much better," Radhakrishan of Blue Cross said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/15-rabies-death-in-Chennai-in-last-four-months/articleshow/8042208.cms

A virus that blindfolds immune system

CHENNAI: When 23-year-old Rajendran was brought to the government general hospital with tumultous stomach ache of three days, doctors thought it was possibly another case of food poisoning or acute gastroenteritis. He was admitted to the normal ward and put on medicines to reduce his stomach pain.

It was only when he refused milk the next day did the doctor suspected something serious. When he refused water, the doctors discovered he was hydrophobic and shifted him to isolation ward. Four days later, Rajendran died.

The rabies virus is best at evading immune system. So, symptoms occur only between 20 to 60 days after rabies exposure. By the time clinical symptoms like fear of water, increased salivation, fever, seizures and hallucinations set in, the patient's family would have forgotten the dog-bite episode.

Every patient shifted to one of four cubicles meant for rabies patients in the isolation ward of the hospital has died. "I remember this case so well because he was so young and was my name sake," Dr C Rajendran, head of clinical medicine. The patient was a victim of dog bite. He had taken three of the six vaccines but dropped out as he thought the wound had healed. "Many patients who come into this ward are those who have either ignored dog bites or have dropped out of the vaccine. Eventually they all die," he said.

If not vaccinated within the incubation period of 2 days, Rabies, a viral disease passed on to humans from animals, has a 100% fatality.

Patients brought in with rabies are quarantined. "There is no treatment. The patient's condition deteriorates every day. It becomes difficult for them to speak or eat because of the spasms they develop in the windpipe muscles. All doctors and nurses do is ensure a less painful death by putting them on sedation," said Dr Muthurajan, resident medical officer of Government General Hospital.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/A-virus-that-blindfolds-immune-system/articleshow/8042261.cms

It is strange to see so many cases of rabies in Chennai. Please be careful.
If anyone is bitten by un vaccinated or unknown dog, please wash the bitten area with copious amount of soap and water and then wash it with some antiseptic agent (betadine is good enough). After that immediately seek medical attention (fortunately rabies is one of the very few diseases where post exposure prophylaxis - vaccination after exposure works). Get vaccinated as soon as possible. Also finish the vaccination course (5 doses at 0,3,7,14 and 30th day). Not finishing the course is only as good as no vaccination. Educate the kids about these too. Those who dont know the facts may ignore a minor incident which may turn fatal.

Some popular myths about rabies: It is only transmitted by dog bite - False, it can also be transmitted if an infected dog licks on an exposed surface (example - a unhealed wound) or on mucous membranes (eye, nose, mouth, tongue etc). Get vaccinated unless you are absolutely sure of the vaccination status of the animal in question.

Dogs though are the most common cause, are not the only transmitters - cats and bats also transmit rabies. Infact, bats are the most common cause of rabies deaths in the US although it is dogs in India.

Another popular myth is that rabies dogs are aggressive and if a dog looks harmless, then probably it was not infected with rabies. This is again false. Rabies affected dogs exhibit two kinds of behavior. While some are aggressive, some are just normal looking or even tired - these are dogs in terminal stage disease and carry the highest viral load. So dont take anything for granted. Remember - rabies is 100% fatal. And the death is not painless.

More reference:http://www.who.int/rabies/human/postexp/en/
As a rule of thumb, always clear your medical doubts in trusted websites like WHO or one of the medical university websites like mayo clinic. Although Wiki is quite accurate, it is better to go for the above mentioned ones.

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/chennai’s-west-indian-hub/267374.html

Kuatlika Mazumdar looks tired, as she quietly savours a mouthful of biryani at Hotel Sathyam, the popular Bengali eatery on Greams Road. This school teacher from Kolkata and her teenage daughter Ayesha, allow themselves the luxury of dining out today — a little celebration of sorts, after a long struggle that just came to an end.

Three years ago, Kuatlika’s husband, a railway employee, was diagnosed with tongue cancer. Now, after chemo and removal of his tongue, vocal chords and a part of his cheekbone, he is finally “out of the danger zone”. “We went to another big hospital in Chennai, but the doctors there gave up on him. My brother’s friend in Chennai then suggested the Apollo Specialty Hospital, and we are glad we rushed here for help,” says Kuatlika. Having accompanied her husband to Chennai 12 times in three years for regular check-ups, she’s relieved that it has now been reduced to twice a year.

‘This is still the Nawab’s property’

Don’t be surprised if you feel alien in the lanes of the Mackay’s Garden Road. For one, you’ll hear more Bengali and Assamese than Tamil or English. You’ll even spot more Bengali text than Tamil or English on shop boards. And if you’re a curious Tamilian, more so a woman, you can be assured of being the attention of at least a dozen eyes with differing levels of amusement and even suspicion, if you wander long enough. In this maze-like locality, the lanes are narrow enough to give you a feel of an Old Delhi mohalla, and congested enough to make you breathless.

In these streets, there’s nothing a West Indian native will not find to accommodate his lifestyle — from shops that sell mustard oil, groceries, puffed rice (a staple breakfast item) and even the special fish variety that finds its way into the Bengali cuisine. With 150 lodges and more, travel agencies, departmental shops, meat shops, chaiwallahs and even fancy stores, this area has been functioning for years, providing excellent business opportunities for locals as well as outsiders.

Two such outsiders are Ramakrishna, 24 and Shankar Das, 18, both from West Bengal. Ramakrishna came to Chennai 11 years ago and went on to become the manager of Annam Mansion, one of the bigger lodges in the area. “Most lodges here have a travel agency attached to them. By managing this place, I get a commission of `8,000 every month. I came to know of opportunities here from my uncles who also run travel agencies in this city,” he says.

Shankar Das, on the other hand, couldn’t make it as big, and helps with a departmental store. He too, had relatives who convinced him to get a job here after dropping out of school in Class 10. Today, Shakar is kept on his toes through the day, attending to hundreds of Bengali and North Indian customers who throng the shop in the mornings and evenings.

REad the full article here (http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/chennai’s-west-indian-hub/267374.html)...I have cut down many in my posting.

Isn't bengal and assam in East India???

Isn't bengal and assam in East India???

:bash: Thats express for you.. guess we must avoid posting substandard info like this..

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1716187.ece

The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University is launching several programmes aimed at mid-level doctors and those who work in rural areas and in the private sector.

The courses will not only help upgrade their skills and enable them to earn a degree while in practice but also provide the respect that they feel is denied as they are not specialists.

The University has proposed to start a diploma course in family medicine which will be offered through distance mode. The curriculum is being framed to enable the candidates to add to their knowledge even when they are expected to be in their hospitals or attend to patients in their private practice.

“The course will benefit doctors who have long regretted not having any extra qualification and feel that despite their experience they are not on a par with specialists,” Vice-Chancellor of the University Mayil Vahanan Natarajan told TheHindu recently.

The University recently received approval from the Medical Council of India for its three year MD course in Family Medicine. Teaching medical colleges would be expected to form a team to identify the best way to conduct the course. The college authorities have to pool experts from various disciplines and find a person to head the department of Family Medicine. “It is now up to the medical colleges to apply to the University to start the course. But, the university will conduct the examinations,” he said.

In mid-May around 30 candidates, all mid-career doctors who hold a diploma in rehabilitation medicine will undergo an exam to qualify for an MD degree in the subject. Some of the candidates had taken the diploma course almost 25 years ago.

Isn't bengal and assam in East India???

Yes - that is right. Even I don't know why is the title so....:lol::nuts:

Direction kuda theiryama pochu pola...

You don't have to be famous to be impressive. V.S. Ramachandran learned as much this week when Time magazine named the UC San Diego neuroscientist one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Ramachandran's name appears on the same list as President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and actress Natalie Portman.

Ramachandran, 59, is well-known in his field, especially for finding ways to ease pain among people who have lost limbs or suffered movement disorders. But he hasn't been famous to the general public. At least, not until now.

"Of course, this was a pleasant surprise," says Ramachandran. "But what I like (about the honor) is that you get to make contact with patients from all over the world, and you can make new discoveries about the brain. It could be a gold mine."
Ramachandran cites an unexpected source for much of his success: Charles Darwin.

"He had a huge impact on human thought, and on the study of natural selection," Ramachandran said. "But he did so much more than that. Darwin did elegant, highly-detailed studies in other areas. He was always looking for insight into things that other people thought of as trivial.

"I have tried to emulate him. I hope that style rubs off on my students. I tell them that they need to read about the history of science. They need to know about the grand masters. People like Darwin and (English chemist MIchael) Faraday. Science should be a grand adventure. I lot of scientists today are 9-to-5ers. And 90-percent of brain science is technology driven. Scientists shouldn't be technicians. They should be thinkers."

That's how Time regards Ramachandran -- as a thinker.

"Once described as the Marco Polo of neuroscience, V.S. Ramachandran has mapped some of the most mysterious regions of the mind," the magazine wrote, explaining why he was chosen for the list. "He has studied visual perception and a range of conditions, from synesthesia (in which viewing black-and-white figures evokes the perception of color) to autism.

"But Ramachandran, 59, is best known for developing a therapy for phantom-limb pain in which a mirror is used to reflect the intact limb, creating the illusion that the missing one is still there. That persuades the brain that all is well, and the pain subsides. With his simple, creative and innovative ideas, V.S. Ramachandran is changing how our brains think about our minds."

Ramachandran also has been an influential voice in explaining why great works of art seem to transcend cultural and geographic barriers, a subject he discussed in the UC San Diego video included with this report.

src: http://www.enlacelink.com/news/2011/apr/22/times-top-100-people-includes-ucsd-scholar/?sciquest

^He is a product of Stanley Medical College. There is also a 90 minute lecture presented by him in the above link if anyone interested.

I am proud that Chennai gave V.S. Ramachandran to the world. :cheers:

You don't have to be famous to be impressive. V.S. Ramachandran learned as much this week when Time magazine named the UC San Diego neuroscientist one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Ramachandran's name appears on the same list as President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and actress Natalie Portman.

Ramachandran, 59, is well-known in his field, especially for finding ways to ease pain among people who have lost limbs or suffered movement disorders. But he hasn't been famous to the general public. At least, not until now.

"Of course, this was a pleasant surprise," says Ramachandran. "But what I like (about the honor) is that you get to make contact with patients from all over the world, and you can make new discoveries about the brain. It could be a gold mine."
Ramachandran cites an unexpected source for much of his success: Charles Darwin.

"He had a huge impact on human thought, and on the study of natural selection," Ramachandran said. "But he did so much more than that. Darwin did elegant, highly-detailed studies in other areas. He was always looking for insight into things that other people thought of as trivial.

"I have tried to emulate him. I hope that style rubs off on my students. I tell them that they need to read about the history of science. They need to know about the grand masters. People like Darwin and (English chemist MIchael) Faraday. Science should be a grand adventure. I lot of scientists today are 9-to-5ers. And 90-percent of brain science is technology driven. Scientists shouldn't be technicians. They should be thinkers."

That's how Time regards Ramachandran -- as a thinker.

"Once described as the Marco Polo of neuroscience, V.S. Ramachandran has mapped some of the most mysterious regions of the mind," the magazine wrote, explaining why he was chosen for the list. "He has studied visual perception and a range of conditions, from synesthesia (in which viewing black-and-white figures evokes the perception of color) to autism.

"But Ramachandran, 59, is best known for developing a therapy for phantom-limb pain in which a mirror is used to reflect the intact limb, creating the illusion that the missing one is still there. That persuades the brain that all is well, and the pain subsides. With his simple, creative and innovative ideas, V.S. Ramachandran is changing how our brains think about our minds."

Ramachandran also has been an influential voice in explaining why great works of art seem to transcend cultural and geographic barriers, a subject he discussed in the UC San Diego video included with this report.

src: http://www.enlacelink.com/news/2011/apr/22/times-top-100-people-includes-ucsd-scholar/?sciquest

^He is a product of Stanley Medical College. There is also a 90 minute lecture presented by him in the above link if anyone interested.

http://i.imgur.com/w9Acu.jpg
Rajesh Jeganathan, MD, Billroth Hospitals explaining the working of the RapidArc, a device for treating cancer, to Andrew Simkin, Consul-General, U.S.Consulate in Chennai, on Tuesday. Nupur Mitra, Executive Director, Indian Overseas Bank is in the picture.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1771022.ece

Eight times faster than normal treatment, says consultant

A Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy device, used to deliver precise doses of radiation to tumours, restricting the damage to healthy tissue, was inaugurated on Tuesday at Billroth Hospitals.

RapidArc, the device, has a rotating arm which goes around the patient reclining on a table, and delivers the dose with as much precision as possible. It also reduces the treatment time drastically, with the patient spending as little as two minutes on the table.

“It is eight times faster than normal treatment, and can verify patient and tumour position at the time of treatment. The patient can breathe normally during treatment, and movement is not restricted as it takes only two minutes compared to the 20-25 minutes of conventional radiotherapy,” L.Padmanabhan, consultant, clinical and radiation oncology, Billroth Hospitals, said.

A lower dose is used, since there is targeted delivery. Speed also lends to accuracy, he added.

All this is possible since the machine enables better planning to fix, and deliver the dose accurately. Additionally, the imaging system of the device helps to focus on the tumour even if the patient shifts during treatment.

It can cost up to Rs. 80,000 more (for a full course) compared to conventional treatment methodologies, Rajesh Jeganathan, Managing Director, Billroth Hospitals, explained. The advantages, however, are that patients are able to tolerate the treatment better, and have a better quality of life. The risk of secondary cancers also comes down, he adds.

The short turnaround time for every treatment will enable over 16 patients to be treated in a day.

The equipment was inaugurated by Andrew Simkin, Consul General, US Consulate, Chennai, at a meeting in which Nupur Mitra, Executive Director, Indian Overseas Bank participated.

Hi Guys,

Is PGD IVF legal in india ? Can anyone give me a hospital address in chennai or somewhere in India . One of my friend for family balancing purpose wants to do that . It is Legal in US and it costs close to 21000$ , heard lot of hospitals in Thailand doing the same comparitively cheaply. This looks to be a huge business there.


Advanced thanks,
--tn2usa

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/iPod-guides-Chennai-surgeon-in-operation-theatre/articleshow/8112111.cms

CHENNAI: Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Vijay Bose loves to listen to music on his iPod. Now, he carries it to the operation theatre as a surgical tool.

Dr Bose, who has replaced several hips and knees, now mounts his iPod into a hand-held device as an image-guided navigation system to do the surgery. The application, which takes up less than 3GB space on the iPod, works like a global positioning system (GPS) on mobile phones. The iPod screen displays positioning calculations which change with the patient's anatomy. It guides the surgeon to position the implant perfectly, with the least error margin.

The application, Dash, developed by Smith & Nephew Inc, works on a similar technology used in computer navigation systems. But computers occupy a lot of space in the theatre and surgeons have to lift their heads to see the screen. "Looking at the computer now and then is not a smooth thing to during a surgery," said Dr Bose. And every time he had to navigate, he would have to seek the assistance of other doctors or technicians.

On April 19, he did a hip resurfacing surgery on a 47-year old US-based basketball coach, Guy Williams, and a knee replacement on a 65-year-old housewife in Chennai, with the hand-held navigation tool. Earlier, Mumbai-based Breach Candy Hospital had done a knee replacement surgery using iPod navigation system.

During the surgery, the iPod loaded with the surgical application is inserted into a special casing mounted on the surgical device held by the doctor. As the surgeon moves his hands within the patient's joint, a camera placed nearby picks up the images with the help of sensors on the surgical device. The data is transferred to a central processing unit, which transfers the image to the iPod, using a wi-fi connection. The images on the iPod give a visual confirmation for the surgeon and enable a more precise implantation. "There was a greater level of accuracy. The patients are doing well," says Dr Bose. :cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:

Replacement surgeries can have a 3-mm margin of error. The challenge is to keep the margins as low as possible. A large error margin could cause complex fractures or dislocations in the patient later. The volumes of replacement surgeries have increased by several folds in the last 10 years across the country and surgeons are expecting many patients to come back for revision surgeries. "These could be because we had been using plastic implants that weren't strong or because the error margin wasn't very low. The iPod navigation system helps alignment of the bone joint with a 0.1 mm precision," said Dr Bose.

...

I am proud that Chennai gave V.S. Ramachandran to the world. :cheers:

Though we are proud of him, India has lost such an eminent person due to insufficient infrastructure and shortsighted policies on research and education. Many more eminent personalities who have shined elsewhere in the world left India due to this same reason. Our government fails to realize this.

My dad who is a retired Prof. of Neurology from MMC, used to tell about Dr.Ramachandran a lot. Dr.Ramachandran's discoveries could land him a Nobel prize in future.
Likewise, Prof.Ramakrishnan, who won a nobel prize in chemistry last year, is also India's loss. Just imagine, if these scientists would be teaching and guiding our PhD's in our Indian Universites....

As a Scientist myself in the field of Biochemistry, I think India has to wake up from this deep slumber. Otherwise, we will keep loosing brains that could have easily be mentoring in our Universities.

Mr. Goodman,

Why don't u come back to India and continue ur research here? It will be a good start

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/indias-first-baby-from-frozen-egg-and-sperm/270280.html

Express News ServiceFirst Published : 30 Apr 2011 02:30:06 AM ISTLast Updated : 30 Apr 2011 07:50:26 AM IST

CHENNAI: A 37-year-old woman from Arakkonam in Vellore district became the first in India to conceive a baby from frozen egg and sperm, according to the Iswarya Women's Hospital and Fertility Centre.


The Chennai-based hospital had successfully induced pregnancy by injecting a seven-month-old frozen sperm into the frozen egg.

It is a first-of-its-kind case in the country, said Dr Chandralekha, Medical Director of Iswarya Women's Hospital and Fertility Centre. Meenu (name changed) could not conceive even after 10 years of marriage due to ovarian failure and testicular dysgenesis of her husband.

Finally, when all the fertility treatments failed, the couple decided to opt for donated sperms and eggs.

The frozen eggs were thawed and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection was administered with similarly thawed sperms.

This resulted in three good embryos, which were later transferred into Meenu's uterus. Fifteen days later, pregnancy test showed positive. After 45 days, the uterus showed live single pregnancy.

Dr Chandralekha told Express that several medical institutions and hospitals across the country were trying to use frozen eggs and sperms for pregnancy, but never succeeded as the freezing of eggs at minus 196 degrees required precision. "The other hospitals and clinics are still in research to achieve frozen eggs that are capable of producing embryos," she added.

On the success in producing embryos, she said cancer patients needed to undergo radiation and the fear of infertility was high among them.

The patients' eggs and sperms could be preserved using freezing technique and later used for successful pregnancy.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1978913.ece

Hernia Conf 2011, a two-day live surgical workshop will be held at Lifeline Multi-Specialty Hospital, Perungudi, on April 29 and 30.

It will showcase and teach young surgeons several new open and laparoscopic hernia procedures.

Over one million hernia surgeries are conducted in India annually.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article1978872.ece

Mr. Goodman,

Why don't u come back to India and continue ur research here? It will be a good start

Its not easy. There are many factors that control how efficiently one can perform research. In biological sciences, it is magnified due to unavailability of clean water supply or rather dependable water supply, easy procurement of consumables such as specialty chemicals etc. Moreover, the analytical resources are very poor, like availability of NMR, MS or sequencing facilities. One has to go to other states/ cities or national labs to obtain this service, which is very expensive.
Moreover, there is always caste based politics, favoritism and other unwanted hurdles. This is reflected on the number of quality publications that India produces every year. Time is money in science. If you are not fast, a competitor will publish the results.
Create infrastructure and then invite people to do research and not the other way.

Mr. Goodman,

Why don't u come back to India and continue ur research here? It will be a good start

Mr. Murlee:

I am sure that Mr. Goodman can speak for himself re. his excellent comments on the brain drain of scientific talent from India and the sorry state of higher education and R&D in India.

What concerns me is the defensive and stupid statements that resident Indians make when an NRI points out the crap going on in India and/or offers constructive criticism.

Hey, do not be a wimp when people offer constructive criticism of the state of affairs in India. Take it like a man, and try to improve.

Ved Vedamanikam
Austin, TX, USA

Its not easy. There are many factors that control how efficiently one can perform research. In biological sciences, it is magnified due to unavailability of clean water supply or rather dependable water supply, easy procurement of consumables such as specialty chemicals etc. Moreover, the analytical resources are very poor, like availability of NMR, MS or sequencing facilities. One has to go to other states/ cities or national labs to obtain this service, which is very expensive.
Moreover, there is always caste based politics, favoritism and other unwanted hurdles. This is reflected on the number of quality publications that India produces every year. Time is money in science. If you are not fast, a competitor will publish the results.
Create infrastructure and then invite people to do research and not the other way.

