Mata Chanan Devi Hospital

Mata Chanan Devi Hospital (MCDH) is a 210-bed hospital which caters to 15-20 lakh of population base and 500-700 patients per day in the OPD

MCDH is a premier tertiary care hospital for the population of South-West Delhi and adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana. It is a trust hospital that is spread across an area of 4.25 acres of land.

The initial seeds of the Hospital were sown in 1968 under the aegis of Mahashay Chunnilal Charitable Trust as a charitable eye hospital in Subhash Nagar in New Delhi. Since then, that the Hospital has expanded to now have a group of 500 employees and over 30 specialities and super specialities. "Initial responses were good as people from all over Delhi and adjoining states came here for quality and affordable healthcare and soon it became known for the eye care treatment," recollects Dr Paramjit Bawa, Strategic Planner and Medical Advisor, MCDH. The objective of MCDH is to offer quality and affordable healthcare services under one roof.

Growth Path

Since the needs of the people were increasing, the Hospital had to expand its expertise in other specialities besides eye treatment. Of paramount concern to the people in South- West Delhi was the lack of safe and reliable gynaecological and obstetrics services at that time. Addressing this need, MCDH started with gynaecology and obstetrics department in 1981. In 1988-89, a new four storeyed building was added and soon all the basic medical and surgical specialities became functional.

Patients could avail the services of nearly 50 specialists in the fields of internal medicine, general surgery, eye, ENT, orthopaedics and paediatrics. "MCDH became established as both primary and secondary care centre and this led to an increase in the number of patients in OPD. Ours is the only hospital in South-West Delhi having a modern operation theatre facility, intensive care unit and organised trauma care services," says Dr Bawa.

Keeping in tune the fast changing trend of medical care provisions, MCDH began its first phase of modernisation plans in 1994, when another new four-storeyed building was added to the existing infrastructure, connected at every level thus making it a twin complex. Laparoscopic surgery started in 1994 and this department has been at the forefront of propagating newer yet cost-effective techniques. Expanded intensive care and coronary care unit with the most modern monitoring devices and other life support systems were established in 1995.

Soon MCDH became a referral centre for advanced care. Besides general and considerate wards for the poor people, newer wards with greater hospitality services were added as semi-private, private and deluxe rooms, therefore making it a hospital which caters to all the sections of the society.

Focus Areas

"Our hospital became the first hospital in South-west Delhi to have a complete range of advanced urology care under one roof " - Dr Paramjit Bawa Strategic Planner Medical Advisor MCDH

Keeping in line with the fast emerging medical scenario, MCDH further added on super specialities like cardio-thoracic surgery, neuro surgery, spinal surgery, urology, plastic surgery, gastro-intestinal surgery, nephrology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, chest medicine, haematology, psychiatry and neurology. Since then the hospital got its distinction as a tertiary care hospital. Out of all these specialities, the hospital's main expertise lies in neurosurgery and gastroenterology surgery.

Radiology department got a boost by the acquisition of the latest ultrasound and colour-doppler system and a spiral CT scanner unit. Urology grew at tremendous pace with the development of endo-urology and lithotripsy, thus adding a new range of finer endoscopic equipment and the latest lithotripsy. "With this addition, our hospital became the first hospital in the whole South-west Delhi to have a complete range of advanced urology care under one roof," informs Dr Bawa.

Development of cardiology and cardio-thoracic department with the ability to perform angiography, angioplasty and open heart surgery have made it a complete centre for secondary and tertiary care in the west Delhi. Department of gynaecology and obstetrics has also come of age. Addition of laparoscopic and hysteroscopic operative procedures in the field of gynecology as laparocopic hysterectomy, myomectomy, tubal lesions and pelvic malignancies have widened the horizon of care. In addition to this, a comprehensive infertility centre has been introduced for the infertile couples.

IT Usage

The Hospital has implemented Hospital Information System (HIS) from the past two months. MCDH has tied up with Wipro for IT for HIS. This system is fully upgraded with various modules right from the registration to consultancy, checkups, reports and billing. "It still not operational as the staff is still being trained on the usage of HIS. So it would be operational from January, 2009," said Dr Bawa.

CSR

The hospital sends mobile health van to nearby villages and suburbs. This service gives basic healthcare treatment and also gives free referrals and transport to the patients till the hospital. "We organise regular community programmes to educate women regarding their health concerns and better care during pregnancy," says Dr Bawa.

MCDH is associated with Lions Club, Delhi and provides free eye check ups and eye treatment to the masses. These camps are conducted two to three times a year and the duration of each session is almost one month.

Future Endeavors

MCDH is planning to open its own Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Nagaur, Rajasthan. Besides this another PHC would be starting by July, 2009 in Bhedke, Karnataka. Plans of acquisition of a radiotherapy unit is in the pipeline. It is also planning to open a naturopathic centre in Haridwar by next year. All these plans would be funded by internal accruals.

priti.pathak@expressindia.com