Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH), Coimbatore

Spread across 18 acres, Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, (KMCH), the 500-bed multi-disciplinary super-specialty Hospital located in Coimbatore has provided an alternative for quality medical service in Tamil Nadu, away from Chennai. KMCH was started in 1990 with 250 beds by Dr Nalla G Palaniswami, who is now the Chairman of the Hospital. Over 1000 patients are treated everyday at the Hospital.

Significant Achievements in the Last Year

Dr Vivek Pathak, Consultant Nephrologist attached to the Hospital performed steroid-free kidney transplantation last year. The Hospital on an average conducts three transplantations per week and 50 dialysis per day. Four satellites centres are attached to the Hospital, viz; Perundurai center (Tamil Nadu), City center at Ram Nagar, Coimbatore, Erode Center (Tamil Nadu), and a rural health center at Veeriampalayam.

New Initiatives

The Hospital has acquired a 100 bedded hospital in Erode, which is renamed as KMCH speciality Hospital. It also has major expansion plans in the existing premises. It has invested Rs 100 crore in infrastructural works. The Hospital plans to add another block and install pneumatic tube system for hospital mobility. It is expecting NABH accreditation in the coming six months and has also applied for JCI accreditation.

Biggest Challenges

"We will expand our presence in Chennai in the future" - UK Ananthapadmanabhan President Kovai Medical Center and Hospital Coimbatore

The Hospital faces challenges in two areas namely, retaining talent and cost of treatment. The HRD ensures that the workplace is ideal by attending the problems and difficulties of the staff. It has made use of technology to reduce the manpower, thus cutting the expenditure, which in turn results in reducing the cost of treatment.

Adopting New Technologies

The Hospital plans to import Linear Accelerator (LINAC) from Varian Medical Systems, to provide state-of-art cancer treatment in the second quarter of next financial year. Voice recognition software is used in the Hospital for all data feeding, thereby reducing manpower. All medical reports are networked.

CSR

KMCH has started 10 trauma care centres in rural areas, where each centre is equipped with an ambulance and a pharmacy. The ambulance service of the Hospital is available for free-of-cost for all. KMCH conducts awareness programmes on insurance and accident prevention in educational institutions and private firms.

Patient Friendliness

"We aim at providing patient centric, technology driven and cost-effective treatment," says UK Ananthapadmanabhan, President, KMCH. Each floor of KMCH is equipped with touch screen, for the benefit of patients. All patient related data is available online. It has also introduced e-cash facility and has issued internal debit cards to reduce crowding at the billing counters. The Hospital is seeing an increased patient flow from North—Eastern states in recent time. In view to boost medical tourism, the Hospital has hired translators for Indian and international languages who ensure proper communication between the doctors and patients.

Long-Term Vision

Healthcare in Tamil Nadu was Chennai centric. KMCH intends to provide quality healthcare in Coimbatore and its surrounding areas, who otherwise have to travel to Chennai. "We will expand our presence in Chennai in the future," says Anathapadmanabhan.