Short and apt explanation of the state of biological research in India. Very well said.

I said those with all due respect to Mr. Goodman and it was a honest question.. But since u used words like 'wimp' ,'stupid' ,'defensive' , I gotta tell this!!

When we say that why don't u ppl come back, it doesn't mean we r defensive and also doesn't mean we r sitting idle! We r doing the best we can and obviously, we would like our NRI's who r talented and experienced to come back and serve the country and its not like no one is doing so! Lots and Lots of ppl r coming back! My uncle, who was a scientist in US came back and is doing research in NCL, Pune. So, as ppl say, Where there is a will, there is a way!!

Go to the place where one gets the best facilities. Never ever compromise on the growth of science. Maybe when someone is past their prime, or retired....they can contribute in some way by establishing facilities back here in TN, or becoming a faculty member here.

Let us all keep the differences aside guys. I didn't take murlee's comments hurtful or sarcastic.
Murlee, I agree we can come back and try and join a lab like NCL or CCMB. These national labs have their problems. You cannot barge in just like that. Either you have got to have an excellent push or must belong to a reserved category.
The very reason I dropped my PhD that I was doing in anna university was because of the casteism and back stabbing. My Prof. had to leave anna univ. and join IIT. However, I could not join his lab there in IIT due to some stupid eligibility criteria in IIT. This made my prof. himself urge me to go to USA for PhD.
Tell me one thing. Why one should undergo all these hurdles in research education?
These are just one part of the story. There are many more. Moreover, in India, the funding is not enough. So, these problems have to be addressed.
You have to be in our shoes to understand.

Its not easy. There are many factors that control how efficiently one can perform research. In biological sciences, it is magnified due to unavailability of clean water supply or rather dependable water supply, easy procurement of consumables such as specialty chemicals etc. Moreover, the analytical resources are very poor, like availability of NMR, MS or sequencing facilities. One has to go to other states/ cities or national labs to obtain this service, which is very expensive.
Moreover, there is always caste based politics, favoritism and other unwanted hurdles. This is reflected on the number of quality publications that India produces every year. Time is money in science. If you are not fast, a competitor will publish the results.
Create infrastructure and then invite people to do research and not the other way.

Sir,

I would like to humbly differ with you here .Before 100 Years electricity was invented , 200 Years back Oxygen was invented , 70 Years back Television was invented ,I can show hundreds of such inventions , discoveries happened in simple Labs . I could be wrong with the numbers but the point i am trying to make is in those Old days those scientists achieved some thing great with very basic lab facilities compared to what now exists in India. It is the will power and dedication that was backing them rather than infrastructure.

I could be wrong , but to what i have seen here people doing Phds particularly Indian Origin do so to just get Green Card through E1 category and join some multinational to earn quick bucks. But i dont blame them , if i do so i myself should be blamed first , because i am one of them not in Scientist Category but in a different category.

I honestly accept that i am not paid that much in India as i get paid in USA , that is one of the reason why i work here . I never ever felt that what i can do here cannot be done In India.

--tn2usa

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=77043301&postcount=268

Sir,

I would like to humbly differ with you here .Before 100 Years electricity was invented , 200 Years back Oxygen was invented , 70 Years back Television was invented ,I can show hundreds of such inventions , discoveries happened in simple Labs . I could be wrong with the numbers but the point i am trying to make is in those Old days those scientists achieved some thing great with very basic lab facilities compared to what now exists in India. It is the will power and dedication that was backing them rather than infrastructure.

I could be wrong , but to what i have seen here people doing Phds particularly Indian Origin do so to just get Green Card through E1 category and join some multinational to earn quick bucks. But i dont blame them , if i do so i myself should be blamed first , because i am one of them not in Scientist Category but in a different category.

I honestly accept that i am not paid that much in India as i get paid in USA , that is one of the reason why i work here . I never ever felt that what i can do here cannot be done In India.

--tn2usa

I agree. Quite true that many back home are smarter and brighter and would be getting paid less than here.

[QUOTE=tn2usa;77030005]Sir,

I would like to humbly differ with you here .Before 100 Years electricity was invented , 200 Years back Oxygen was invented , 70 Years back Television was invented ,I can show hundreds of such inventions , discoveries happened in simple Labs . I could be wrong with the numbers but the point i am trying to make is in those Old days those scientists achieved some thing great with very basic lab facilities compared to what now exists in India. It is the will power and dedication that was backing them rather than infrastructure.

I could be wrong , but to what i have seen here people doing Phds particularly Indian Origin do so to just get Green Card through E1 category and join some multinational to earn quick bucks. But i dont blame them , if i do so i myself should be blamed first , because i am one of them not in Scientist Category but in a different category.
^^

In the process of comparing the facilties you forgot one thing, which is, the timeline. At that time when those inventions were made, they were the best equipped labs and you cannot compare the facilities at that time with the facilities now. Can you? It wouldn't make any sense. The bottom line is lack of infrastructure is putting India behind. You may have dedication and will, but if there is no water, electricity and chemicals- no research, no patents, no publications.

Another problem is you are taking everything as a case to case basis. One success doesn't mean anything. Its like saying that india has come out of poverty because there are some millionaires. Can you say that? No. You have to take the picture as a whole. That is what I am trying to say. This may not be the case in an engineering or Software field, which are way more developed infrastructurally than biosciences.
Pay is less in India. I second that. The pay is not enough and when compared to Software, biotechnology/Pharma companies pay very less. I am not saying this by guessing. I am saying this by experience.

Moreover, doing clinical trials or administering vaccines and collecting data is not research. I am talking about bench work, real lab research that involves serious science and publishing in high impact journals.

About doing PhDs for green card.. I think you are opinionated. Doing PhD for 5-6 years just to get green card is not easy. Furthermore, do you know that it is more difficult to get green card in EB1 category than any other category. You have to have very good publications with citations and really strong recommendation letters from eminent people from your field and then a strong petition from your employer. Please, don't even say that people do PhD for green card and join MNC's.

Following recognition by the National Academy of Burns-India (NABI) as a centre for training doctors in treating burn injuries, more patients are seeking the services of the Plastic Surgery Department of the Government Kilpauk Medical Hospital in the city.

At least eight to nine patients are admitted every day to KMC's Burns ward, which has only 50 beds. Its intensive care unit is always full. According to V. Jayaraman, head of the department, over 90 per cent of the patients come with more than 50 per cent burns and their survival rate is lower. The wards are also full as most patients have to stay at least three weeks in the hospital.

“Patients must stay until the wounds heal. While skin grafting takes 10 days to settle, it takes a week to 10 days to prepare a patient for surgery,” he said. Every year, at least 12 patients require hospitalisation for more than a month.

The Government Vellore Medical College Hospital recently set up a 10-bed burns ward and patients with burn injuries who are brought to the hospital are treated to a certain extent. But, as it does not have trained specialists, seriously injured patients are referred to the KMC after stabilising them for three days.

Often victims die despite reaching the tertiary care centre for want of immediate treatment.

“We have proposed a training schedule for doctors and nurses from other hospitals on the lines of that organised by the Plastic Surgery department of Stanley Hospital to treat hand injury patients,” Dr. Jayaraman said. But merely training doctors will not help as the wards must also be equipped with materials needed for treating patients.

“It is necessary to allocate funds to district headquarters hospitals to equip them with the necessary facilities, including drugs, dressing materials and trained personnel,” he added.

The department has also sought a building, the plan for which will be prepared with inputs from the Public Works Department.

During the conference organised by the NABI in January, Principal Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj said that the government proposed to set up a skin and tissue bank at the King Institute in Guindy at a cost of Rs.6 crore. It was also proposed to collect the amniotic waste from maternity hospitals and use them for treatment instead of the expensive collagen.

A Health Department official said that the proposed projects would take off after the results of the Assembly elections are declared.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1983897.ece

In the process of comparing the facilties you forgot one thing, which is, the timeline. At that time when those inventions were made, they were the best equipped labs and you cannot compare the facilities at that time with the facilities now. Can you? It wouldn't make any sense. The bottom line is lack of infrastructure is putting India behind. You may have dedication and will, but if there is no water, electricity and chemicals- no research, no patents, no publications.


It was under the same conditions that JC Bose and Sir CV Raman and Ramanujam flourished. I understand that infrastructure compenstates for lacuanes in intelligence, but that cannot be used as an excuse for accomplishment. The real scientist has to step up, did not kary Mullis get a Nobel prize in 90s with apparutus that is available in TN govt schools?



That is what I am trying to say. This may not be the case in an engineering or Software field, which are way more developed infrastructurally than biosciences.
Pay is less in India. I second that. The pay is not enough and when compared to Software, biotechnology/Pharma companies pay very less. I am not saying this by guessing. I am saying this by experience.



That is the case in USA also how much a Post doc gets paid compared to his not so intelligent BTech buddy who entered IT industry? one fifth?

It was under the same conditions that JC Bose and Sir CV Raman and Ramanujam flourished.

Except for the similarity in poverty between then and now, it's a different era and different government policies which atleast helped the research to some extent.

The real scientist has to step up, did not kary Mullis get a Nobel prize in 90s with apparutus that is available in TN govt schools?



Exceptional inspiring story. But you can't always expect person dependent on wheel chair to qualify for a olympic 100m :)

^^
Again, I don't know why people are comparing scenarios that are separated by atleast 80 years.
Nobody is giving lack of infrastructure as an excuse. It is a deterrent to both keeping best minds inside the country and bringing them back in. That's my argument. There are mere exceptions and one cannot bring a country up with just exceptions.
Once you let people out, there is no way you can bring them in, unless you show them that they can do uninterrupted research. Don't say that you will give them a beaker full of water, a heater and a thermometer and expect them to invent like Kary mullis. By the way Karry mullis was working in a big company at that time. He had the best infrastructure.

Moreover, Seyoan, Your comparisons are too way skewed. Can you compare a postdoc's salary who is undergoing an academic training on a federal grant to a Btech guy who is working in a company which makes profit. Can you? Think.
FYI, Postdoc's are paid based on their experience. The average is 38K and the highest can go upto 70K depending on experience.
Compare how much a Btech guy and BSc guy would get in a company setting. That would be appropriate.
When CV raman, JC bose did research they did not have competition right in the exact experiment they were doing.
But now, let me tell you that the experiment that we do in our lab, are being done in at least 10 labs with same ideas and identical experimental setup around USA. If I slack a little bit, I will lose my publication. That's when infrastructure plays a very important role. Ideas are the same, the difference comes when you have the right equipments, best chemicals etc.
When I was in Anna university, so many days were wasted because we never had any power due to transformer bursting off due to overload. We never had any water supply for some days. These days we just went home. Nothing was done. The scenario is the same in many universities throughout India.
There are only very handful of labs that have good infrastructure.

Another thing I would like to put forth is that there are only thousands of scientists who left India and went to better places to do research. What about other millions of so called Best Indian minds who are in India? What are they doing? If motivation is the only key to good result then they should be inventing now right.
How many breakthroughs have come from India? But those who went to better places like USA, gave break through results. I am seeing with my own eyes here. Why the same brain that cannot invent or discover in India, can do magic in USA or Europe. Did anybody think about that?
Infrastructure can never compensate lacunae's in intelligence. Seoyan, Wrong statement. Do you mean that an uneducated person can do research if you give him the best infrastructure?
Good infrastructure motivates people to do more because, it makes life easy. It gives you more time to think about your work and not about some petty things.


I rest my arguments here.

deleted

MMC gets first of its kind ortho lab in country

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/mmc-gets-first-of-its-kind-ortho-lab-in-country/270948.html

CHENNAI: Indian orthopaedic surgeons, who flock largely to Thailand to get their share of training in cadaveric dissection, can now do it within the country.

Madras Medical College on Monday opened the first of its kind Orthopaedic Cadaveric Skills Lab in any government college in the country to train post graduate students in cadaveric dissection. The lab is expected to benefit not just Indian surgeons, but also their counterparts from neighboring countries without such facilities.

The cadaveric lab, situated in the Institute of Anatomy, was constructed in association with DePuy Johnson & Johnson under Public Private Partnership at a cost of `34 lakh borne entirely by the private agency. Earlier, an Orthopadeic Bioskills Lab was also instituted in the campus with the help DePuy Johnson & Johnson through its professional education grant.

“The lab will consist of four divisons,” said RH Govardhan, Director, Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology.“One, a room to preserve the body at a temperature of minus 18 degrees to minus 20 degrees.

Two, a freezer room maintained at a temperature of minus 6 degrees. Three, a room with six surgery tables where the experiments can be performed and four, a hall with viewing and conferencing facilities to see the experiments being performed,” he said.

However, experts are concerned about the availability of cadavers to perform experiments and studies on a sustained basis.“We have appealed to NGOs and other agencies to motivate patient attenders to make a cadaver donation,” says Govardhan. The State government’s initiatives to simplify the procedures involved in cadaver donation has increased the number of voulnteers, according to hospital authorities. “At present we have 600 people who are registered with MMC for cadaver donation, 700 people registered with the Salem government hospital and 300 in Dharmapuri,” said V Kanagasabai, Dean, MMC.

“While we have surpassed the international figures in organ donation with 70 out of 100 people willing to donate, we are yet to achieve such results in cadaver donation,” said VK Subburaj, health secretary.

“Our mortuaries are overflowing with dead bodies.Embalmed dead bodies can be used as cadavers for academic purposes. But we do not embalm our dead bodies and preserve them just to save some money. Now its time to start thinking of how to utilise these dead bodies,” said Subburaj. “The unclaimed bodies which were in large number with the Government hospitals have also come down tremendously with better communication facilities,” added V Kanagasabai.

PPP touted as solution to delays in government healthcare delivery

The easiest and the most effective way to cut delays in the government health delivery system is to implement projects under public-private partnerships, according to the state health secretary, VK Subburaj.

Recalling the delivery of amenities at the Institute of Mental Health, the largest-of-its-kind hospital in Asia, Subburaj said, “About 1,500 patients are treated at the IMH on an average.

After the Human Rights Commission and High Court noted that the patients at IMH lived like inmates in jail, we immediately sanctioned money to improve the conditions. But it took two years to deliver basic amenities like bedsheets and pillows because of the tedious procedures in the system.” In the same way, the Oncology department in the Government General Hospital is not equipped with high end infrastructure. For instance there is no PET scan centre in the hospital. “Setting up a PET centre will cost about `12 crore and will take another 12 years to establish. Meanwhile, private hospitals have come forward to allow patients from government hospitals to use them at half the cost. Such PPP initiatives can boost our healthcare system,” Subburaj said.

The fi rst PPP model was started in Thiruvallur in a programme to provide noon-meals for women coming for anti-natal care. “In six months, it was so successful that it was replicated in many government hospitals,” he added

Straight from TIME 100

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,912832862001_2066607,00.html

http://epaper.financialexpress.com/FE/FE/2011/05/11/ArticleHtmls/11_05_2011_009_004.shtml?Mode=1

The founder chairman of Apollo Hospitals tells Sushila Ravindranath that India will definitely become the world's leading healthcare provider. But we have to decide whether this will happen in five or fifty years Why can't healthcare get infrastructure status? The more hospitals one builds, the more steel and cement are consumed. And the employment opportunity is big

Health sector and hospital business have the advantage of not bowing down to the dictates of the stock exchanges as there are no season or time where one falls ill. We as Indians have a distinct advantage of being leaders in the health sectors as almost all the third world country citizens only have India to look forward to for reasonable cost for their treatment. India must leverage this advantage to leapfrog into the front league. Like the doctor says "it is up to us to be world leaders in 5 or 50 years".

http://i.imgur.com/vPFnO.jpg
A screenshot of the Chennai Corporation website, which will host the Direct Health Reporting System.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2027220.ece

A Direct Health Reporting System under which all the hospitals in the city are required to provide details of the patients on a daily basis to the Chennai Corporation is all set to go online.

The civic body is making provisions on its website for hosting the system, which would help it track the public health on a daily basis and take quick remedial measures.

All the hospitals and health posts of the Corporation, private hospitals, clinics and laboratories will in the next few days be directed to register with the civic body's Health Department.

Each of the hospitals or laboratories registered with the civic body would be given a unique login that would be accessed daily by the reporting officer of the hospital concerned.

The reporting officer of the hospital would report online the total number of suspected cases in the prescribed format of Form S. After the results of medical tests are received by the hospital, the confirmed cases with address and other details including the name, age and sex of the patients would be reported in Form C.

The civic body would have the right to ask the reporting officer of any hospital or laboratory for detailed information on the daily report if necessary. The information would be used to take preventive measures in the zones where the diseases are reported.

Malaria, dengue, plague, cerebrospinal fever, cholera, tuberculosis, epidemic influenza, chikungunya, tetanus and rabies are among the 25 diseases or conditions on the list to be reported by the hospitals.

The Chennai Corporation has instructed its officials to keep the data strictly confidential.

The private laboratories will also provide the culture report of samples of micro organisms and details of drug sensitivity to the civic body. The Chennai Corporation will initiate action against hospitals or laboratories that fail to report in the required format.

http://www.businessworld.in/bw/2011_04_16_World_Health_Opportunity.html?offset=0&max=1

Resting in his twin-sharing room in Delhi’s Max Hospital, Gerald Nnaemeka Nagbo, 42, smiles and poses a counter question: “How much do you know about Nigeria?” I had asked him where exactly his place in Nigeria was. He hails from Abuloma, a small town in South Nigeria, he says. He works in an oil processing unit, and has travelled to India with his younger brother for treatment for spinal cancer, which had been detected early. “In Nigeria, there are no good equipment (in hospitals). We have come to India because we can never get this treatment back home.”


NOT SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO CHENNAI .....

Nursing institute for HIV patients remains a non-starter

CHENNAI: More than two years after the foundation stone was laid, the city's first post-graduate nursing institute dedicated to treating HIV+ patients in Tambaram remains a non-starter due to shortage of funds.

On November 1, 2008, the then union minister for health and family welfare, Anbumani Ramdoss, laid the foundation stone for the Rs 28 crore-Indian Institute of Advanced Nursing at Tambaram Sanatorium. Little work has happened since then. "As many organisations, both public and private, are involved, mobilisation of funds and co-ordination between different organisations have been challenges in executing the project," sources in the state health department told The Times Of India.

The nursing institute a unique public-private partnership venture with state-of-the-art facilities was dedicated to train nurses providing healthcare to HIV+ve patients in the country. A joint venture of the Union ministry of health and family welfare, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS), Indian Nursing Council, William J Clinton Foundation and Yale University, the institute was slated to come up on a five-acre plot near the National Institute of Siddha at the Government Hospital of Thoracic Medicine (GHTM).

The idea to set up such an institute, according to sources, was that the GHTM is not only a centre of excellence for treating HIV+ve persons in the country but is also the largest hospital in giving treatment for these patients in the country. At present, the hospital gives treatment for around 4,000 HIV+ve persons. "The institute was also aimed to act as a national hub for nursing, research and training in HIV/AIDS-related cases," sources added.

As per plan, the union health ministry has given Rs 5 crore as seed money for the Rs 28-crore project. The Clinton Foundation is responsible for raising the rest of the funds, and Yale University will provide expertise in training. On its part, the state government through TANSACS has given the land for the institute. The feasibility study for the project was done in 2006 by the Union health ministry through NACO.

At present, the state has around 10% of the total HIV affected persons in the country and ranks fourth after Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

There is a shortage of 15 lakh nurses in the public health sector in India. During the 11th Plan, the Centre had allotted Rs. 3,900 crore to the nursing sector alone for building human resources, expanding infrastructure and creating four centres of excellence in Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkatta. In Tamil Nadu, the state government had granted permission to the private sector for starting 50 nursing schools and colleges.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-02/chennai/29612620_1_indian-nursing-council-foundation-stone-train-nurses

There is huge Gap in the rural health care. Until that is addressed India will not lead in health care. More medical colleges should be available in Tier 2 cities where meritious can be doctors and serve these areas

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article2085601.ece

The new buildings at the Communicable Diseases Hospital in Tondiarpet will be ready by September, said Mayor M. Subramanian here on Tuesday.

Inspecting the construction of the modern facility at a cost of Rs.18 crore, he said the 360-bed hospital would be a boon to a large number of patients not only in Chennai, but from neighbouring districts too. Patients from as far as Andhra Pradesh are also making use of the hospital.

Coming up on around 14 acres, the new facilities with a built-up area of 1.1 lakh sq ft are being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs.18 crore. The construction work commenced in 2009. The buildings would house a block each for air-borne infectious diseases, diarrhoeal diseases and fevers. Separate buildings for the administrative block, laboratory, kitchen, outpatient block, mortuary and laundry are also coming up.

