Chennai Health Infrastructure/ Hospitals/ Medical tourism/ Health Research - Discussions & Updates

[wlbkng]

Good piece of info. Thanks TShyam.

[bonoslack7]

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

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle1477421.ece

[bonoslack7]

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/opportuni...l-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.

[bonoslack7]

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/apol...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.

[wlbkng]

College fees-um avanga hospital fees madri "kammiya" irukkuma?

[bonoslack7]

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.

[wlbkng]

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.

[bonoslack7]

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.

[bonoslack7]

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/opportuni...lobal-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.

[wlbkng]

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/c...#ixzz1FIVneDfq

[pdykid]

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/...cle1498743.ece

[bonoslack7]

http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails...id=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.

[TShyam]

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-doctor...urgery-2316804

[TShyam]

The same news appearing in Xinhua - a Chinese news agency

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english201...c_13763006.htm

[Fugu Gion]

[Fugu Gion]

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...efault&pub=TOI

[Mr.Nellai]

Heart surgery by Robo



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[satishanu]

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/newsit...TEGORYNAME=CHN

[wlbkng]

Can anyone decode?

[Mad 4 Madras]

Originally Posted by wlbkng

Can anyone decode?

TShyam can