G Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital, Coimbatore

The dream of G Kuppuswamy Naidu, a Coimbatore based cloth merchant, to provide mother and child care in Coimbatore became a reality after his demise, through G Kuppuswamy Naidu Charity Trust for Educational and Medical Relief. Thus, a 50 bedded KMHC (G Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital), exclusively for maternity treatment came into existence in Coimbatore in 1953. With 582 beds, this super-specialty Hospital today offers a host of services including gynecology and obstetrics and caters to about 700 patients everyday.

Significant Achievements in the Last Year

KMHC has completed 50 years in serving cancer patients. The Hospital started performing stemcell therapy and bone marrow transplantation since last year. The Hospital has completed more than 11,000 heart surgeries and 27,000 angiograms.

New Initiatives

In an effort to keep itself abreast of latest in IT for healthcare, the Hospital has introduced online prescription, online investigation and Picture Archival Communication System (PACS) that enables the practitioners view the patient details, treatment and follow-up from a computer. It plans to expand the Centralised Sterile Supply Department (CSSD), Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). KMHC has also adopted eco-friendly measures like recycling of waste water and using it for gardening, installation of solar energy plant and replacing plastic bags with cloth bags. It is waiting for final assessment in National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH).

Biggest Challenges

"We are facing increasing demand for private rooms," says Dr Ramkumar Raghupathy, Dean. Managing bed occupancy is a constant challenge faced by the Hospital. However, it is met by investing on infrastructure. In fact the Hospital plans to spend Rs 10 crore in infrastructure, IT and medical technologies.

Patient Centric Approach

The Hospital religiously follows quality assurance with NABH standards and NABL protocols. It also conducts regular HR interactions with various departments to know the feedback from all levels and is open to implementing innovative ideas.

CSR

The Hospital runs a rural centre at Veerapandi and a tribal rural centre at Anaikatti. The treatment and medicines are given free of cost in these centers. It has adopted Selvapuram village to provide comprehensive healthcare to the people. Around 20,000 people are treated free of cost through the project. It runs Raksha—a Hospice at Sengadu, which provides complete free service for terminally ill cancer patients. The Hospital has conducted various health camps for cancer awareness, diabetes, cardiology and eye camps. It also runs a free telemedicine center in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Long-term Vision

To be the preferred destination for comprehensive healthcare is the vision of the Hospital.

"We want to provide quality treatment at a very affordable cost," says Dr Raghupathy.