Additionally, a park would also be developed on the premises of the hospital, the Mayor told mediapersons, after reviewing the status of the work. The opposition leader of Corporation Council, Saidai P. Ravi, and civic body officials accompanied him during the visit to the construction site.

Explaining that the modernisation was necessitated as the hospital received hundreds of outpatients every day, Mr.Subramanian said the hospital admitted persons for various infectious diseases.

some one asked by u/c hospital building at old jail complex opp to central station...

here is the status from tamil murasu

http://tm.dinakaran.com/pdf/2011/06/16/20110616b_004101005.jpg

some one asked by u/c hospital building at old jail complex opp to central station...

here is the status from tamil murasu

http://tm.dinakaran.com/pdf/2011/06/16/20110616b_004101005.jpg

Oh...
Thank u Arul Murugan.:)
I only asked about the status of this building in Chennai Descussion II Thread.
Thank u for remembering and posting it.:):):)

Indian hospitals are better than most western ones when it comes to specialties particularly cardiology and CTVS. There are various measures (morbidity, mortality, 5 year survival rates, DALY's etc) to objectively measure these outcomes and Indian hospitals typically outperform their western peers. It is because of the sheer volume of patients our doctors see and the experience they gain while getting trained. Western doctors can only dream of those kind of numbers. Technology wise, whatever cutting edge tech available elsewhere is available in India too. Even in top notch government hospitals, there is no technology lag.

The problem with India is that this is not available to most of Indians while at the same time wealthy foreigners enjoy it at a fraction of the cost compared to their home.

I am seeking an alternative material to. Pericardium for valve leaflet repairs that won't calcify. I'm wondering what has been used in India?

Mike Klein

I am seeking an alternative material to. Pericardium for valve leaflet repairs that won't calcify. I'm wondering what has been used in India?

Mike Klein

^^ Are you CTVS or biomedical scientist?

Try researching Chitra valve (http://www.ttkchitraheartvalve.com/). It was developed by the biomaterials division of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology, Trivandrum (http://www.sctimst.ac.in/) and is India's only indigenous heart valve. I am not sure of its resistance to calcifying and other details. Better do a pubmed search.

Within a week of approval to the Express Shunt Device, a new technique of surgery for glaucoma, by the Indian government, Chennai’s first successful glaucoma surgery, using this device, was conducted by Vasan Eye Care Hospital on a 67 year old patient, Ms Leelavathi.

City’s first closed eye Glaucoma surgery

Glaucoma is a condition where the pressure of the eye builds due to improper flow of fluids from the eye and results in the loss of sight. It is a building problem that is prevalent in 5-10% of the world’s population.

Dr.Aravind Venkataraman, Chief Medical Officer, Vasan Eye Care Hospital, Anna Nagar said, “Traditionally glaucoma is treated through non intrusive procedures where patients need to respond to medication.” He also added that in certain cases patients do not respond to conventional methods and require surgery to correct eye pressure and that this procedure often has heightened risks and disadvantages, most common being nerve damage and uncontrolled fluid drain and in certain cases even blindness. “The recent inventions and modifications of the Express Shunt device have helped to improve results in glaucoma surgery.”

Ms Leelavathi, a homemaker said, “The only problem I felt was that my eyesight was going down, I dint have any other problems like pain. I underwent the traditional glaucoma surgery for my right eye in 2009. Now I had to undergo the surgery for my left eye too and the new technique was used for it. Though both were successful I feel comfortable more quickly this time than last time.”

Commenting on the surgery, Dr.Aravind said, “This new procedure will bring down the chances of infection that occurs in open eye surgery. As it makes the patient recovery shorter without an serious implications for vision, it offers a better alternative to traditional surgery methods and devices.” The cost of the surgery is around Rs.50,000.

SRC: http://chennaionline.com/City360/City-Feature/20110627020610/Citys-first-closed-eye-Glaucoma-surgery.col

Representatives of 16 universities from the United Kingdom were in Chennai as part of their tour to the sub-continent to scout for opportunities to have research, training and exchange programmes with the city's hospitals and medical colleges.

In a seminar jointly organised by the UK Trade and Investment, The Training Gateway UK, and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, the teams outlined their objectives of the visit and interacted with leaders of several medical colleges, and hospitals. The delegation comprised 26 members, from schools of health, life sciences, nursing, and midwifery, community and child health.

Mike Nithavrianakis, British Deputy High Commissioner in Southern India, said “UK universities, colleges and companies are no stranger to the health care sector across India. Apollo Hospitals, Rajan Eye Care, M.V. Diabetes, India Diabetes Research Centre, Shasun Chemicals, and Orchid are some of the institutions in the region with diverse links with the UK's healthcare sector.”

P.K. Mohapatra, past chairman, CII (Southern Region), said the Mission comes at the appropriate time. By 2020, the Indian health care industry is likely to be worth US $ 275 billion. Between 2009 and 2012, the health care spend of the GDP has risen – from 5.5 per cent to 8 per cent. From the beginning, the country has been quite dependent on the private sector, where almost 75 per cent of the spending lies.

Sudha Seshayyan, Registrar, Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, explained the structure of the Indian medical/dental and allied medical sciences courses in the State. She also assured the support of the university to the visiting team, particularly in the area of allied health sciences.

Amanda Selvaratnam of The Training Gateway said the visitors brought a wealth of expertise in the health and allied sciences, biomedicine, occupational and community health and training, among others. The aim was to establish mutually beneficial partnerships, research tie-ups and exchange of P-G students.

src: http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/28/stories/2011062863660900.htm

http://www.medindia.net/news/Interviews/Renowned-US-Organ-Transplant-Surgeon-in-Chennai-to-Support-Deceased-Organ-Donation-87071-1.htm

“I’m proud to be in Chennai that is fast becoming the hub of deceased organ donation in India,” said Dr. Francis L. Delmonico, world renowned organ transplant surgeon and a vigorous campaigner for diseased organ donation programs all over the world, on his two day visit to Chennai, South India today. Dr. Delmonico is President-elect of The World Transplantation Society, Professor of Surgery Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Medical Director of the New England Organ Bank and Advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) among other things.


Addressing a gathering of transplant co-coordinators, doctors, government representatives and the media, hosted by MOHAN Foundation (Multi Organ Harvesting Network), a key player in promoting and facilitating organ donation in many parts of South India, Dr. Delmonico lauded the efforts made in Chennai to improve India’s rate of deceased organ donation, saying Delhi and Mumbai need to learn from Chennai’s example in this area. Sharing the WHO critical pathways and his experience in clearing some hurdles in organ donation and transplantation, Dr. Delmonico said he visited the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Ms. Jayalalitha yesterday, June 28, 2011 and discussed how the deceased organ donation program could be taken forward in the state.

Dr. Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee of MOHAN Foundation elaborated on the course module for the Transplant Coordinators’ Training Program evolved by MOHAN Foundation that trains candidates to liaise with hospitals and bereaved families to facilitate organ donation and transplantation. The triumph of the cause lay in the fact that organs donations and transplantations have been a made possible by a shared effort of nurses, doctors, hospitals, the government, facilitators and bereaved families of deceased organ donors. Dr. Delmonico observed that MOHAN Foundation’s representatives should have “greater access to intensive care units (ICUs), medical authorities in hospitals and others sitting in the sidelines to make the donation process smoother.” Mr. P.W.C. Davidar IAS observed that Tamilnadu had come a long way in having the procedures in place to facilitate organ donation and pledged to continue working to make things easier from the government’s side.

Ms.Veena, Transplant Coordinator, MOHAN Foundation made a presentation on the organ donations achieved in Government hospital in the last year till date. Out of the 76 brain dead patients identified, families of 49 agreed for organ donation and 27 families said, “No” to organ donation for various reasons such as religious beliefs, anger at the medical treatment, anger and grief at the situation etc. Besides these, several roadblocks identified by the foundation that hampered organ donation were presented and discussed. Some impediments discussed, revolved around identification of brain dead patients, maintenance of brain dead patients, lab results, brain death certification, police inquest, authorization for organ removal, postmortem and transportation.

Dr. Delmonico presented certificates to the participants of the Transplant Coordinators’ Training program conducted by Mohan Foundation in April 2011. Dr. Delmonico said his visit to Chennai was prompted by Tamilnadu’s success in the deceased organ donation program in the last 2 years. The organ donor rate in the southern state in India stands at 1.2 per million population which is 15 times the national average. The success lies in the coming together of government administration, government and private hospitals, NGOs like MOHAN Foundation and NNOS.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOICH&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI

Chennai: They stopped the baby's heart, laid ice cubes around her head to bring down the body temperature and pulled out a walnutsized tumour that blocked blood supply to the heart.
On Wednesday, nearly 10 days after the four-hour surgery, doctors at Fortis Malar told reporters that the surgery was not just life-saving but rare as the tumour they removed was leiomyoma, generally found in the womb.
Three-day-old Asiffa was rushed to the hospital when she became unconscious. Doctors found she had turned blue as the tumour on the right side of the heart blocked blood supply to the heart. The oxygen levels dropped drastically. The test showed a walnutsized tumour blocking the flow of blood between the right atrium and right ventricle (2 of the 4 chambers in the heart connected by valves). “At that time, we didn’t know if it was malignant and decided to remove it as early as possible,” said cardio-thoracic surgeon and director of cardiac care Dr KR Balakrishnan.
On June 18, Asiffa was wheeled in for surgery. After anaesthesia was administered, she was connected to the heart-lung machine and the heart was stopped. “We wanted the heart to be still. The machine took over the heart's role,” said Dr Suresh Rao, head of the department of cardiac anaesthesia and cardiac critical care. But there was another challenge. The blood was flowing rapidly and it was difficult to operate. That’s when the doctors decided to bring down the body temperature to 15 degrees Celsius from the normal 37 degrees. At low temperatures, the body’s metabolic rate reduces and blood circulation slows down. “We placed ice cubes near the baby’s head. This reduced the body temperature,” said Rao. In 30 minutes, the tumour was removed and the baby’s body temperature was raised to normal.
Asiffa, now 20 days old, now has a near-normal heart, said doctors. The tumour was revealed through laboratory tests as leiomyoma but doctors still don’t know why the child developed the tumour. Medical literature says only three persons, all above 40, had so far had this tumour in the heart.
“Children usually get tumours in the eye and stomach. There may be different reasons for the tumour to have formed in the child’s heart. As of now we don't rule out genetic reasons,” said Rao

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOICH&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/frontier-mediville-to-raise-rs-20-cr-via-private-equity/442343/

Frontier Mediville, the proposed medicity project of Chennai-based KM Cherian promoted Frontier Lifeline, is looking at raising Rs 16-20 crore through private equity (PE) to invest in the first phase.

The company has initiated talks with PE firms to raise capital and expects to finalise the deal in the next six weeks. However, it would not look at a significant dilution of promoter stake in the project at this stage.

“We are looking for a small amount of around Rs 16-20 crore fund from PE firms. This would go into the Rs 160-crore Phase I of the project. We expect the first phase to be ready by November this year,” said Alamelu Sankaran, chief operating officer, Frontier Mediville.

The Rs 1,000-crore Frontier Mediville project is coming up on 350 acre of which 42 acre had received SEZ status from the central government in 2009. The project is expected to be ready in three phases.

The first phase will comprise a medical science park in the SEZ zone in Elavur village, almost 40 km from the city. It also includes a research and training centre and an animal laboratory to house clinical research organisations (CROs). The company would lease out the research facilities to CROs for which it is in talks with around 12 companies. It has arranged a term loan of Rs 90 crore from State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda for the first phase.

The company would also look at raising fund through strategic investors or PE players for the second phase, which would involve around Rs 500 crore.

Phase II will include a Rs 144-crore bio hospital with 200 beds in the SEZ. The bio hospital, which the company claims to be the first of its kind in India, is designed as state-of-the-art tertiary care in all sub-specialties of medicine supported by modern basic sciences including stem cell technology, tissue engineering and nanotechnology.

It would also focus on integration of traditional and alternate medicinal technologies such as ayurveda, naturopathy, and siddha to the services. Another 750-bed multispeciality general hospital would be developed outside the SEZ in the second phase, she added.

http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/983.php

Indian and Canadian researchers found no evidence of falsification of medicines in a sampling study carried out in the city of Chennai, though more than 40 per cent of drugs were substandard.

"There is still surprisingly little basic research data to support widely-repeated claims about the prevalence of drug counterfeiting," according to the researchers, from Children's and Women's Hospital in Vancouver and Apollo Hospital in Chennai.

"The quality of at least some anti-infective drugs in Chennai is below commonly accepted standards but we found no evidence of criminal counterfeiting," they write in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics (August 2011).

The team divided the city of Chennai into ten areas, selecting 10 outlets selling medicines from each. Samples of three anti-infective drugs - artesunate for malaria and the antibacterials ciprofloxacin and rifampicin - were bought from each of the 100 outlets and analysed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) techniques.

The drugs were tested for a range of parameters developed by the researchers looking at manufacturing standards, counterfeiting, decomposition, poor quality control and adulteration.

Ciprofloxacin samples stood up well to the testing, although the quality range for artesunate and rifampicin was much broader. Overall, 43 per cent of all the samples tested fell below the widely accepted manufacturing range of 90 to 110 per cent of the stated content, but no sample fell below 50 per cent of the stated dose.

"Poor drug quality was most likely due to decomposition during storage or poor manufacturing standards," conclude the authors.

Chennai, Jul 14 : For the last three months, 25-year-old upcoming Iraqi Actor Inam Hakeem had been spending sleepless nights as blood was found in the sputum periodically besides suffering from breathing problems.

Doctors at Iraq diagnosed that she had a big tumour at the septum of the heart valve between two chambers of the heart. Biopsy reports to ascertain whether the mass was cancerous tumour proved inconclusive.

She was caught in a horns of dilemma because if the cancer tests proved positive, the tumour could not be removed from the heart. A local doctor referred her to Global Hospitals and Health City in the southern Indian city of Chennai which had been treating patients from Iraq frequently.

Hailing from Baiji-Salah El-Dien in Central Iraq, Inam's condition was such it could turn critical anytime as the possibility of the tumour rupturing loomed large.

http://www.livemint.com/2011/07/14170339/Apollo-launches-day-surgery-ce.html

Apollo Hospitals opened a day surgery facility in the Alwarpet area that allows patients to recover at home after an operation. It will also house a 24-hour emergency unit and a chest pain clinic for cardiac patients.

“This will be a state-of-the-art facility designed to motivate patients going in for elective surgeries and also those requiring short-stay surgeries,” said Prathap C. Reddy, chairman and founder of Apollo Hospitals group.

The Indian healthcare services firm plans to increase the number of such centres in the city to five and introduce the facility in other major metros as well.

Managing director Preetha Reddy, who just returned from a trip to Africa, where the group plans to expand, said the cost of the day surgery centre was over Rs5 crore.

Prathap C. Reddy said that although revenue per bed will be relatively lower because of the short stay, the turnover will be high. He expects the facility to break-even in six months. The company is also raising funds for expansion.

Indians may not be feeling too kindly towards Pakistan at the moment, but one Pakistani was definitely thanking India on Thursday.

For 54-year-old Pakistan national Riaz Mohammed would have surely perished but for a heart donated by a Chennai man’s kin.

“We had searched all around the world, before we found Dr Cherian’s Heart Foundation on the Internet,” recalls Haseena Riaz, the patient’s elder daughter. With a history of heart trouble and having undergone a bypass surgery in 2003, Riaz was in “a terminally critical state when he arrived here on June 23,” reveals Dr Prakash Hiremath, the transplant surgeon. Though the possibility of Riaz receiving a heart seemed remote, his wife, daughter and brother decided to take a leap of faith, flying him to Chennai from Dubai, where the family is based.

“We registered him with the Tamil Nadu Network for Organ Sharing, but we are required to give preference to an Indian national from the city, and then region,” said Dr KM Cherian. With three others on the list, Riaz seemed out of luck when the family of Balaji (32), offered his organs for donation after his demise at Global Hospital in Perambakkam on July 8. “Balaji was a perfect match unlike the others,” added Cherian. After minor delays, they were given the go-ahead and the transplant was carried out at Frontline Hospital on July 10.

After a tense five-and-a- half hour surgery, the heart was successfully transplanted into Riaz. “He is recovering well and may be discharged within 15 days,” added Dr Hiremath. Meanwhile, the family has been made to feel at home. “Everyone asks us if there is any animosity, but honestly we have only been showered with attention and kindness here,” says Haseena as her mother Sakeena Riaz holds back her tears.

Riaz himself managed to raise himself up to say a lone sentence in Urdu, “Thank you India...thank you.”

src: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/chennai-man%E2%80%99s-heart-beats-in-pakistani%E2%80%99s-chest/294259.html

Country's med capital to get 3,000 more beds

CHENNAI: The private hospital sector in the city is expected to increase its bed strength by mid-2012 by nearly 25% — at least 3,000 beds in four leading hospitals . Experts, however, feel these numbers need to be tripled to meet global standards. Just half, they add, are used by Chennaiites. The rest are shared by patients from across the state and country and even foreigners.

According to statistics from hospital research groups, the city has an estimated 12,500 hospital beds. This works to 2.1 beds per 1,000 population against the national average of less than 1 bed per 1,000 population . Chennai is better than Delhi (1.4), Mumbai (0.8), Kolkata (0.8), Hyderabad (1.5) and Bangalore (2.1) but still does not satisfy World Health Organisation norms of three beds per 1,000 persons.

The expansion, doctors say, is because Chennai hospitals are overcrowded. "This is unavoidable because most doctors work in cities and people believe treatment and care in city hospitals are superior to those in rural areas," says hospital consultant NJ Gowrishankar of HSB Consultancy.

The Fortis Group is planning a hospital with about 1,500 beds in a new block leased out in Vadapalani and Apollo Hospital is planning one with 550 beds in the southern suburbs by end of 2012. Global Hospitals and MIOT Hospitals, too, are looking at 500-bed units, each with 150 beds for cancer therapy.

Global Hospitals, says its executive director Chandra Sekhar, has been planning to expand in the city for over three years. "Apart from the 500 beds on campus, we are planning two 100-bed hospitals in the city to act as feeder services for the main hospital," he adds.

While 150 beds on the main campus will be allotted for cancer therapy , the rest will be shared by different specialties. The hospital, like many others, says only 50% of patients are from Chennai. "There are people from west, centre and other parts of South India besides those from abroad," Chandra Sekhar said.

There will also be recruitment of doctors and specialists trained abroad. Global Hospitals chairman Dr Ravindranath says he always meets Indian doctors whenever he visits the UK or the US. "Many want to come back because of the good infrastructure and greater volume of patients," he adds.

Besides, many patients want a stay in a hospital to be luxurious. "Many in the corporate sector go abroad frequently. They look at hospital facilities there and ask for the same here. We are forced to upgrade services," says Dr PVA Mohandoss, who heads MIOT Hospitals.

The 500-bed hospital is constructing a 15-floor building to double its capacity. The new unit will have state-of-the-art facilities for cancer therapy and organ transplant . "We are also giving equal importance to aesthetics and are planning facilities like TV, AC, wi-fi , good food and landscaping. These are no more just for international patients. Many Indians are willing to pay for these facilities," says Dr Mohandoss.

Such facilities, some senior doctors believe, will make hospitals affordable . "Some years ago, when Sri Ramachandra
Hospital was started outside the city, people thought the management was crazy. But it was able to fill beds and see profits. Large hospitals will be able to get substantial discounts on equipment and drugs, just like government hospitals. Plus, the competition will help bring down rates," says a senior cardiac surgeon at the Government General Hospital.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Countrys-med-capital-to-get-3000-more-beds/articleshow/9243427.cms

Country's med capital to get 3,000 more beds

CHENNAI: The private hospital sector in the city is expected to increase its bed strength by mid-2012 by nearly 25% — at least 3,000 beds in four leading hospitals . Experts, however, feel these numbers need to be tripled to meet global standards. Just half, they add, are used by Chennaiites. The rest are shared by patients from across the state and country and even foreigners.

According to statistics from hospital research groups, the city has an estimated 12,500 hospital beds. This works to 2.1 beds per 1,000 population against the national average of less than 1 bed per 1,000 population . Chennai is better than Delhi (1.4), Mumbai (0.8), Kolkata (0.8), Hyderabad (1.5) and Bangalore (2.1) but still does not satisfy World Health Organisation norms of three beds per 1,000 persons. The expansion, doctors say, is because Chennai hospitals are overcrowded. "This is unavoidable because most doctors work in cities and people believe treatment and care in city hospitals are superior to those in rural areas," says hospital consultant NJ Gowrishankar of HSB Consultancy.

