Health as wealth

Hearing loss estimation being done at the Vikram Hospital and ENT Research Institute. -

The city's hospitals attract patients from the world over.

COIMBATORE rivals Chennai in providing quality health care through its multi-speciality and super-speciality hospitals of international standards. Importantly, profit is not their only aim. They provide quality treatment to the poor virtually free of cost. The multi-speciality hospitals include the PSG Hospitals, the Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital, the K.G. Hospital, the G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Hospital and the Sri Ramakrishna Hospital. The super-speciality hospitals include the Vikram Hospital and ENT Research Institute, the Ganga Hospital, and the Rao Hospital for Assisted Reproduction and Endoscopy. Coimbatore also has some reputed eye hospitals in the Sankara Eye Society, the Aravind Eye Hospital and the Eye Foundation.

The PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, founded in 1985, runs a medical college and physiotherapy, pharmacy and nursing colleges. It set up the PSG Hospitals in 1989 as a teaching hospital on a 99-acre (40-hectare) campus. "Our specialities are well-developed," said Dr. Vimal Kumar Govindan, medical director and Professor of General and Gastro Intestinal Surgery, PSG Hospitals. The hospital did renal transplants and laparoscopic surgery. "Last year, we did liver dialysis," he said. Last year the hospital bought a "sleep laboratory", one of its kind in the country. Experiments in the laboratory gave a basic idea of why people suffered from disturbed sleep. The hospital conducts medical camps in Coimbatore district and has five rural health centres that are permanently staffed.

The 500-bed, multi-disciplinary Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital (KMCH) is one of the most sought-after hospitals. Its specialities include cardio-thoracic surgery, treatment for congenital heart diseases, and liver and cadaver kidney transplants. The KMCH is one of the few hospitals in Tamil Nadu to have an intervention radiology department. According to V. Ramesh, general manager (marketing), the hospital's orthopaedic department does bone and joint replacement. Hip and knee replacements are also routinely done. The fertility centre at the KMCH has a high success rate, Ramesh said. The hospital runs six trauma care centres on National Highway 47.

The Vikram Hospital and ENT Research Institute, established by Dr. P.G. Visvanathan in 1972, has evolved into a super-speciality hospital. Patients from different parts of the country and also from Sri Lanka, the Maldives and West Asia approach the hospital for treatment. It has clinical laboratories for radiology and endoscopy. The hospital specialises in KTP-532 laser surgery for the treatment of ear, nose and throat disorders. It also does endoscopic sinus surgery, micro-surgery of the ear for curing deafness, cochlear implant surgery; plastic surgery of the nose and the face; voice restoration surgery and micro-surgery of the larynx.

The Vikram Hospital runs the Dr. PGV Matriculation School at Varapalayam. Dr. Muthulakshmi Visvanathan, school correspondent, coordinates its academic and extension activities. The Integral Ear Institute, an arm of the Vikram Hospital, is functioning on the school campus.