The Fortis Group is planning a hospital with about 1,500 beds in a new block leased out in Vadapalani and Apollo Hospital is planning one with 550 beds in the southern suburbs by end of 2012. Global Hospitals and MIOT Hospitals, too, are looking at 500-bed units, each with 150 beds for cancer therapy.

Global Hospitals, says its executive director Chandra Sekhar, has been planning to expand in the city for over three years. "Apart from the 500 beds on campus, we are planning two 100-bed hospitals in the city to act as feeder services for the main hospital," he adds.

While 150 beds on the main campus will be allotted for cancer therapy , the rest will be shared by different specialties. The hospital, like many others, says only 50% of patients are from Chennai. "There are people from west, centre and other parts of South India besides those from abroad," Chandra Sekhar said.

There will also be recruitment of doctors and specialists trained abroad. Global Hospitals chairman Dr Ravindranath says he always meets Indian doctors whenever he visits the UK or the US. "Many want to come back because of the good infrastructure and greater volume of patients," he adds.

Besides, many patients want a stay in a hospital to be luxurious. "Many in the corporate sector go abroad frequently. They look at hospital facilities there and ask for the same here. We are forced to upgrade services," says Dr PVA Mohandoss, who heads MIOT Hospitals.

The 500-bed hospital is constructing a 15-floor building to double its capacity. The new unit will have state-of-the-art facilities for cancer therapy and organ transplant . "We are also giving equal importance to aesthetics and are planning facilities like TV, AC, wi-fi , good food and landscaping. These are no more just for international patients. Many Indians are willing to pay for these facilities," says Dr Mohandoss.

Such facilities, some senior doctors believe, will make hospitals affordable . "Some years ago, when Sri Ramachandra
Hospital was started outside the city, people thought the management was crazy. But it was able to fill beds and see profits. Large hospitals will be able to get substantial discounts on equipment and drugs, just like government hospitals. Plus, the competition will help bring down rates," says a senior cardiac surgeon at the Government General Hospital.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Countrys-med-capital-to-get-3000-more-beds/articleshow/9243427.cms
Chennai 2.1 beds need to increase to 3.0 soon to be called as Health Capital.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-downtown/article2234472.ece

Surgical Avenue's showroom was inaugurated in a model way – by donating wheel chairs and welfare aids to economically downtrodden children, at Chetpet on July 10. To mark the inauguration of Surgical Avenue's first showroom in the city, the management donated wheel chairs, physiotherapy and diagnostic devices to MANASA, a school for special children.

Surgical Avenue, which was started by Suresh Jain, Vinod Jain and Mukesh Jain, has been manufacturing hospital equipments for more than 25 years.

The showroom will showcase products like hospital furniture, operation table and light, high pressure sterilizer, operation microscope, ventilator, surgical diathermy, surgical instruments, laparoscopic instrument, medical gas cylinder, X-Ray Machine, ultrasound scanner, ECG machine, medical monitor laboratory and diagnostic instruments.

The promoters of Surgical Avenue have plans to expand operations by opening more showrooms in major cities all over south India.

The showroom is located at 69, McNichols Road, Chetpet.

American Eye Care Hospital will inaugurate its fourth centre at Tirupati Nagar, Valasarawakkam today. Actor Vivek will inaugurate the centre and the project of planting 10,000 saplings.

Inam Hakeem was a very worried woman when she got on the plane to India.
The 24-year-old Iraqi actress had been coughing up blood in the past three months, and doctors in Iraq had found several coin shaped lesions inside her lungs but could not tell what the patches were.

A CT scan gave her even more reason to be alarmed -it revealed the presence of a massive 8x6 cm growth inside the petite woman's heart. The average adult human heart is only as big as a tightly closed fist.

“My doctors gave me a death warrant. They said I had rare lung and heart tumours that were inoperable,“ said Inam, a popular cinema and TV actor in Iraq.

When doctors in Chennai opened the young woman's heart, they found that the mass was not a cancer, but a tapeworm infection.

“We were in a dilemma, because operating on a tumour of such huge dimensions in the heart is not an option,“ said Madhu Shankar, cardiothoracic surgeon at Global Hospitals.
“However, we could not confirm whether the mass was cancerous or not and we had to act quickly as the liquid-filled swelling could burst at any time, endangering the patient's life,“ the doctor said.

After stopping the patient's heart, doctors managed to remove the confounding growth. To their surprise, they found it was a parasitic tapeworm infection.

“Tapeworm infestations are rarely seen in the heart. However, in countries like Iraq and Turkey tapeworm infections are endemic and are believed to be contracted from dogs and sheep,“ Dr Madhu Shankar explained.
However, Inam said she does not own a dog. The actress is elated.

“I was so depressed, I really thought I was going to die,“ the pretty woman says, ecstatic that she can return home this week.

http://dc-epaper.com/PUBLICATIONS/DC/DCC/2011/07/15/ArticleHtmls/City-docs-remove-Iran-actress-cancer-fears-15072011002051.shtml?Mode=undefined

Is she a iraqi actress or an Iranian...!!

http://photo.outlookindia.com/default.aspx?pt=3&ptv=0&pyr=0&date=7/14/2011&photono=36&pn=1&pgid=43022

MIOT Hospitals to open Rs 280-cr cancer speciality centre

Chennai-based MIOT Hospitals is investing Rs 280 crore on a 600-bed 6-star facility for cancer treatment.

Called ‘MIOT International', the centre will specialise in cancer surgery, medical oncology, radio therapy, bone marrow transplant and nuclear medicine. The project is being funded by bank loans.

Construction by L&T is underway and the 13-floor centre, near the existing hospital in Chennai, is expected to be ready in 6-12 months. It will house 14 operation theatres, a bunker, a sterilisation unit, 500 premium rooms and 100 beds for critical care.

The centre promises to be of “international” standards, offering latest technology and premium service. The room charges will be double the current rates at MIOT.

“MIOT International will be a modern hospital; we have imported equipments, including a Rs 28-crore ‘True Beam' radio therapy machine from US manufacturer, Varian,” said Dr P.V.A. Mohandas, Chief of MIOT Hospitals.

Though MIOT International is not exclusively targeted at international patients, Dr Mohandas believes it will attract several people from all over the world. “Healthcare has become extremely expensive world over and it is still cheap in India,” said Dr Mohandas.

Around 100 doctors, primarily doctors from the US and UK looking to come back to India, have been hired for MIOT International.

The current bed-strength at MIOT Hospitals in Chennai is 500. It employs around 170 doctors.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article2235876.ece

Private hospitals laud Govt's new health insurance plan


Private hospitals in the city have welcomed the Tamil Nadu government's new health insurance scheme.

Although the finer details are yet to emerge, the broad outlines of the policy are in the right direction, say healthcare providers who are not unduly worried about the priority given to government hospitals.

According to Mr Krish Ramesh, Wholetime Director, Fortis Malar, the announcement that the scheme will cover diagnostics and post-operative care is a welcome one.

Ms Preetha Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals, said, “People who need healthcare will be able to get it; the scheme is going to be something everyone will be proud of.”

The new health insurance scheme, which comes in place of the erstwhile government's scheme, extends medical cover up to Rs 4 lakh (for four years) from Rs 1 lakh before.

It covers 950 types of medical treatment compared with the previous Kalaignar Insurance Scheme that covered 642 types.

The new scheme also seeks to give government hospitals priority over those in the private sector.

Certain types of treatments will be permitted only in government hospitals and special wards will be set up for this in hospitals approved by government. (The earlier scheme was criticised for its private sector skew.)

Ms Reddy said: “Government hospitals are definitely upgrading themselves so they should be given priority. Private sector should work alongside the government, not in competition to it.”

Mr Ramesh said unless the full details are known it's difficult to comment.

The new health insurance scheme extends medical cover up to Rs 4 lakh (for four years) from Rs 1 lakh before. It covers 950 types of medical treatment compared with the previous Kalaignar Insurance Scheme that covered 642 types.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-others/tp-states/article2236541.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article2237677.ece

With people from across the country and abroad preferring to get treated in city hospitals, Chennai is increasingly becoming a hub of medical tourism.

Nigeria, Kenya, Burundi, Congo, Bangladesh, Oman and Iraq are some of the countries from which patients fly down to Chennai for medical attention around this time of the year. Besides treatment, patients on the road to recovery and caretakers also get to go on sightseeing tours.

Most leading hospitals, which receive a steady stream of patients from other States and abroad every day, have separate wings for international patients. Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre, for instance, receives up to 100 overseas patients a month. However, there are no consolidated statistics about the number of patients that the city receives.

“We get 15 to 20 patients a month from around the world,” says T.I.Joshua, Manager-International Business of Fortis Malar. “Treatment for cardiac, orthopaedic, and neurosurgery are the main reasons for people choosing this hospital. Oncology is catching up,” he says.

Mr.Joshua believes that many countries have fully-equipped hospitals but lack specialists and experienced nurses. This hospital also provides rental accommodation for patient's relatives. “The service apartments in Adyar charge between Rs.2,500 and Rs.4,000 a night. We have recently started service apartments for Rs.1,500 per night,” he adds.

Several private hospitals have tied up with governments of other countries. Representatives of Madras Medical Mission say that every month, 14 persons from abroad, mainly from East African nations, come to the hospital as medical tourists. The hospital is preferred by international patients for kidney transplants and cardiac surgeries.

A. Aloyse, a professor from Tanzania, has been in the city for a month now with his relatives to undergo kidney transplant.

“My government sent me here for treatment and my expenses are covered by it. The hospital provides food and accommodation for my son and brother-in-law, who is the donor. The quality of treatment is good,” he says.

Besides overseas patients, a sizeable number of patients come from within India. While some of the patients like Om Mahajan from Nagpur come to the city on doctors' advice, several others choose Chennai for quality healthcare.

Ram Swarup Rai of Kanpur underwent a cataract operation at Sankara Nethralaya, which receives nearly 500 overseas patients a month.

“I cannot expect such facilities in my city. All doctors here speak Hindi. I have found a lodge for Rs.190 per night,” he says. Patients from other parts of the country, however, cannot afford rental accommodation offered by city hospitals.

Surendra Prasad from Aurangabad says, “We managed to stay in the hospital for a day. As my wife Meena Devi's surgery is over, we will have to find if anyone will let us stay with them for a few nights.”

The increase in overseas patients' visit to the city has paved way for companies to facilitate medical tourism. Jose Manavalan, Chief Executive Officer of one such organisation that operates in T.Nagar, says international patients choose Chennai for quality and cost-effective healthcare. “We have tied up with many hospitals. We take care of the selection of hospitals treatment, travel, accommodation and follow-up camps in their country. We also organise tours for them.”

Keywords: medical tourism, international patients, food and accommodation, affordability

Doctors from a Chennai hospital have successfully treated an Iraqi woman’s cancer using stem cell therapy.
After three relapses of the dreadful Hodgkin’s disease, a lymphoma thatt is a leading cause of cancer, Wizdan was close to giving up hope.

The 38-year-old mother of two had had several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation in the past two years, but the cancer would always reappear after a six month break.

The virulent type of cancer that affects the white blood cells in the lymph nodes seemed indestructible in Wizdan’s case, and doctors in Iraq and Lebanon suggested that she visit India for further treatment.

“Wizdan had swellings of the lymph nodes in her neck, armpit and groin. Her cancer kept relapsing every six months, and we realised that she required an extremely high dose of chemotherapy — but such strong medication would also destroy her healthy tissue along with the cancer cells, leaving her with abysmally low immunity,” explained Anita Ramesh, medical oncologist at Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre here.
Stem cell transplant was the patient’s only chance of

survival after the intense chemotherapy. Without the stem cell transplant, Wizden would contract infection and bleed to death within a week after her chemotherapy, Dr Anita explained.

Before starting the cancer treatment, Wizden was given growth factors to lure the bone marrow stem cells into her blood stream. The blood was then passed through a machine called a cell separator, which isolated her stem cells.

“We stored the yield of stem cells in a pouch using liquid nitrogen frozen to minus 90ºC, and then started her on the high-dose chemotherapy, which completely killed all the cancerstricken lymph cells,” said Dr Anita, explaining the operation.

Chennai, Jul 21 : 'Ferticon-2011', a three-day National Symposium on Fertility and High Risk Pregnancy would be held here from tomorrow.

The symposium was being organised in the backdrop of reports that there had been steady increase in the number of infertile couples in the country, which had risen from 14 per cent to 20 per cent.

Akash Fertility Centre and Hospital Founder Dr K Kamaraj, who was instrumental in organising the seminar, told UNI today that recent advances in the treatment methodologies for infertility and complicated pregnancies would be explained to the gyneacologists at the seminar in which more than 500 delegates would participate.

''Early marriage, which was the norm in olden days, has practically disappeared and parents wait till their children were educated and well placed before getting them married,'' he added. Noting that late marriages has become quite common these days due to a variety of factors, Dr Kamaraj said even after marriage, pregnancy was postponed due to various reasons.

Among the factors that contribute increase in infertility rate included sexual problems among the couples due to different work timings like night shifts, stress at work and food habits leading to obesity.

Most obese people, especially women, get affected with polycystic Ovaries Syndrome -- formation of small tumours with water -- leading to infertility. ''All these contribute to the increase in the number of infertile couples.

"But there was no corresponding increase in the number of specialists in the field to treat infertility,''he said. Stating only 20 per cent of the childless couples consulted specialised centre for treatment and the remaining 80 per cent lived with infertility, Dr Kamaraj said to create awareness among infertile couples this seminar was being held.

The seminar aims to update the gynaecologists on the basics of infertility, treatment, counselling and advanced treatment modalities. The topics covered would include problem solving sessions in fertility laparoscopy procedures, azoospermia management, routine protocols in high risk pregnancy and antenatal care, among other things.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/city-gets-new-ortho-neuro--institute/170872-60-120.html

Depuy Institute for Advanced Education and Research in Orthopaedic and Neurological Care was inaugurated by the State Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr VS Vijay at Mahindra World City, near Chennai on Wednesday.

“Being an orthopaedic surgeon, I have always felt that there is a shortage of well-trained professionals in India, I am very proud that Tamil Nadu has today added one more landmark to the health map of India,” the minister lauded.

The facility deals with everything from non-surgical early intervention to complex surgery in orthopaedics, spinal care, sports medicine, soft tissue repair and trauma and neuro-sciences.

The brainchild of this facility is DePuy, belonging to Johnson & Johnson, one of the leaders in orthopaedic and neuroscience devices.

Vijay also pointed out the importance of government-industry interface. “If the government-run educational institutions have the reach, the industry has the resources,” he said.

The need of the hour, said the minister was to bring both together and deliver quality health care to the people. The first program at the institute will be a course on Arthroplasty Essentials on July 30, accredited the TamilNadu Dr MGR Medical University. The institute plans to have 100 programs in the inaugural year.

The 30,000-sq-feet facility has a 100-seat auditorium, multiple classrooms, and a multi-station skills lab.

Micheal del Prado, group chairman, Johnson & Johnson Medical, Asia Pacific said, “This institute will help expand the pool of trained surgeons to meet the needs of thousands of patients in India.”

Gray Fischhetti, group chairman, DePuy Franchise said, “I am sure the institute will remove the knowledge barriers and will make quality health care more accessible.”

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/novel-thyroid-surgery-chennai-docs-leaves-no-scars-944

Doctors at a city hospital have performed scar-free thyroid surgery to remove a lemon-sized growth from the thyroid gland of a 23-year-old patient.

While conventional surgery would have left an unbecoming scar across her neck, a team of surgeons at Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre removed the right lobe of the girl’s thyroid gland by making a tunnel through her armpit.

The patient had a benign nodule growing on the right lobe of her thyroid gland, which appeared as a lump in her throat.

“We made three incisions in the patient’s armpit — one was about 1 cm long, and the others half a centimetre each. We made a tunnel through the incision, and endoscopically remo- ved the right lobe. The nodule attached to the gland was then pulled out through the same puncture in the arm pit,” explained Vishwanath M. Pai, HoD of general surgery at SRMC, who headed the team during the three-hour long surgery.

...

Doctors from a Chennai hospital have successfully treated an Iraqi woman’s cancer using stem cell therapy.
After three relapses of the dreadful Hodgkin’s disease, a lymphoma thatt is a leading cause of cancer, Wizdan was close to giving up hope.

The 38-year-old mother of two had had several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation in the past two years, but the cancer would always reappear after a six month break.

The virulent type of cancer that affects the white blood cells in the lymph nodes seemed indestructible in Wizdan’s case, and doctors in Iraq and Lebanon suggested that she visit India for further treatment.

“Wizdan had swellings of the lymph nodes in her neck, armpit and groin. Her cancer kept relapsing every six months, and we realised that she required an extremely high dose of chemotherapy — but such strong medication would also destroy her healthy tissue along with the cancer cells, leaving her with abysmally low immunity,” explained Anita Ramesh, medical oncologist at Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre here.
Stem cell transplant was the patient’s only chance of

survival after the intense chemotherapy. Without the stem cell transplant, Wizden would contract infection and bleed to death within a week after her chemotherapy, Dr Anita explained.

Before starting the cancer treatment, Wizden was given growth factors to lure the bone marrow stem cells into her blood stream. The blood was then passed through a machine called a cell separator, which isolated her stem cells.

“We stored the yield of stem cells in a pouch using liquid nitrogen frozen to minus 90ºC, and then started her on the high-dose chemotherapy, which completely killed all the cancerstricken lymph cells,” said Dr Anita, explaining the operation.


Storage in liquid nitrogen means -196 degree Celsius and not -90 as given in the report. Besides, Hodgkin's lymphoma is not a "dreadful" disease. Infact it is one of the easiest cancers to cure. The remission rates are very high and the majority live for more than 4 decades.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/healthcare/biotech/healthcare/fortis-to-start-6-new-hospitals-rs-1050-cr-investment-likely/articleshow/9443819.cms

Fortis Healthcare (India) today said it will start six new hospitals in southern and western India that could entail an investment of up to Rs 1,050 crore.

The expansion will increase the network's bed capacity by 1,400 beds to 9,700.

The hospitals will be set up in Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Indore and Jabalpur Fortis said in a statement.

"This announcement honours the '10 hospitals in 10 weeks' commitment that we made when Fortis celebrated its 10th anniversary a month ago," Fortis Healthcare (India) Chief Executive Officer Aditya Vij said.

When contacted regarding the financials for opening of six hospitals a Fortis spokesperson said: "We cannot at this time share a precise figure on the investment that these six hospitals will entail. However, our experience tells us that the development of each hospital bed costs about Rs 65 lakh to Rs 75 lakh, on an average."

With the upper limit of Rs 75 lakh per bed, the new 1,400 beds would need an investment of Rs 1,050 crore.

The tertiary care hospital at Pune and super speciality hospital in Chennai would commence operations in 2012, while the hospital projects at Hyderabad and Indore are in an advanced stage of planning, Fortis said.

The hospital in Bangalore will be operational in early 2012 and will offer a medical programme focused on women under the 'Fortis La Femme' brand along with a urology centre, the company added.

The cardiac care centre at Jabalpur will provide interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery.

"The multi-speciality and super-speciality hospitals, whether greenfield, brownfield or operated & managed, will embrace international standards of healthcare services...," Vij said.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article2315954.ece

Tiruchi-based Kavery Medical Centre & Hospital, popularly known as KMC, is setting up a hospital in Chennai. The outlay in the 200-bed multi-speciality hospital is around Rs 40 crore.

The investment is being funded through bank loans and internal accruals. “If need be, we may go for PE funding,” says Dr S. Manivannan, Joint Managing Director, KMC.

The hospital, targeted at the middle class, is coming up at an existing building in Alwarpet, Chennai, spanning four floors. It is expected to start operations by November this year.

This hospital will strive to be a ‘clean hospital’ catering to exact cleanliness standards, said Dr Manivannan. For instance, the hospital will have joint-free vinyl flooring, since joints are prone to dirt collection and thus infection. It is also trying to incorporate the concept of seamless modular operation theatre – where there are no joints between the roof and the walls.

“We will go in for quality assessment by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals within a year of operations,” says Dr Manivannan.

Kavery was started by first generation entrepreneurs including Dr Manivannan. It runs two hospitals in Tiruchi– the 250-bed Kavery Medical Centre (KMC) and the 200-bed KMC Speciality Hospital. KMC Speciality was formed as a result of an Rs 18 crore-acquisition of Seahorse Hospital in 2009 with the help of PE firm Nicholas Piramal Investors.

Dr Manivannan is also the CEO of Medicall, which organises medical equipment and hospital infrastructure exhibition every year. The seventh edition of the expo will be held from August 12-14 in Chennai. It will see the participation of 425 exhibitors from across the world. Seminars on seamless operation theatres and air quality inside hospitals will also be held.

^^ how do u manage to type so much ?????!!?... :-o

^^ Its a spam darkprinz. Read through to find out what and who.. there are spams of that user in other threads also.

Mods pls take a look.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/john-hopkins-univ-likely-to-set-up-rd-facility/175003-60-120.html

Chennai is likely to be the destination of world-renowned John Hopkins University in setting up a partnership in research and development.

Sources from a pre-trade mission from Maryland in the United States, who are laying the groundwork for the Governor of Maryland, Martin O Mally’s visit to India in December 2011, said preliminary discussions are on, but refused to divulge details.

They said it is likely that John Hopkins may go in for partnership with Apollo Hospitals.

Interestingly, Apollo Hospitals already has a joint venture with Amcare Labs, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins International of the US, to set up a diagnostic laboratory in Hyderabad in 2006.

Meanwhile, the team from Maryland said it has selected five cities including Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Chennai for the visit of the governor. “Three venues will be decided after the feedback from the team, and Chennai is likely to be one of the destinations. The US Consulate here wants Chennai as an itinerary in the governor’s proposed visit, ” a source said.

It is also expected that the governor would lead a 50-member delegation, and strategic partnerships between Tamil Nadu and the state of Maryland will be formalised during the team’s visit. It is also likely that the University of Maryland may go in for a tie-up with an academic institution in Chennai and its details are being worked out.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2350513.ece

Medical device maker Trivitron Healthcare plans to invest Rs 100 crore this year on expanding manufacturing capacity and acquisitions, as it looks to step up indigenous production.

Trivitron owns a 25-acre medical technology park at Irungattukottai, near Chennai, which started operations last year. It can house up to 10 facilities. The park currently operates one factory for manufacturing ultrasound and colour Doppler machines (under a joint venture with Hitachi Aloka).

The second facility for invitro diagnostic reagents will start pilot production in October, and commercial production will start in January, said Dr G.S.K. Velu, Managing Director, Trivitron. Construction of the third facility (to manufacture modular operation theatres) has just begun.

The company also has a 70,000 sq ft facility in Poonamalee, Chennai, to manufacture haematology reagents, ECG machines and modular operation theatres. These operations will eventually shift to the larger Irungattukottai park. Trivitron has another facility in Pune for X-ray machines (through the acquisition of Vision Engineering).

All these facilities account for only 20 per cent of Trivitron’s portfolio, as 80 per cent of its devices are imported. Trivitron plans to reverse the trend – “in three years, 80 per cent of the manufacturing and innovation will happen in India as our focus is to make healthcare more affordable and accessible,” says Dr Velu.

Trivitron is on the prowl for companies and manufacturing facilities in Pune, Mumbai and Gujarat. It is eyeing the areas of cardiology, imaging and diagnostics.

Acquisitions

Trivitron is also interested in acquiring small and medium sized companies (with revenues of $5-20 million) in the US and Europe. This will give the company a foothold in the developed markets and also help bring their technology to India and other developing markets, said Dr Velu.

The domestic market accounts for 90 per cent of Trivitron’s business. The balance is from exports to the developing markets of South Asia, South East Asia, West Asia and Africa.

Trivitron is also looking to foray into dental equipment.

All this will cost the company Rs 100 crore. This will be met through internal accruals. Trivitron hopes to raise its second round of funding towards the end of this year or early next year. It got its first round of funding from Headline Capital and EPlanet in 2008.

Trivitron hopes to clock revenues of Rs 500 crore this fiscal year (Rs 350 crore).

Currently, 35,000 hospitals, nursing homes and labs in India use Trivitron. The medical device market in the country is estimated at Rs 15,000 (from gloves to MRI). The imaging and ultrasound market where Trivitron operates is around Rs 5,000 crore.

What the new hospital and college mean for Chennai

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00759/19augrmk02_hospital_759709e.jpg

The demand for an AIIMS-class medical institution here has been articulated loudly for years. The Chief Minister's announcement in the Assembly on Friday comes as an answer to the prayer of many years.

Since the statement on the floor of the House, the buzz in Chennai has been in favour of the move to construct a multi-specialty medical unit in the heart of the city, with easy access to the Central railway station. “There is an absolute need for such a specialised care centre in the city,” says P. Padmanabhan, adviser, National Health Systems Resource Centre, who was formerly Director of Public Health in Tamil Nadu.

“With the increasing incidence of non-communicable diseases, and increasing life expectancy, many more people are going to need the services of such a super specialty hospital to take care of complications arising from NCDs. Again, with more health insurance schemes to benefit a cross section of income groups, more people will tend to use the specialised facilities than ever before,” Dr. Padmanabhan adds.

On the lower side, it is estimated that the number of beds in multi-specialty hospitals in the private sector in Chennai could be in the range of 5,000 beds, while in the public sector it is over 6,000 beds. The demand, however, is far higher and is constantly growing, city-based doctors stress.

“Chennai certainly needs more beds. At any given point of time, all the hospital [multi and super specialty hospitals] beds are full. Shortage of beds is what we are constantly grappling with,” says Apollo Hospitals MD Preetha Reddy. She articulates her belief that it is a great idea to utilise the vast space available with the government in the heart of the city for something that would benefit a large number of patients.

K.M. Cherian, founder, Frontier LifeLine Hospitals, says this is a welcome move, especially at a time when Chennai has begun attracting persons from other nations seeking health care. “The government must take care to spend sufficiently to equip itself for a multi-specialty hospital of world-class standards with good infection control to ensure world class outcomes,” he adds. Perhaps, the government could draw inspiration from similar centres in the private health care domain.

The addition of a medical college on the premises (in Block B) spread over 7.8 lakh square feet will create more seats and go a long way in resolving the human resource crisis in the medical sector in the country, adds Dr. Cherian, who himself began his medical education in a government medical college.

MIOT Hospital's founder P.V.A. Mohandas says that the idea to re-covert a building lying idle into a hospital is ‘fantastic.' It is the best way now to utilise the building once conceived of as a Secretariat complex. The bed crunch that the city is facing necessitates the addition of more and more quality health care establishments to take care of patients. The new hospital would reduce the rather serious bed crunch scenario in the city, which is a hub for patients from all over the country and the world. The re-designing, he suggests, will have to be done by a combined team of doctors, hospital administrators, architects, and contractors.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2374703.ece

All the jalraa's have jumped in. Just a cursory look at this architecture shows it may not be suitable for a hospital. Lots of stairs, circular layout etc....

Only obvious uses would be a convention center, IIM type advanced post-grad institution etc.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2372798.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00759/20TH_SECRETARIAT_759437f.jpg

Incomplete Block B will be developed into a medical college

Against the backdrop of growing public demand that the abandoned Assembly-Secretariat complex be put to productive public use, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday announced that her government had decided to house a multi-super specialty hospital-cum-medical college in the complex on the Omandurar Government Estate here.

Ms. Jayalalithaa told the Assembly amid thumping of desks by members that facilities in the proposed hospital would be comparable to those at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.

Conceived by the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regime, the Assembly-Secretariat complex project consisted of two blocks — Block A to accommodate the Assembly and offices of the Chief Minister and Ministers and six departments, and Block B for other departments.

Estimated to cost Rs. 1,092 crore totally, the project had other components. Its execution came to a halt after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government, which took office three months ago, announced in June that a Commission of Inquiry would be constituted to go into the alleged irregularities in the construction. At the time of suspension of work, approximately Rs. 480 crore was spent on the seven-storey Block A of 97,829 square metres. Around Rs. 80 crore was spent on the 73,399-square metre Block B with eight storeys.

...

A team of doctors in the city will make a trip to the past, hoping to find answers for the future. In search of solutions to a variety of ailments, including irreversible blindness, they will dust case sheets, pickled eye specimens, and hand sketched portraits kept for centuries at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology. If they get nothing, they would at least get a clearer vision of the history.

On Monday, when the institute opened their museum to the public for the first time as part of Madras Week celebrations, many couldn't but help reminisce the glorious history of the ophthalmic hospital attached to the institute. Hospital director Dr K Vasantha said a former superintendent Dr Kirk Patrick of the hospital was the first to have found adeno virus that caused conjunctivitis, and hence the name Madras eye. Another senior doctor said one of the famous eye surgeons Lt Col Robert Kenry Elliot designed equipment that could help them perform surgeries for glaucoma. "But we don't have any documents or case sheets to support them," said Madras Medical College dean Dr S Kanakasabai.

The museum, which was so far restricted only to medicos, has several case sheets that date back to the 1870s, when doctors wrote down the names, ages and medical history of thousands of patients. They have also sketched pictures of patients who came to the hospital with injuries and infections of the eye. A team headed by former director Dr V Velayutham will delve into the history for more information, Dr Kanakasabai said.

Several government hospitals including Madras Medical College, Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institute for Social Obstetrics, and Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine have also opened their museums. The museums showcase several medical specimens, surgical equipment of yore and heritage buildings.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Chennais-medical-history-unveiled/articleshow/9705916.cms

Apollo Hospitals is evaluating options to set up its third hospital in Chennai. A 200-300 bed facility will come up in south Chennai where the company does not have a presence currently.

“It could be an ‘operate and lease model' or land purchase. But it will be an asset-light model,” said a company official, without elaborating. Depending on the model adopted, the investment could vary anywhere from Rs 100 crore to Rs 300 crore.

src: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2397147.ece

The days of the visually challenged groping their way with the aid of white canes may soon be over. Thanks to an invention by an assistant professor in the city, blind people, especially children, can now travel alone in complete safety without any escort. Called the Virtual Eye, this wireless device helps a blind person navigate from point A to point B using voice guidance.

"This device is meant for visually challenged children ," said B Amutha, the inventor of the virtual eye. An assistant professor and PhD scholar in computer science and engineering at SRM University , 46-year-old Amutha's invention is a giant leap on the GPS navigation system used in cars. "I built it as a part of my project for my PhD under the guidance of the university's vice-chancellor , Dr M Ponnavaikko."

Now all that a child has to do is program the device to take him/her from home to school, said Amutha. "Then the device, which is stuck on the child's belt, will issue instructions in a human voice - turn left, take fifteen steps, turn right and take 5 steps and so on. It will also issue a warning if there is a wall or a moving vehicle in front of the person."

The device uses GPS technology for tracking, GPRS for navigation and sonar rays will detect obstacles in the path of the person. Her invention has brought her to the attention of the state government , which is impressed by the invention. "We have recommended her name to the central government for a special initiative award," said an official in the secretariat . "She will soon go to Delhi to demonstrate her invention ."

Intending for her invention to be used by all who need it, Amutha has already found a source for marketing it. "It will hit the market soon and be sold at Rs 2,000-3 ,000," she said. "But this is a highly subsidized cost. Currently the cost of making it stands at Rs 50,000."

Keeping mass usage in mind, she has also built in tracking system in her belt. "This device will help schools for visually challenged in accurately pinpointing the whereabouts of their students," she said. Amutha also added that the state government had also evinced interest in buying her products for use by the visually challenged beneficiaries of the state.

src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Professor-invents-virtual-eye-for-the-blind/articleshow/9745118.cms

The days of the visually challenged groping their way with the aid of white canes may soon be over. Thanks to an invention by an assistant professor in the city, blind people, especially children, can now travel alone in complete safety without any escort. Called the Virtual Eye, this wireless device helps a blind person navigate from point A to point B using voice guidance.

"This device is meant for visually challenged children ," said B Amutha, the inventor of the virtual eye. An assistant professor and PhD scholar in computer science and engineering at SRM University , 46-year-old Amutha's invention is a giant leap on the GPS navigation system used in cars. "I built it as a part of my project for my PhD under the guidance of the university's vice-chancellor , Dr M Ponnavaikko."

Now all that a child has to do is program the device to take him/her from home to school, said Amutha. "Then the device, which is stuck on the child's belt, will issue instructions in a human voice - turn left, take fifteen steps, turn right and take 5 steps and so on. It will also issue a warning if there is a wall or a moving vehicle in front of the person."

The device uses GPS technology for tracking, GPRS for navigation and sonar rays will detect obstacles in the path of the person. Her invention has brought her to the attention of the state government , which is impressed by the invention. "We have recommended her name to the central government for a special initiative award," said an official in the secretariat . "She will soon go to Delhi to demonstrate her invention ."

Intending for her invention to be used by all who need it, Amutha has already found a source for marketing it. "It will hit the market soon and be sold at Rs 2,000-3 ,000," she said. "But this is a highly subsidized cost. Currently the cost of making it stands at Rs 50,000."

Keeping mass usage in mind, she has also built in tracking system in her belt. "This device will help schools for visually challenged in accurately pinpointing the whereabouts of their students," she said. Amutha also added that the state government had also evinced interest in buying her products for use by the visually challenged beneficiaries of the state.

src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Professor-invents-virtual-eye-for-the-blind/articleshow/9745118.cms

:clap: i dont know how to insert the goddamn smiley that claps hands. but you know what i meant.

Universal healthcare with modern, affordability tag



http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/multimedia/dynamic/00781/Mixie_chart_781959e.jpg

Universal healthcare, with emphasis on modernisation and affordability, will be the cornerstone of the Tamil Nadu Government's healthcare policies this year. Several schemes have been announced by the Health and Family Welfare Department, spanning child-care, upgradation of primary health centres and hospital facilities.

The Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mr V.S. Vijay, announced thata sum of Rs 79.86 crore has been allotted for upgradation of diagnosis and treatment facilities at hospitals in medical colleges. For refurbishment and modernisation of 385 mobile hospital vehicles, Rs 40 crore has been allocated. Free ambulance service will be upgraded at a cost of Rs 3.6 crore. Under this, modern vans with facilities to transport emergency patients and new born babies and traverse mountainous terrains will be provided.

In order to provide hygienic food and high quality medicines to people, a food safety and drug control authority will be established at a cost of Rs 50 crore.

Around Rs 38 crore will be spent this year on setting up additional inpatient centres, patient waiting hall and vaccination centres at the 543 primary health centres in the State. In small towns without primary healthcare facilities, 75 primary health centres will be set up at a cost of Rs 14.27 crore.

The State government has allocated Rs 5 crore for identification and treatment of people with birth defects. HIV/AIDS prevention and care centres will be set up in select head hospitals in the state at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore.

[B]The Kilpauk Government Medical College will be given an MRI scan device at a cost of Rs 5 crore. A separate announcement will be made with regard to equipment management across districts.

Earlier, the[B] Government had proposed an outlay of Rs 4,761 crore for healthcare this year, during the recent Budget session.

The key initiatives are the revamped health insurance scheme and the proposal to convert the new Secretariat complex into a multi-specialty hospital and medical college.

The insurance scheme, for which Rs 150 crore has been allotted, extends medical cover up to Rs 4 lakh (for four years) from Rs 1 lakh before. It covers 950 types of medical treatment.



http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/article2453522.ece

Apollo Hospitals has launched a ‘movement disorder clinic’ in Chennai. The clinic, housed in the Apollo Hospitals centre in the city, will provide diagnosis and treatment for patients ailing with chronic disorders such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, secondary tremor and Tourette’s syndrome.

The clinic will engage in clinical evaluation, genetic tests, surgery and counselling. Clinical evaluation will be done by neurologists, with experience in movement disorders, while assessments will be undertaken by neuropsychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapist and speech therapists. Investigations such as high resolution MRI scans, functional MRI and electrophysiology will also be done at the clinic.

src: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2459331.ece

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1522/img4137q.jpg
By vintn (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/vintn) at 2011-09-20

woow looks freaking huge. Where is it being constructed?

^^ Manapakkam ... Near L&T Head office ...

Oh ok thanks :)

woow looks freaking huge. Where is it being constructed?




This is the new block of MIOT hospitals called as MIOT International which will add 500 beds ( Approx ).

A basement car park will come up in the same building for at least 200 + cars unlike APOLLO hospitals which uses public space for parking

Construction is done by L& T.

When completed it will be one of the larger hospitals in Chennai to have close to 1000 beds

:banana:

This is the new block of MIOT hospitals called as MIOT International which will add 500 beds ( Approx ).



I think this block must for medical tourism. Good for Chennai.

I think this block must for medical tourism. Good for Chennai.



Probably,because MIOT hospitals is one of the largest earners of foreign exchange in INDIA. They re expanding rapidly in the last five years and their MD is just 75 years old

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00791/25THHOSPITAL_791437f.jpg
The addition of two floors in the Accident and Trauma block will help Government Royapettah Hospital handle more patients. Photo: R. Ravindran


The Government Royapettah Hospital has lined up several proposals to upgrade many facilities and add new ones, including construction of two floors in its Accident and Trauma block.

The hospital, which is celebrating its centenary, has sought funds from the State government for some of the project, while a few are being funded with Central government assistance. The two floors would be exclusively for providing trauma care and increase the patient intake of the hospital.

A sum of Rs.4.35 crore has been sanctioned for construction of the two floors. A proposal for setting up a ‘Zero Delay Ward' has been forwarded to the Director of Medical Education. A new CT Scan has been procured to replace the 10-year-old machine. Resident Medical Officer A. Elango said the old machine had provided over one lakh scans.

The casualty ward is under renovation and would be opened to public shortly. The State government had allocated Rs.1 crore for completing pending work in the new surgical block. According to hospital authorities, the new block would be opened after the local body elections.

The government is also likely to approve the upgradation of the lift in the Intensive Cardiac Care (ICC) block, situated behind the main building. The lift has been malfunctioning for over a year now and posing considerable problems to the patients and the hospital staff.

A report on the condition of the lifts in the hospital was sent to the Health Department on July 5 last year. As all of them are over 20 years old, they must be replaced, hospital authorities have mentioned in the report to the Health department. Since then, there have been several rounds of inspection by officials. The Public Works Department's electrical wing had provided an estimate of Rs.50 lakh for replacement/repair of the five lifts in the hospital, including the one in the ICC block.

A hospital official said: “There were 17 workers in the electrical wing in 2004. Now we manage with seven employees and we must allocate them for various works.” According to him, improper handling had damaged the modern lift in the ICC block. “The lift attendants would place a stool to prevent the automatic doors from closing. This damaged the sensor system and despite repeated misuse we tried to repair it. It is dangerous to run the lift as it could result in fatalities,” he said.

According to him the government had sanctioned Rs.5 lakh to repair the lift. The hospital is awaiting the Government order to take up the repair work, he said.


http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article2484452.ece

Probably,because MIOT hospitals is one of the largest earners of foreign exchange in INDIA. They re expanding rapidly in the last five years and their MD is just 75 years old

Oops. MD just 75 years old !!!!!!!. In Medical profession this may be young.

Wish they had a younger person:lol:

I have heard a lot about him in professional circles but have never met him.

I have heard a lot about him in professional circles but have never met him.


Though Chennai has a lot of hospitals offering quality health care, I think they re becoming more and more expensive . The best way I feel to sort out this issue is to have more medical insurance coverage.

When u buy a car insurance is mandatory ,Similarly shouldn t there be a campaign to make medical insurance mandatory. ?


:ohno:

I think compulsory insurance is adding a layer of expenditure to health care. I have discussed my thoughts previously in this thread (as well as TN health care thread). You can go through those.

I think compulsory insurance is adding a layer of expenditure to health care. I have discussed my thoughts previously in this thread (as well as TN health care thread). You can go through those.

I went thru your thoughts on this subject. Please look at the expenditure incurred by patients staying in ICU in a private hospital . Many of them take loans or sell some property to pay for the hospital bills. Unfortunately government hospitals don t do any complicated heart surgeries at all in TN nowadays In the past it was different.So some sort of insurance will be of great help to common man to avail treatment

From a policy standpoint, it is far easier, simpler and cheaper to upgrade government hospitals and provide health care than going for universal insurance coverage sponsored by govt. Govt sponsored universal insurance coverage will invariably lead to red tapism and unwanted bureaucracy with some vested interests who has nothing to do with healthcare benefiting from public money. It will add up an extra layer of unwanted process into the system and make healthcare costlier.

It is true to some extent that cutting edge procedures are not available in government set up but universal insurance coverage is not the way to correct that.

It was a new lease of life for five-year-old Pushpa Chanisia as surgeons from Chennai rescued her from the jaws of death when her country’s medics wrote her off.

The last glimmer of hope came through Chime, a trust formed by MIOT hospital, when the parents Mohammed Billal and Shakila Jaffer brought their daughter to Chennai’s MIOT hospital.

Chime took up the entire expenses on them as surgeons of MIOT hospital conducted a successful surgery for a Leaking Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Bursting into the lung of the five-year old. Interestingly, this was the first time in the world that a surgery was carried out four times to arrest Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Bursting, surgeons at MIOT Hospitals claimed.

Dr V V Bashi, chairman of Centre for Thoracic and Cardio Vascular Care, MIOT Hospitals, said that the five-year-old was referred to them from another hospital with a history of coughing out large quantities of blood and was advised emergency surgery.

Interestingly, when she was three years old, Pushpa had undergone open surgery for patent ductus arteriosus, a disease present from birth. It was normal life for her for 18 months after which she started coughing out blood in small quantities, which slowly increased. The parents consulted a local doctor who told them that the blood was leaking from the aorta and she required a surgery which was risky and could not be done in Bangladesh.

“The parents brought her to India and admitted her to another hospital where they had put up three stents as an emergency, but the leak could not be arrested. It was then that we stepped in,” said Dr Bashi.

“After admitting her, we found her blood group to be AB negative, which was difficult to get during an emergency. To tide over the surgery, we tried another stent intervention and put in two more stents. Because of the technical difficulty caused by complex aneurysm, it was not successful. As we ran out of options, we put her into high risk emergency, which involves high cost and five to six bottles of blood,” he added.

“We opened the front of the chest and connected her heart to a heart-lung machine. The blood was then cooled at 18 degree celsius. Since the aneurysm was extending into the left lung, it was very difficult to visualise the aneurysm from the midline. So we had to make another incision on the side of the chest to separate it from the lung,” said Dr Bashi.

When the temperature reached 18 degrees, the circulation to the lower part of the body was stopped, but circulation to the brain was continued. "After this, we opened the aneurysm and managed to remove all the stents. We then stitched a synthetic graft to repair the aneurysm and the injury in the lung was also repaired,” the doctor, who headed the surgical team, said.

“To our knowledge, this is the first of its kind in a small child who had undergone stenting at such a tender age for aortic aneurysm followed by a complex surgery,” he said

src: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/chennai-heart-surgeons-rescue-bangla-girl/319206.html

Congrats to the team .

Pray God at least one day ,the Govt hospitals also start doing such good surgeries.

If not the Govt should utilise the services of such doctors and train more and more post graduates.


:cheers:

http://i.imgur.com/EjIwB.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/q1JBT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/MtKXn.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xNktE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vQeGA.jpg

CR: DR Navins, panoramio. More here (http://www.panoramio.com/user/5783204/tags/Chettinad%20Hospital%20and%20Research%20Institute)

Superstar Rajinikanth is planning to construct a hospital for which land has been acquired near Vandalur.

Here is the link - http://movies.sulekha.com/rajnikanth_actor-news-article_rajini-to-build-hospital-near-vandalur

Superstar Rajinikanth is planning to construct a hospital for which land has been acquired near Vandalur.

Here is the link - http://movies.sulekha.com/rajnikanth_actor-news-article_rajini-to-build-hospital-near-vandalur



Probably he thought medicine is a better business after coughing up huge bills in Ramachandra and Singapore.

http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=65632&sid=1

The Hyderabad based Global Hospital has drawn up a major plan to expand its operations across the country in the next two years. Already having its base in all the 3 metros of south India, viz., Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, the Global group has built a 17 storied green hospital building in Mumbai which is going to be shortly inaugurated in November.


A pioneer in the multiple organ transplants in India, the Global group of hospitals is planning to invest Rs.500 crore in the next two years for developing green hospital infrastructure in the country. The group is fast growing in super specialty healthcare arena and has many firsts to its credit with trailblazing achievements.


Commenting on the Indian health care system, Chandra Sekhar, executive director, marketing strategy, Global hospitals said, “In spite of huge funds being released for the healthcare sector every year, the Indian healthcare industry is lacking the core infrastructure. The government hospitals are badly managed and there are untold problems relating to hygiene and sanitation. The private hospitals are mushrooming but the medical costs in those hospitals are sky rocketing due to huge user charges burdening the patients in the country.”


“To begin with, in the first phase we have planned to accommodate 250 beds. Gradually it will be upgraded to 450 beds and will be fully commissioned within next 2 to 3 months,” said Chandra Shekar, executive director, Strategy Marketing, Global Hospitals.


“As a part of our expansion strategy we are also eyeing to move to East India and planning to build a Super Specialty green hospital in Calcutta. The construction works will be started by January 2012,” said the executive director.


“Initially we are focusing more on Chennai. We are planning to build two more secondary hospitals to supplement the already existing hospital in Chennai. For which two places have been finalized and one of them is already signed off with an addition capacity of 100 beds,” said Shekar.


In Bangalore, to support its existing hospital, the Global group is planning to open a secondary care centre by the end of December 2011. “In Hyderabad we already have first established Global Super Specialty hospital at Lakadikapool. Now we are planning to exploit the potential in the IT hubs of the city, by next two years our focus is to build a secondary Global health care facility in the IT SEZ area,” he said.


The Indian healthcare industry is facing a lot of problems with regard to quality Human resources. The country is producing huge numbers of paramedics and nurses every year but lacking in quality trained personnel. “We have quantity but lacking in quality. There are not many government institutions in the country to train paramedics and impart training to nurses. Basic raw materials and other important medical equipments are imported, because of which the medical cost are rising every day. It is high time the government should support the manufacture of indigenous medical equipment in country and encourage more research and development. We have already given a proposal to the planning commission to draft the policy to accommodate the health industry and enable it to grow and cater effectively the healthcare needs of the people. Tax holidaying, low interest rates by the financial institution will definitely reduce the medical costs of the consumer. About 80 per cent cost born by the consumer consists of tax, user charges in the hospitals” says Chandrashekar.

Apollo charges arm and leg for simple angioplasty procedure.
I wonder how lower middle class people can afford health coverage anymore

^^When lower middle class goto an advanced care hospital for a simple procedure, they are bound to get charged more.

Rat fever looms large over Chennai

CHENNAI: The city seems to be a happy habitat for rats - an unhygienic species that spoils food and spreads the deadly leptospirosis. There is no recent study on its burgeoning population in the city, but doctors say the increasing incidence of leptospirosis, commonly called rat fever, in the last decade, is proof enough.

The bacterial disease transmitted from rodents to human beings is no more a seasonal occurrence due to water stagnation . In 2011, the disease was detected almost every month, including at the peak of summer. With the onset of the monsoon , the city is sitting on a time bomb, say experts.

But the health department of the Chennai Corporation - which is supposed to collate cases from clinics and hospitals across the city - remains in denial mode. "There are no deaths due to leptospirosis and we don't have a very high number of cases," said health officer Dr B Kuganantham. This could be because of underreporting by the corporation.

The civic body's integrated diseases surveillance system has reported 479 cases to the directorate of public health this year, while a laboratory attached to the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University has detected 1,405 cases.

The state medical university lab has found an alarming increase in the number of rat fever cases over ten years. In 2001, it found 207 cases. By 2010, there were 1,405 cases. "We feel leptospirosis has become an endemic in the city.

It's being reported throughout the year," said director of public health Dr R T Porkai Pandian. Doctors at many hospitals, including Apollo, Fortis, Vijaya , St Isabel's , Kanchi Kamakoti Childs Trust and Dr Mehta's , confirm this. Some like St Antony's in Tondiarpet have a separate ward to treat patients with leptospirosis. The hospital authorities here said they received at least five cases a day throughout the year.

Leptospirosis, however, is not easily diagnosed. When Hamsini, a teacher, was down with high fever, body pain and low platelet counts in June, doctors tested for dengue and malaria, then typhoid and jaundice. Two days later, they diagnosed it as leptospirosis. "I am fine now. But it was terrible going through the illness," she said.

The heat and humidity in the city aid the growth of the bacteria in water or soil. The problem is further compounded when rainwater carries the bacteria from contaminated ground into homes.

In two days to a month, infected people develop fever and nausea. By then, the bacteria would have colonised in the entire body and the patient would need antibiotics.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/-Rat-fever-looms-large-over-city/articleshow/10526865.cms

Rat fever looms large over Chennai


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/-Rat-fever-looms-large-over-city/articleshow/10526865.cms

I want to alert our guys on this.

Some years back, I had to wade through knee high water along railway lines since trains were stopped outside city due to flooding.

After a few days I fell ill and the symptoms were similar to Jaundice but no Jaundice medicines worked. Then it was diagonised as Leptospirosis. The test facilities were available only in MGR Medical Varsity Guindy in the city.

contracted this through a small cut wound in my leg and Rat Urine seems to propagate the disease. The railway lines and sewers have high no of rats.

Please avoid wading through Flood waters (sewage generally get mixed due to overflowing sewers). If you have to do that, Please take all medical precautions as soon as you reach home.

Sorry for the deviation

^^
Just thought of educating about the disease.

leptospirosis:

The genus Leptospira consists of two species, L. interrogans and L. biflexia, only the former of which is known to cause human disease.

The natural hosts for the organism are various mammals; man is only incidentally infected, typically after exposure to the environment contaminated by animal urine.

The organism infects a variety of both wild and domestic mammals, especially rodents, cattle, swine, dogs, horses, sheep, and goats.

Infection in small rodents (carrier animals) usually occurs during infancy, and once infected, animals may shed the organism in their urine intermittently or continuously throughout life resulting in contamination of the environment, particularly water. Organisms may remain viable for days to months in soil and water with a neutral pH.

Humans most often become infected after exposure to environmental sources, such as animal urine, contaminated water or soil, or infected animal tissue. Portals of entry include cuts or abraded skin, mucous membranes or conjunctiva. The infection is rarely acquired by ingestion of food contaminated with urine or via aerosols.

Leptospirosis presents with the abrupt onset of fever, rigors, myalgias and headache in 75 to 100 percent of patients.

While most cases of leptospirosis are mild to moderate, the course may be complicated by kidney failure.

Human leptospirosis is often self-limited and requires no antibiotic treatment. Otherwise doxycycline/ ceftriaxone/ cefotaxine can be given.

Thanks Doc for the explanation.

I had a virulent one and had problems with liver & kidney.

How to detect Leptospirosis ? It tool 10 days to detect in my case since I had jaundice like symptoms.

^^

You are welcome

Since you had jaundice and possibly with fever the physicians always think of common causes like hepatitis A (not B as the vaccination is becoming popular you might had the vaccine shot) and leptosirosis is a relatively uncommon condition when compared to the other causes of jaundice. So consideration of this diagnosis would have taken time. Initially the blood tests would have shown only liver problem but slowly the blood tests would have revealed kidney problem too. Then the doctors would have considered leptospirosis.

This would have caused 10 days of delay. In the mean time to rule out other possibilities also various scans like ultrasound would have been performed. There are 2 or 3 tests to conform leptospirosis. This will be performed only when the disease is suspected and not as a routine process. It can be identified by looking for the growth of leptospira bacteria from your urine or blood samples on a growth media (culture media). There are also tests available to detect the presence of antibodies (substances produced by the body against the bacteria) which are specific to the bacteria in the blood. Other sophisticated option available is like detecting the presence of the bacterial genes in the blood using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique.

I have made it simple. Please do tell me if you have any doubts.

Thanks for the alert kannan sir and a very good explanation doccbe (is it doctor cbe's short form?).. I have alerted near and dear ones at Chennai about this.

^^

Thanks

Yes. Doccbe is Doctor CBE's short form only. I did my undergraduation from CBE Govt Medical College. I am neither a CBE native nor currently working in CBE. :)

I want to alert our guys on this.

Some years back, I had to wade through knee high water along railway lines since trains were stopped outside city due to flooding.

After a few days I fell ill and the symptoms were similar to Jaundice but no Jaundice medicines worked. Then it was diagonised as Leptospirosis. The test facilities were available only in MGR Medical Varsity Guindy in the city.

contracted this through a small cut wound in my leg and Rat Urine seems to propagate the disease. The railway lines and sewers have high no of rats.

Please avoid wading through Flood waters (sewage generally get mixed due to overflowing sewers). If you have to do that, Please take all medical precautions as soon as you reach home.

Sorry for the deviation

In Alaipaayuthey, Shakthi's father dies of leptospirosis. Interestingly, he is a railway employee :)

@Doccbe: Nice and lucid explanation doc :okay:

^^

Thanks Shyam :)

In Alaipaayuthey, Shakthi's father dies of leptospirosis. Interestingly, he is a railway employee :)

@Doccbe: Nice and lucid explanation doc :okay:

Soopper kanneexan ba

Ennamma Gyabagam iruuku ?

Cinema reachu sooper reachu.

Apart from the projects for a Rs.250-crore hospital in south Chennai and a Rs.220-crore hospital in Patna, Apollo's board of directors has also given the nod for upgrading its paediatric hospital in Chennai into a Rs.75-crore Mother and Child institution with 150 beds, Suneeta Reddy, Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals, told The Hindu.



More: http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/article2612725.ece

CHENNAI: Agada Hospitals, an upcoming world class Medical Centre promoted by Dr. Mohan Thanikachalam, has announced that it has tied up with Joslin Diabetes Centre, Boston, USA to provide Chennaiites with world-class diabetes care and treatment.

The Agada Health Care (AHC) is located in the heart of the city on Dr Nair Road in T. Nagar and will be open to public from November 14, 2011, which coincides with the World Diabetes Day.

The Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, USA, is an affiliate of the Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Joslin Diabetes Center is one of the world’s first and respected diabetes care facilities.

According to Dr. Mohan Thanikachalam, Founder- Director, AHC, “Agada has collaborated with Joslin Diabetes Center to bring to India, more than 100 years of experience in treatment and care of diabetes. With India being known as the Diabetes capital of the world, it is essential that the general public understands the disease well and its impact on the human body. Agada has plans to create awareness and educate everyone concerned on a systematic and scientific basis about diabetes care.”

Dr. Mohan added that the infrastructure has been made more patient-centric and arrangements have been made to minimise their time spent at the centre.

Also, newer technology using the mobile platform has been developed.

Agada is also developing a concept called ‘Agada Connect’ through which the Agada team hopes to build a close rapport with patients, to support their progress and to motivate them.

They can access their health records at any time; any place, and can get prescriptions and be able to contact health care professionals.

For further details, please contact: 30133721 /32

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/agada-brings-joslin-diabetes-care-to-chennai/200909-60-120.html

Saw this building yesterday and looks cool and impressive. I guess its going to show in their bills..lol

[QUOTE=ezhilan81;85553772]CHENNAI:


One more Diabetic center in the city is welcome and is launched by the son of eminent cardiologist Prof S Thanikachalam.

CHENNAI: Agada Hospitals, an upcoming world class Medical Centre promoted by Dr. Mohan Thanikachalam, has announced that it has tied up with Joslin Diabetes Centre, Boston, USA to provide Chennaiites with world-class diabetes care and treatment.

The Agada Health Care (AHC) is located in the heart of the city on Dr Nair Road in T. Nagar and will be open to public from November 14, 2011, which coincides with the World Diabetes Day.

The Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, USA, is an affiliate of the Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Joslin Diabetes Center is one of the world’s first and respected diabetes care facilities.

According to Dr. Mohan Thanikachalam, Founder- Director, AHC, “Agada has collaborated with Joslin Diabetes Center to bring to India, more than 100 years of experience in treatment and care of diabetes. With India being known as the Diabetes capital of the world, it is essential that the general public understands the disease well and its impact on the human body. Agada has plans to create awareness and educate everyone concerned on a systematic and scientific basis about diabetes care.”

Dr. Mohan added that the infrastructure has been made more patient-centric and arrangements have been made to minimise their time spent at the centre.

Also, newer technology using the mobile platform has been developed.

Agada is also developing a concept called ‘Agada Connect’ through which the Agada team hopes to build a close rapport with patients, to support their progress and to motivate them.

They can access their health records at any time; any place, and can get prescriptions and be able to contact health care professionals.

For further details, please contact: 30133721 /32

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/agada-brings-joslin-diabetes-care-to-chennai/200909-60-120.html

Saw this building yesterday and looks cool and impressive. I guess its going to show in their bills..lol
The building was proposed for Ganga Nursing Home. I saw their board even after Ayutha Pooja. Things would have changed fast for this to happen. Any ways, We should welcome a global service provider joining hands with a renowned Dr. here

^^


Ganga nursing home owners and the present investors are related

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article2627472.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy

Zc_f3d_Pr2c

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/hitech-robotic-surgery-is-here/203682-60-120.html

A surgery controlled from a console? Sounds bizarre, but not really. A highly advanced robotic surgical system, the da Vinci Si is now part of the facilities available at Apollo Hospitals here. The system was launched by robotic surgery expert and Director of the Vattikuti Urology Institute Dr Mani Menon, who happens to be the first surgeon to do robotic prostatectomy in 2001.

Touted as one of the best robotic operating interfaces in the world, the da Vinci Si offers the surgeons high definition and three dimensional viewspace. The system has made an entry into Tamil Nadu under the aegis of the Apollo Vattikuti Institute of Robotic Surgery. The institute was also inaugurated on Friday. The da Vinci Si system entails controlled robotics and surgeons will be trained by experts from the VIU, attached to the Henry Ford Hospital, the US.

The Apollo Hospitals will initially use the system only for prostrate surgery. “There is nothing to fear as the robot has no mind of its own,” explained Dr Menon.

The machine has four robotic arms with endo-wrist architecture. “Technology is only as good as the hand that wields it,” said Apollo Hospitals Chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy, who added that a da Vinci Si procedure would be “75 per cent more expensive than the laparoscopic one”. The surgery cost would come down once 400 operations were done and once more machines were procured for the rest of the hospitals in the network. Now, the Apollo Hospitals in Kolkata also has the system.

1. AIIMS, Delhi
2. Apollo Hospitals, Chennai
3. CMC, Vellore
4. PGIMER, Chandigarh
5. Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai
6. Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi
7. Bombay Hospital & Medical Research Centre, Mumbai
8. Medanta - The Medcity, Delhi
9. Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai
10. Lilavati Hospital & Research Centre, Mumbai

Does anyone have info abt Chettinad health city and whether it is successful??
Don't see much news abt it now-a-days.. I hope it becomes a success and one of the top medical facility in India..

http://static.manoramaonline.com/ranked/online/MM/The_Week/COVER_STORY/Indias_best_Hospitals/3499327589_Cardiology.jpg

http://static.manoramaonline.com/ranked/online/MM/The_Week/COVER_STORY/Indias_best_Hospitals/3499327589_Diabetology.jpg

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http://static.manoramaonline.com/ranked/online/MM/The_Week/COVER_STORY/Indias_best_Hospitals/3499327589_Opthalmology.jpg

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http://static.manoramaonline.com/ranked/online/MM/The_Week/COVER_STORY/Indias_best_Hospitals/3499327589_Paediatrics.jpg

http://static.manoramaonline.com/ranked/online/MM/The_Week/COVER_STORY/Indias_best_Hospitals/3499327589_South-1.jpg

^^

The WEEK/HANSA Research Survey on the best hospitals in India was conducted in 15 cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Pune, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Indore, Coimbatore, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. As many as 399 general practitioners and 438 specialists, including cardiologists, ophthalmologists, oncologists and diabetologists participated in the survey and gave their opinions on the hospitals listed for the survey. The following parameters were used for rankings: competency of doctors, infrastructure/facilities available in the hospital, innovation in treatment, availability of multiple specialities, patient care and hospital environment (cleanliness/quietness).

The hospitals to be rated had been selected through rigorous research after evaluating more than 804 hospitals, across cities and disciplines, thus ensuring a fair chance for almost all hospitals to be featured in the list.

For the best multi-speciality hospitals in India, the composite score which determines a hospital's rank is based on the percentage of general practitioners and specialists ranking that particular hospital in the top five on the basis of the six parameters mentioned above. For the best multi-speciality hospitals in a city, the ranking is based on the opinions of all general practitioners and specialists in that particular city. The top hospitals for a specialisation have been ranked on the basis of scores given by specialists in that discipline. The hospitals for handling emergencies in the top four cities have been ranked on the basis of data collected from both general practitioners and specialists in those cities. The score represents the percentage of doctors in a city who rated the voted hospital to be well equipped to provide emergency care to the patients. For diagnostic centres, the ranking has been done on the basis of data collected from general practitioners and specialists from the relevant cities. Doctors were first asked to spontaneously name the hospitals or diagnostic centres which they thought provided accurate diagnosis and had the latest technology. This was done to provide all standalone diagnostic facilities an equal chance of featuring in the list.

http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentId=10473455&programId=1073755753&tabId=13&categoryId=-167181

CHENNAI, November 20, 2011http://www.thehindu.com/template/1-0-1/gfx/logo.jpg
Use of stents marks a turning point in management of strokes

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
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PVA Mohandas,managing director, MIOT Hospitals in discussion with Ganesh, who underwent treatment at the hospital, in Chennai on Saturday. K. Murali, interventional radiologist, is in the picture — Photo: K. Pichumani
Stents, which have long been the cornerstone of treating heart disease, can now be deployed effectively for blocked brain vessels in stroke patients.

MIOT Hospitals has recently used a retrievable stent to remove a clot in the brain of a 35-year-old stroke patient who might not have responded as well to conventional drugs or intravenous TPA (Tissue plasminogen activator). “The deployment of a mechanical stent in reversing a stroke situation marks a turning point in stroke management,” said Dr. PVA Mohandas, Managing Director, MIOT Hospitals.

The patient, whose stroke was caused by a block in a blood vessel, had been brought to hospital after a nearly eight-hour gap after the stroke —well beyond the three-hour golden hour.

The MRI revealed a large stroke situating in the posterior of the brain following the complete clotting of a major blood vessel.

Once the patient was stabilised and shifted to the Neuro Cathlab, a team of doctors inserted a micro catheter through a pinhole incision in the groin and then passed a mechanical stent through the catheter to completely remove the clot. The patient was off ventilation the very next day and registered a dramatic improvement in neurological status.

“The advantage of stenting in treatment of strokes is that a mechanical device can be navigated along blood vessels to access any part of the human body,” said Dr. Mohandas. “In this procedure, we could guide a mechanical device along the vessels to reach the brain site in 15 minutes,” said Dr. K. Murali, Head of Department, Interventional Radiology, MIOT Hospitals.

The procedure costs about Rs.2 lakh in India.

According to Dr. Murali, unlike heart ailments, an evolving stroke seldom reveals warning signs. “To the patient's family, the dramatic recovery from a potentially deleterious stroke might seem a miracle. Our aim is to make such miracles as commonplace as possible,” said Dr. Mohandas.

NephroLife forays into Chennai market


NephroLife, a Bangalore-based kidney care and a leading renal replacement therapy (RRT) provider, opened two new units at BRS Hospital Nungambakkam and Kumaran Hospital on Poonamallee High Road. This is NephroLife’s first foray into the Chennai market.

The aim is to bring relief to patients suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Chennai, that had had limited options so far. With its top-of-the-line networked dialysis machines, superior specification RO plant and quality care, NephroLife looks to recreate ‘India’s Highest Quality Dialysis’ in Chennai too.

“We aim to be trendsetters in this field. Some of the innovations we have brought into India include networked dialysis, holistic care – with a view of treating the mind as well as the body – this will include imported recliners, LCD televisions, pick and drop facilities and more. Chennai will soon experience the same world-class dialysis that one can see at our flagship unit in Bangalore,” explains Shriram Vijayakumar, Founder and MD, NephroLife.
NephroLife offers its entire gamut of consultation and dialysis services at its new units here.
BRS Hospital — Nugambakkam is the first hospital that NephroLife has chosen for the Chennai roll-out. “This association brings together NephroLife’s expertise in nephrology, urology and vascular surgery to a new audience. Our goal is to bring India’s highest quality dialysis experience to those�who need it most, and to raise awareness of kidney disease in India,” adds Shriram.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nephrolife-forays-into-chennai-market/204863-60-120.html

Chennai, Dec 1 : A three-day 'International Liver Conclave', which will see the coming together of eminent liver transplant surgeons from various parts of world, would be held here from tomorrow.

The event, billed as a first of its kind scientific session in India, would be organised by the Global Hospitals and Health City, which was acknowledged as the world's most comprehensive centre for Liver, Pancreas diseases and transplantations. Talking to reporters at the hospital premises at suburban Perumbakkam, Internationally acclaimed liver transplant and hepato-pancreatobiliary surgeon Prof Mohammed Rela said over 30 eminent experts from US, UK and Europe, apart from 350 nationally renowned surgeons would meet up to demonstrate the current concepts and trends on liver transplantation across the globe.

The theme of the three day conference would be 'Master Class in Liver diseases, he added. Prof Bernard C Portmann from Kings College of London, who was hailed as the father of Liver Pathology, would lead the international faculty. ''It will be a highly specialised medical conference with focus on treatment and on how to practically manage the real cases, by making presentations on case histories from India and abroad,'' Prof Rela, who has the distinction of performing India's first split and auxiliary liver transplant at Global Hospitals and first successful living donor liver transplantation in the UK, said.

The focus of this conference would be on educating the Indian surgeons by bringing experts from foreign countries and make them share their clinical experience. ''About 60 per cent of the case histories to be presented during the conference on how patients are managed, will be from India and 40 per cent from abroad,'' Prof Rela said.

src: http://news.chennaionline.com/chennai/3-day--International-Liver-Conclave--from-tomorrow/198e7383-08ca-4749-9c1b-adc355fbab98.col

6 more virology centres okayed


Six more laboratories have been approved for Chandigarh, Ranchi, Patna, Vishakhapatnam, Chennai and Jabalpur.

The Department of Health Research has also prepared a programme for establishment of a virology network, including a virology laboratory in each State, the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Mr Sudip Bandyopadhyay, said in the Lok Sabah on Friday.

He said two apex laboratories, National Centre for Disease Control at New Delhi and National Institute of Virology under Indian Council of Medical Research at Pune, are handling outbreaks and epidemics

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/government-and-policy/article2681466.ece

http://i.imgur.com/6Z239.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/cBB7c.jpg

HKS Architects, with an office in Chennai, India, is commissioned to design 10 Apollo Hospitals across India, based on a prototype under the brand Apollo Reach Hospitals – a first-of-its-kind endeavor to make advanced technology and experienced care accessible to the people living in cities around India.

As one of the largest health systems in Asia, it has always been a desire at Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited to extend their expertise, experience and technology in healthcare to various parts of the country. Apollo Hospitals' commitment to further the advances in telemedicine and make good healthcare more accessible led to the emergence of a new model based on the concept of Hub and Spoke facilities.

While Apollo Nellore is in the advanced stages of planning and design, two facilities in Chennai and Nashik already are under construction by Larsen & Toubro and Shapoorji Pallonji, two of India’s leading construction companies.

According to Gaurav Chopra, LEED AP, Associate AIA, IIA, practice leader for the South Asia Region for HKS, to develop a prototype that could be replicated (operationally) on various sites, the design team set out to develop a kit of parts for a standardized approach that could be applied on varying site conditions. “Each facility is comprised of a modular 24-bed unit inpatient tower containing multi-specialty disciplines. Each hospital will accommodate 100 to 150 beds, scheduled to open sequentially, starting in fall 2013.”

The 140,000-square-foot Ayanambakkam Reach Hospital is designed as a 150 to 200-bed prototype, intended to be site-adapted in 10 cities across semi-urban and rural India. The hospital will provide specialty services that include emergency, trauma, imaging, general surgery, orthopedics, cardiovascular, outpatient clinics, blood donor center, neurology and neonatal ICU. Its design utilizes a dual-bed tower as the building’s core element. Designed to be LEED-certified, the project was additionally influenced by principles from Vastu, an ancient Indian science to achieve harmony between man and nature.

The 120,000-square-foot, 100-bed Apollo Reach Hospital in Nashik will provide specialty services that include emergency, trauma, imaging, general surgery, orthopedics, cardiovascular, outpatient clinics, blood donor center, neurology and neonatal ICU. Designed as a vertically stacked hospital because of the small site, the hospital will seek LEED certification. Principles from Vastu were followed in the project’s design.

It was just an abnormal placement of a blood vessel over a nerve that had been causing trouble for Ghana-based phytochemistry scientist, Dr Archibald Sittie, for over six years.

Causing a shock-like pain on his face, the trauma caused by this disorder called trigeminal neuralgia was so acute that Sittie could not open his mouth to drink water, chew food or talk. At last, Sittie got over this disorder a fortnight ago when he underwent a complicated surgery to correct it at the Global Hospitals in the city.

“The first time, I took treatment in Ghana itself, but the problem recurred soon after. The last 18 months were painful, and that was when our Indian friends located this hospital for us. Though the disorder was diagnosed in Ghana, we came down to India for the treatment,” Sittie said.

“He would often be under sedation for the pain, but when he wakes up, I would find him clutching his bed with severe pain,” said his wife Rebecca Sittie.

“The four-hour corrective surgery was performed under high magnification with the operating microscope,” said Dr K Sridhar, director, Institute of Neurosciences at the hospital.

The pain was caused as the nerve was compressed by a normal blood vessel close to an important brain stem, he explained, adding that the surgery required a 5-cm incision behind his left ear.

The cause for the disorder is unknown, Dr Sridhar explained, adding that surgery should be resorted to only if medication did not work.

Many such cases were being reported these days, the doctor added.

src: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/city-hospital-restores-smile-to-ghana-scientist/341553.html

^^Even scientist coming for medical treatment in chennai.

[QUOTE=satishanu;86501854]



Microvascular decompression of trigeminal nerve is a routine surgery done in all major neurosurgical centres.There is nothing new in this procedure.
Since Dr Sridhar has moved from another hospital to Global recently, a noise has been made.

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5668089

The Madras High Court has directed the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority to demolish a hospital building at Kilpauk here within two weeks at the cost and expenditure of the builder.

In its common order while allowing three writ petitions seeking a direction to the CMDA and Chennai Corporation to demolish the building, a division bench comprising justices Elipe Dharma Rao and D Hariparanthaman categorically held that the construction was an unauthorised and illegal one in all respects.

The builder Kences Foundations Pvt Ltd.proceeded with the construction of the multi-speciality hospital, unauthorisedly for Apollo Hospitals, and not a hotel as per the expired planning permit, for which he sought renewal in 2009.

Petitioner Brindavan Apartment Owners Welfare Association alleged that the hotel was not constructed within the planning permit period of June 1999 and while so without any planning permit, the builder proceeded with the construction of a hospital in the vacant site earlier meant for a hotel.

The bench said the facts make it clear that the builder decided to construct a hospital and not a hotel. But he neither had a planning permit for construction of a hotel nor for a hospital in 2007.

However, he proceeded with the construction at the vacant site, without planning permit. Though the association informed the CMDA as early as in August 2007, the authority issued stop work notice only after five months.

Even after this, the builder proceeded with the construction. The builder''s entire action lacked bona fide and he had no regard for the rule of law.

The judges said the government had also not given any reason for condoning the delay in making the application for renewal of the planning permit.

The builder could not act at his own whims and fancies, the Bench said.

NephroLife forays into Chennai market




http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nephrolife-forays-into-chennai-market/204863-60-120.html

good news for Rajinikanth and other kidney patients...

Three closed govt-run vaccine units to get facelift


Three public sector vaccine units, whose closure had kicked up a storm, are getting a facelift.

The Union health ministry on Wednesday cleared a proposal to spend Rs 64 crore to make BCG Laboratory (Chennai) compliant with World Health Organization's good manufacturing protocol (GMP).

Union health secretary P K Pradhan confirmed to TOI that in another two years, BCG Gindi will again manufacture the anti-tuberculosis Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine after state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing unit is in place.

The ministry had cancelled the manufacturing licence of BCG Laboratory, housed in more than a century-old heritage building, in 2008 on the grounds that it did not conform to the WHO's GMP. Another institute, Central Research Institute (Kasauli) is also in the process of being made GMP compliant.

"By March, 2012, CRI will start full-fledged commercial production. We are spending about Rs 55 crore to make it WHO GMP compliant," Pradhan told TOI.

The third institute, Pasteur Institute of India (Conoor), has also submitted a proposal on how to make it GMP compliant. "The ministry is studying the proposal," Pradhan said.

An earlier report had recommended that CRI should be developed into a measles surveillance centre and should function as a national reference centre for vaccine standards, test vaccines and take up work related to stem cells.

The institute, the report said, could also be asked to prepare a detailed plan for new manufacturing facilities for yellow fever vaccine, influenza vaccine (seasonal and pandemic), acetone killed vaccine and tissue culture anti-rabies vaccine and create an anti-sera facility.

With regard to the BCG Lab, the panel had decided to convert it into a Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) for testing of cosmetics.

PII could prepare a plan for manufacturing tissue culture anti-rabies vaccine. It was also to be turned into a CDL for testing of medical devices like orthopedic implants, cardiac stents and catheters.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Three-closed-govt-run-vaccine-units-to-get-facelift/articleshow/11114413.cms

Dentistree plans to have 50 centres in three years

VV Dentistree Pvt Ltd, which runs the Dentistree chain of dental care, is planning to expand its operations with total of 50 centres in the next three years. The company expects a total investment of around Rs 25 crore to set up these centres both in India and overseas.

“We are focusing on the franchise model for expansion, so there would not be much investment from our part. However, our expectations are that it would require around Rs 40 lakh investment for every new centre,” said Mir Ali, executive director, Dentistree.

The company operates nine centres — six in Chennai and one each in the neighbouring districts of Kanchipuram, Kalpakkam, and Vellore. It also has a centre in Puducherry. It would add centres in various parts of the country to reach the target of 50 in the next three years.

It is in the process of opening centres in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and would commence operations in these states in the next few months. Plans are to open centres in Tier I and II cities in these states.

Meanwhile, the company is also planning to set up dental hospitals overseas, including in West Asian and North African countries.

The company has finalised talks with local partners in Adis Ababa, in Ethiopia, and plans are to open its first centre there within six months.

It is also in advanced stage of talks with a local partner to set up operations in Dubai through a joint venture. It would open six centres in West Asia in the next two years.

Ali said they were also looking at setting up centres in North African countries including Tanzania and Kenya in future.

The company is expecting Rs 60 crore as turnover from the overall operations in the next three years, he said. Malaysia-based Qualitas Medical Group, a primary healthcare network which has presence in India, New Zealand and Cambodia, has around 40 per cent stake in Dentistree.

Source (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/dentistree-plans-to-have-50-centres-in-three-years/458928/)

New Government Dental hospital at the cost of 15crores will be coming up at Chennai.

http://epaper.dinakaran.com/pdf/2011/12/23/20111223c_017101005.jpg

DKN

Government Dental college expansion at the cost of 20crores is nearing completion

http://epaper.dinakaran.com/pdf/2011/12/23/20111223c_017101004.jpg

DKN

When 28-year-old Sundari (name changed) from Nagercoil was six months into her pregnancy, she started having chest pain and breathlessness. Doctors suspected weak heart and lungs. But scans showed a significant part of her right half of the diaphragm - a muscular sheet between the chest and the abdomen - was pushed up by the liver, compressing the right lung and the heart.

Doctors in Nagercoil told her that the condition was dangerous and her fetus could be affected. She was referred to LifeLine Multi Specialty Hospital, Chennai. On December 21, a team of doctors performed a surgery on her. Doctors avoided the usual, abdominal approach to correct this condition as it carried a high risk of losing the baby. Surgeons operated upon her through the chest.

"The baby's heartbeat was monitored during the surgery and for a day later," said surgical gasteroentologist Dr J S Rajkumar. Though the patient is normal, gynaecologist Dr Padmapriya has advised a caesarean section when she completes her term

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Pregnant-womans-tumour-removed-in-rare-surgery/articleshow/11237501.cms

When 28-year-old Sundari (name changed) from Nagercoil was six months into her pregnancy, she started having chest pain and breathlessness. Doctors suspected weak heart and lungs. But scans showed a significant part of her right half of the diaphragm - a muscular sheet between the chest and the abdomen - was pushed up by the liver, compressing the right lung and the heart.

Doctors in Nagercoil told her that the condition was dangerous and her fetus could be affected. She was referred to LifeLine Multi Specialty Hospital, Chennai. On December 21, a team of doctors performed a surgery on her. Doctors avoided the usual, abdominal approach to correct this condition as it carried a high risk of losing the baby. Surgeons operated upon her through the chest.

"The baby's heartbeat was monitored during the surgery and for a day later," said surgical gasteroentologist Dr J S Rajkumar. Though the patient is normal, gynaecologist Dr Padmapriya has advised a caesarean section when she completes her term

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Pregnant-womans-tumour-removed-in-rare-surgery/articleshow/11237501.cms

This surgery was done to correct a defect in diaphragm ( - a muscular sheet between the chest and the abdomen). The surgery was performed from the chest instead of abdomen .No tumor was removed

TOI - as usual writes some crap

Plan to produce pentavalent vaccine

After having produced anti-rabies vaccine for over a century, the Pasteur Institute of India (PII), Coonoor, is likely to used to produce recently introduced “pentavalent vaccine”, a vaccine having antigens of five diseases.
The vaccine has so far been introduced in Kerala and Tamil Nadu with the pentavalent formulation being supplied by GAVI at the rate of $2.1 per dose.
However, with the government planning to spread the programme to other states, they are considering to put safeguards by making it possible to produce the vaccine in the government sector unit so that the cost of the vaccine can go further down.
The government, which is likely to revive Pasteur Institute of India Coonoor by approving about `120 crores for making the unit GMP complaint, will also take up the issue of making the unit compatible to producing pentavalent vaccine.
The licence of PII Coonoor was cancelled in 2008 after the World Health Organisation (WHO) found it non compliant with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards.
“The discussions regarding the money to be given for reviving the unit are on with the Planning Commission and the finance ministry. After which will work out the efficacy and benefit that we have if the existing unit is also used for producing pentavalent vaccines,” a senior official in the ministry said.
The next plan of the government is to make integrated vaccine complex in Chennai, a multiple unit for producing all the vaccines, including the pentavalent vaccine.
“This will help prices of the vaccines going down immensely,” added the official.

http://www.asianage.com/india/plan-produce-pentavalent-vaccine-872

100 cooperative medical stores in state on anvil

The state government is expanding its network of co-operative drug store across Tamil Nadu with 100 new Kamadhenu co-operative medical stores to be opened shortly.

The decision follows the success of six stores in Chennai.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, co-operatives minister Sellur K Raju said that efforts are taken to open one shop in all the taluk headquarters.

“The government wants to provide medicines at an affordable price to all the consumers. And we will ensure the quality by frequent inspections. We will keep a tab on expiry-dated medicines.

Apart from allopathy, homeopathy, siddha, ayurvedha and unani medicines will also be available in our pharmacies,” said the minister.

A wide range of 13,000 important medicines would be sold by the pharmacies, including 6,000 medicines would be available on any given day. “In Chennai alone 10 new stores will be opened.

We give membership cards for regular buyers. We provide nearly 17 percent discount for members.

Compared to other stores, the customer can save two months bill through discounts in our pharmacies,” said an official.

At present, the six stores located in Kilpak, Besant Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Royapettah, Tenyampet and RA Puram, are receiving good response from the customers. “We provide free door delivery also. Our shops are senior citizen friendly,” said the officer.

Pointing out that there is a shortage of staff, the officer said, “We would be able to improve our service if only we are provided adequate staff for new stores. We have to outsource the staff for our stores.” To check for medicines : 044-23453402.


Source (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/100-cooperative-medical-stores-state-anvil-337)

^^


Good move.

Govt. is becoming Walmart, I'm not sure this is a good move in the long run. Govt. should make sure Pvt. sector works within regulations but not create govt. enterprises indiscriminately.

Trivitron Medical Technology Park
Spread across a sprawling 25 acres in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, The Trivitron Medical Technology Park is capable of hosting ten manufacturing facilities of key international technology partners and also houses Trivitron’s own manufacturing units.

The Trivitron Medical Technology Park is a step towards fulfilling our vision to bring the best medical technology to healthcare providers across the country and abroad. The facilities in the Park will manufacture high quality, cost effective medical technology products.

The Park already houses the manufacturing facilities of Aloka Trivitron Medical Technologies. A joint venture of Trivitron with Aloka of Japan, the facility manufactures ultrasound systems.

The entire range of products to be manufactured in the Trivitron Medical Technology Park will adhere to international standards such as ISO 9000-2001, ISO 13485, CE, US FDA & Japan MITI certifications.

The range of products to be manufactured at the Medical Technology Park include:

Ultrasound systems
X-ray machines / C-arm
In-vitro diagnostic reagents
Modular operating theatres
Operating room tables and lights
Molecular diagnostic products
Hemodialysis products
ECG / Cardiac diagnostic instruments
Critical Care instruments
Implantable medical devices



INTHA Edam therinjidha Kannan sir - Japanese company called ALOKA now acquired by HITACHI manufactures low cost ultrasound units for Indian market

Deputy CM inaugurates Trivitron Park at SIPCOT
NT Bureau | Thu, 28 Jan, 2010,09:36 AM

Tamilnadu Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin said the opening of Aloka Trivitron Medical Technologies Park in SIPCOT complex at Irungattukottai in Sriperumbudur would enable hospitals to access critical medical equipment at low-cost as they would be produced indigenously at this new facility.

He was speaking at the inauguration Trivitron Medical Tech Park, a state-of-the-art facility to produce high-tech medical equipment at SIPCOT complex in Sriperumbudur on Monday.
.
Apollo Hospitals chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy said the medical treatment facilities in India and particularly in Chennai have grown by leaps and bounds and no longer patients need to go abroad.

‘With this new facility, medical equipment can not only be used in hospitals, but can be exported. This should be next stage in the growth of our country and over two-and-half lakh jobs could be provided in medical equipment sector alone.

Moreover, equipment will be produced at one-tenth of the present cost at this facility,’ he said.
Earlier, Trivitron group managing director Dr GSK Velu in his keynote address said his company’s small step in this direction would go a long way in redefining medical technology in India which would surely make quality healthcare affordable in the country.

State Health Department principal secretary V K Subburaj pointed out Tamilnadu has taken a number of measures to promote the growth of medical equipment sector.

He said there were 15,500 drug makers in the country producing medicines worth Rs 80,000 crore in the country.

Out of which in Tamilnadu alone, Rs 5,500 crore worth medicines were manufactured by 550 units which was a noteworthy achievement. And over 50 per cent, that is, Rs 3,000 crore-worth medicines were being exported with the remaining Rs 2,500 crore-worth medicines were put for indigenous use.

When it comes to medical equipment 85 per cent of them were being imported at present and this should change, said Subburaj.

Sri Ramachandra University Chancellor V R Venkataachalam felicitated the Deputy CM Stalin on the occasion. Notable among the participants were State Labour Welfare Minister T M Anbarasan, Sriperumbudur MLA Yasodha, Kancheepuram Collector Santosh Mishra and SIPCOT chairman.

Earlier, Trivitron group director Dr T K Parthasarathy welcomed the gathering and its deputy managing director Sameer D Saral proposed a vote of thanks. Later, a factory visit was undertaken by the delegates.

A range of high-tech diagnostic tools including ultrasound systems, colour dopplers, x-ray machines, C-arms, in-vitro diagnostic reagents and instruments, cardiology instruments, critical care equipment, modular operating theatres, operating theatre lights and tables and implantable medical devices would be manufactured at be manufactured at Aloka Trivitron Medical Technologies Park located at the SIPCOT complex in Irungattukottai.

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/from-india-the-1-doctors-visit/

A private hospital, a for-profit microfinance company and an information technology company have joined forces to attempt what state and local governments have struggled to do for decades – bring quality, affordable medical treatment to India’s hundreds of millions of poor people.

Apollo Hospitals, Equitas and HealthNet Global are setting up “telemedicine centers” in Equitas’s 300 offices, mostly in urban slums, which will be staffed by nurses and stocked with medical testing equipment and a laptop with video conferencing.

Women who take loans through Equitas and their families (about 8 million people, the companies estimate) can schedule a doctor’s “visit” at the center, and consult with an Apollo doctor by video about symptoms and care. The nurse will measure vital signs like blood pressure and heartbeat, through equipment that transmits readings directly to the doctor and into a patient’s computerized medical file.

Total cost to the patient: 50 rupees, or about 96 U.S. cents.

The project started in December, and so far there are just three telemedicine centers set up in Equitas offices. The companies involved don’t make a profit. But Rahul Thapan, global head of sales and marketing at HealthNet, said the companies hope to expand the project far beyond Equitas customers in the future.

“We are looking at different types of audiences here, at elderly people who may not be able to afford health care, for example, and there is a huge potential to go into semi-urban and rural areas, as well,” Mr. Thapan said.

Separately, Apollo and HealthNet have started a for-profit virtual doctors’ visit business with telecommunication companies Aircel and Idea Cellular. Some customers of these telecom providers can schedule a virtual doctor’s appointment, in which a paramedics with a laptop and medical testing equipment come to their home. The patient is connected via video conferencing to the doctor. The cost of these visits varies according to the tests done, but starts at about 300 rupees ($5.74).

A medical centre for diabetes care in city

CHENNAI: Agada Diabetes Care, an upcoming medical center in T Nagar, was inaugurated on Monday by Governor K Rosaiah. The venture is promoted by Dr Mohan Thanikachalam in association with the Joslin Diabetes Centre, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, US, to provide diabetes care and treatment. Agada Diabetes Care is spread over 25,000 sq ft on 5 floors.Dr Mohan Thanikachalam, founder-director of ADC, said,

"It is well known that India is the diabetes capital of the world, and many prestigious institutions are working hard in fighting this epidemic. However, access to healthcare is still a challenge. Patients seek medical help when the disease has progressed extensively. We realized that improving access to healthcare and increasing patient motivation to follow treatment plan would be the key to conquer diabetes."

Source (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/A-medical-centre-for-diabetes-care-in-city/articleshow/11430704.cms)

^^

Why have u posted (2010 year) related post here??

^^

Why have u posted (2010 year) related post here??

Answering Mukkesh's above post as he had asked a question on location. The post was informative and so I posted.

^^

TRIVITRON a chennai based company has started manufacturing ALOKA ultrasound in our country .

Still now we only import high end diagnostic equipments- like Ultrasound,MRI,CT scans, PET CT etc.

If the TRIVITRON becomes successful ,we should see more high end diagnostic equipments made from Chennai

[QUOTE=Mukkesh;87405038]^^

That s why Kannan sir ,I asked you if u were able to spot this place during your fantastic visit around Chennai .


The photographs from your visit were great and definitely all of you who went on this trip deserve a nice treat .

@ Mukkesh:

We missed Irungattukkottai SIPCOT Estate due to Kisu Kisu :lol:

Neenga Padikkave illaya :mad:

@ Mukkesh:

We missed Irungattukkottai SIPCOT Estate due to Kisu Kisu :lol:

Neenga Padikkave illaya :mad:

Kisu Kisu ennanu sonnathane padikarathuku... gossipna mathavangalukum spread pannanum sir.. :lol:

Kisu kisu aavalle naanum antha line a miss pannitten

Kisu Kisu ennanu sonnathane padikarathuku... gossipna mathavangalukum spread pannanum sir.. :lol:

If I reveal the same in the beginning , nobody will read my Mokkai report.

Aasai Katti, Valarthu vittu Ella parts m mudinja pinnala kadaisiyadhan Solluvom.

( Bit padam parkaradhukku Mokkai padam poora parkara madhiri) :lol:

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/chennai-based-lifecell-receives-aabb-accreditation-026

City-based LifeCell International has received American Association of Blood Banks accreditation for its umbilical cord tissue banking services. With this, LifeCell has become India’s first stem cell bank to possess AABB accreditation for both cord blood and cord tissue preservation.

AABB is an international non-profit body dedicated to developing highest standards in blood and cord blood banking, transfusion medicine and cellular therapy. The AABB accreditation is granted after assessing stem cell processing, cryo-preservation records, document control, inspection, training of lab technicians, sample identification, traceability and validation of cord tissue preservation to quality compliances.

“This assures parents banking their baby’s umbilical cord blood and cord tissue stem cells with us that sample has been qualified, collected, processed and stored as per internationally approved standards and gives them an access to stem cells from any part of the world, when needed,” said Mayur Abhaya, executive director, LifeCell International.

LifeCell has in-house research facility where it has developed the technology to derive cord tissues from mesenchymal stem cells since 2009. LifeCell offers services like cord blood, cord tissue, menstrual blood and dental pulp stem banking.

http://www.livemint.com/2012/01/13194157/Perfint-sees-revenue-triple-to.html?h=B

Perfint Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, a Chennai-based medical devices company, expects revenue to more than triple to $5 million this financial year, stoked by the depreciating rupee and expected sales from a new low-cost robotic diagnostic tool for cancerous tumours.

Robio EZ, a stripped-down variant of the larger Robio EX diagnostic tool, is priced at Rs. 15 lakh, about one-third the Rs50 lakh price tag for the full-bodied version.

The low-cost variant is being made especially to service diagnostic centres in small towns and cities. The precision machines will be used for biopsies of tumours and other oncology-based tests.

“Patients and doctors will prefer a less invasive procedure, but again the cost per procedure being transferred to the patient will (weigh in),” said Anjan Sen, director of life sciences and healthcare at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd, when asked about the scope for such products in the Indian market.

The six-year-old company has received $12 million from venture capital funds IDG Ventures India, Accel Partners India and Norwest Venture Partners and expects to raise $20-25 million over the next 18 months.

The company hopes that China will be its largest market in the next three years, contributing to the $100 million revenue figure it hopes to achieve by 2016.

Perfint supplies to big healthcare establishments (like Apollo hospitals and Global hospitals) and teaching hospitals in India and has been exporting equipment since April 2011. It ships equipment to West and South-east Asia, South Africa, Turkey, and the Netherlands, and expects to make a dent in the European and Latin American markets this year.

“We try to work around the existing workflow and so installing our technologies is easier (as opposed to whole new devices). This helps us find takers in markets in Asia and overseas,” said Nandakumar. S, chief executive officer of Perfint.

The Chennai-based device maker has spent around Rs. 50 crore on developing these new models.

[QUOTE=bonoslack7;87507280]
^^

I know this company -they made a good product based on the inputs given by a senior doctor from Chennai.-- for CT guided biopsies.

This product has become popular and this company is probably getting in to the stock exchange .

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/healthcare/biotech/healthcare/india-to-get-first-robotic-training-centre-for-doctors/articleshow/11490184.cms

Promising a new dimension to the future of robotic surgery in the country, India will soon be getting its first training centre for the technique, a robotic surgery firm said here Saturday.

"India has immense scope for robotic surgery. What we need is skilled manpower for doctors who can conduct the surgery. Vattikuti Foundation will open the first such training centre in Chennai by the end of this year for doctors from all over India," said Mahendra Bhandari, CEO of the Vattikuti Foundation, at the ongoing global robotics conference here.

"It will be our first step to help overcome the shortage of high-quality training on robotic surgery in India. The centre will provide services of skilled surgeons at affordable costs. By 2016, we expect 30,000 surgeries to be done annually with the new technology," Bhandari added.

The foundation has collaborated with hospitals in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and other cities to provide robot-assisted surgeries. Among the government hospitals, All India Insitute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) conducted the first such surgery in 2008.

While the surgery is conducted by a four-armed robot, the movements of the robot are controlled by a trained doctor. An arm of the robot controls the camera and the other three hands manipulate the surgical instruments. The entire surgical process is observed via a high-definition 3D vision system known as the Da Vinci surgical robotic system.

According to experts, the surgery is expected to find more takers when the cost comes down in the times to come.

"Till now, the robot is manufactured by California-based Intuitive Surgical. One particular company maintains monopoly in the market, competetion could help us bring down the cost," said Gagan Gautam, senior consultant and head of uro-oncology and robotic surgery at the Medanta Kidney and Urology Institute.

"Robotic surgery cannot replace conventional surgery. But it has many advantages over traditional surgery since it is minimally invasive, reduces hospital stay of the patient by initiating a quick recovery, reduces blood loss and helps with greater precision and visualisation," Gautam said, adding that "there are lesser complication".

Robotic surgery is available for a range of conditions such as thoracic (throat), cardio-vascular (heart), urology, gynaecological surgery, and cancer surgeries among others.

Improvement works at KMC

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00896/TH19_KMC_NET_jpg_896667e.jpg

Several improvement works have been launched at the Government Kilpauk Medical Hospital in the past few weeks, including one to raise the floor level to prevent flooding during monsoon.

The Public Works Department, which is in charge of the maintenance of the hospital, has received Rs.1.8 crore from the State government for the much-needed repair works such as construction of stormwater drains inside the campus and a police outpost.

According to sources in the hospital, stormwater drains were not planned when the building was constructed 40 years ago. As the level of the road – EVR Periyar Salai – increased over the years, rainwater stagnation was an annual feature on the hospital campus. Compounding the problem is the Chetpet lake behind the hospital.

A few months ago, the police outpost was shifted to the rear end of the hospital in view of the Chennai Metro Rail work. This caused hardships to the families of victims involved in medico-legal issues. The new police outpost is being built in front of the new casualty block.

The authorities received a letter from Tourism Minister and Anna Nagar MLA, Gokula Indira, recently sanctioning Rs.30 lakh from her constituency development fund for improvement works in the hospital.

According to sources in the Minister's office, the letter was sent to the Chennai Corporation Commissioner. The hospital proposes to use the money to upgrade the paediatric wing.

KMC Hospital Dean T. Ramakrishnan said the hospital had sought an estimate from the PWD officials for improving the facilities in the wing. The hospital's Plastic Surgery department which has a dedicated Burns Unit with 50 beds and an intensive medical care unit had sought a separate building to provide comprehensive services to the patients. On any given day, around 45 beds are occupied.

According to V. Jayaraman, head, every day 10 persons are admitted for treatment. “The patients cannot be sent home immediately as they need psychological and social rehabilitation, considering the nature of the injury.”

The department had sent a proposal to the Health Department to sanction funds to construct a new building to house the Burns Ward.

Hospital sources said that the plan had been finalised and that within a few months the sanction would be received.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article2812009.ece

:applause:

Vision to villages on wheels


Villagers living within 150 km radius around Chennai, if they have an eye ailment, need not travel to the city to consult a specialist.

Tertiary eye care will now come to their doorstep in the form of� Nethra Vahana (a mobile van� with sophisticated eye care equipment) which was flagged off by Actor Vijay at Rajan Eye Care Hospital on Thursday amidst much fanfare.

Project� Nethra Vahana -� a Rural mobile Tele-ophthalmic van with advanced equipment - is a long felt dream of Dr. Mohan Rajan, Medical Director of Rajan� Eye Care Hospital, who also started the Chennai Vision Charitable Trust(CVCT)� 16 years ago with a view to� take quality eye care to the underprivileged .
Nethra Vahana will take tertiary eye care services to the doorsteps of the poor in remote� villages.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/vision-to-villages-on-wheels/222534-60-120.html

Trivitron Healthcare eyes $100-m PE funding

Medical device maker Trivitron Healthcare is looking for private equity funding to the tune of $100 million.

“We will start talking to potential investors in February/March and close the deal in three months,” said Mr G.S.K. Velu, Founder and Managing Director, Trivitron, which is eyeing top private equity investors globally.

This is the second time the company is looking for funding; the money will go into its acquisition and capacity expansion.

Trivitron is planning capacity expansion at its medical technology park at Irungattukottai, near Chennai. It is also scouting for buys in Europe and the US in cardiac diagnostic imaging.

Recently, the company acquired minority stake in Mumbai-based Kiran Medical Systems, which is into image enhancement and radiation protection. It acquired Pune-based Vision Engineering (X-ray machines manufacturer) in 2008.

Trivitron's first round of funding was in 2007 when it acquired Rs 50 crore from HSBC Private Equity and ePlanet Ventures.

DENTAL ALLIANCE

Trivitron is also looking at raising funds for its dental care venture with Apollo Hospitals. Currently, the alliance operates 20 dental clinics. “We will soon launch a new brand identity and four different formats to cater to different economic strata,” said Mr Velu, during the launch of three ‘Maxivision' eye hospitals in Chennai.

MAXIVISION

Mr Velu is also the Chairman of Medfort Hospitals, which recently acquired Hyderabad-based eye-care chain Maxivision. Currently, there are 16 Maxivision centres in the country. The aim is to establish 50 over the next two years. TVS Capital Funds and ePlanet Ventures have invested close to Rs 85 crore in this venture.



http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2823299.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

SRM sets up centre for psychiatry


SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre has started a training centre for mental health professionals at its campus in Kattankulathur. The centre, which will consist of a team of consultants from the UK and India, is mainly for Indians appearing for Royal College degrees. The course for the clinical assessment of skills will be conducted twice a year. A specialty clinic on mental health was also inaugurated on its campus.

Dr M Thirunavukkarasu, head of the department of psychiatry at the college, said there are 40,835 MBBS seats in 335 medical colleges across the country. But due to stiff competition, only 29% of medical school graduates are make it to the postgraduate programmes in a clinical specialty, he said.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/SRM-sets-up-centre-for-psychiatry/articleshow/11611155.cms

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2829362.ece

A laser machine to treat varicose veins was handed over to the vascular surgery department of Stanley Government Medical College and Hospital here on Tuesday.

ELVeS, the machine, which costs Rs.15 lakh, can send a probe into the affected vein and relieve the problem.

It has been donated by the Indian Oil Corporation and was handed over to the Speaker of the Assembly D. Jayakumar by IOC's Tamil Nadu Executive Director V.K.Jayachandran.

Mr. Jayakumar then handed it over to the vascular surgery department.

Colour Doppler machine

A colour Doppler machine, which is used to study blood supply to various parts of the body, costing Rs.5 lakh was also installed in the department on the occasion.

Health Minister V.S. Vijay launched the two-year M. Phil Clinical Sociology course, and handed over admission letters to nine candidates.

Hospital Dean S. Geethalakshmi said it was likely that this was the first time that such a laser machine was being made available to a government hospital.

It relieved pain with a minimally invasive procedure and left no scars.

Head of the department M. Rajkumar explained the features of the laser equipment.

On January 22, 2012, at the 3rd Annual Apollo Bariatric Surgery Conference (ABSCON 2012) in Chennai, India, the first ever incision-free endoluminal bariatric surgery procedure was performed in South Asia. Incidentally, this is the first ever known endoluminal revision of a prior sleeve gastrectomy performed to their knowledge in the world. The operation was performed by New York bariatric surgeon, Dr. Elliot Goodman, with the able assistance of Dr. Rajkumar Palaniappan of the bariatric surgery service of Apollo Hospital in Chennai. The operation was shown via video-link to 80 surgeons attending the ABSCON 2012 conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chennai. It was performed using the Overstitch platform, manufactured by Apollo Endosurgery® Inc. of Austin, Texas.

The patient was a 27-year-old gentleman who had previously undergone a sleeve gastrectomy for obesity in 2011. He had lost approximately 15 kilograms in weight, but his weight had then stabilized and in fact, he had begun to regain 2 kilograms or so within the past month. He had a history of depression and hypertension. A preoperative upper GI series showed that he had significant dilatation of his sleeve, particularly in the mid-portion of the remaining stomach.

The operation was performed uneventfully in one hour. The team placed six endoluminal sutures along the sleeve gastrectomy staple line. At the completion of the operation, the team performed an endoscopy which showed significant reduction in the size of the gastric reservoir.

After the successful performance of South Asia's first endoluminal bariatric procedure, the Apollo Hospital bariatric surgery service will soon perform similar procedures on a regular basis. Their surgical team has already been trained in this technique in New York by Dr. Goodman (along with the help of Ted Stephens of Apollo Endosurgery®). It is anticipated that the first few cases will be performed within the next couple of months. These will include sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass revisions for patients who have initially lost weight, but are now regaining weight due to either sleeve or pouch/stoma dilatation. The Apollo Hospital surgeons will also be examining the safety and efficacy of primary endoluminal gastroplasty in patients with a BMI of 30 to 40 as part of a clinical trial sponsored by Apollo Endosurgery® Inc.

“We believe that flexible surgery represents the most exciting innovation in bariatric and gastrointestinal surgery in years and we look forward to offering these incisionless procedures to our patients to help combat obesity and other conditions,” said Prathap C. Reddy, M.D. Chairman of Apollo Hospitals Group.

J. Lee Putman, Global VP of Sales & Marketing for Apollo Endosurgery®, commented that, “We are thrilled and honored to enter into this collaboration with Apollo Hospitals Group to bring less invasive flexible surgical devices and techniques to Indian patients.”

Dr. Goodman added that, “This represents a tremendous milestone for the evolution of GI surgery as it progresses from open to laparoscopic and now incision-free access.”

This introduction of endoluminal incision-free bariatric surgery into India has been facilitated by PrimeSource MedTech, a new medical device market strategy and development company based in Mumbai and New York.

Fortis Malar's second hospital to be ready by Sept

Fortis Malar's second hospital in Chennai will be ready by September/October this year.

About Rs 200 crore-225 crore is said to have been invested on this 250-bed hospital, according to sources close to the development.

Fortis Malar group has taken Kochar Towers on Arcot Road, Vadapalani on long lease.

The commercial building is being converted into a multi-speciality hospital spanning 1.5 lakh square feet.

Malar's other hospital in the city – a 250-bed centre – operates in Adyar.

In 2007, the Fortis Group acquired Malar Hospitals for Rs 26 crore. The group also has a presence in Puducherry through the 100-bed East Coast hospital which Fortis Malar operates and manages.

Fortis' acquisition of Malar came along with a Rs 20-crore debt. Malar wiped out all its accumulated losses in the second quarter of this year and is ready to expand.

Fortis Malar plans to expand in Tamil Nadu with hospitals in Madurai, Coimbatore and Tiruchi – these will be a combination of Greenfield projects and acquisitions.

Fortis Malar clocked a turnover of Rs 85 crore last year; this year it expects to finish at Rs 110 crore.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2836955.ece

Its good to know that commercial buildings can be converted into a hospital. Hopefully skeptics will stop questioning how a commercial / LA building can be converted into a hospital.