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CHAPTER III

PROFILE OF INSTITUTIONS UNDER STUDY

COVERAGE

A Hospital is an integral part of a Social and Medical organization, the

function of which is to provide for the population complete health care,

both curative and preventive, and whose outpatient services reach out to

the family and its home environment; the hospital is also a centre for the

training of health workers and biosocial research.

W H O definition of Hospital

The Guwahati city has been bestowed with the following hospitals :

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3.1 PUBLIC SECTOR HOSPITALS IN GUWAHATI

CITY:-

Table : 3.1 Source : Field Survey

NAME

GAUHATI MEDICAL COLLEGE

HOSPITAL

B. BARUAH CANCER INSTITUTE

M.M. CHOUDHURY HOSPITAL

CENTRAL RAILWAY HOSPITAL

CRPF BASE HOSPITAL

GOVT. AYURVEDIC COLLEGE HOSPITAL

GOPINATH BORDOLOI T.B. HOSPITAL

MILITARY HOSPITAL

MALARIA RESEARCH CENTRE

GUWAHATI REFINERY HOSPITAL

ESI HOSPITAL

TOLARAM BAFANA GOVT. HOSPITAL

PLACE

BHANGAGARH

GOPINATH

NAGAR

PANBAZAR

MALIGAON

NINE MILE

JALUKBARI

BIRUBARI

BASISTHA

SONAPUR

NOONMATI

KHANAPARA

AMINGAON

120

3.2 PRIVATE SECTOR HOSPITALS IN GUWAHATI

CITY :-

Table : 3.2

NAME

ARUNA MEMORIAL NURSING HOME

ARYA HOSPITAL

BORTHAKUR CLINIC

BRAHMAPUTRA HOSPITAL LTD.

CARE HOME & DIAGNOSTIC CENTRE

CENTRAL NURSING HOME

CHATRIBARI CHRISTIAN HOSPITAL

CITY HEART HOSPITAL

DISPUR POLYCLINIC

DISPUR HOSPITALS PVT. LTD.

PLACE

BHANGAGARH

PALTAN BAZAR

KHARGHULI

RAJGARH ROAD

BAMUNI MAIDAM

BELTOLA

CHATRIBARI

RAJGARH

GANESHGURI

DISPUR

121

DOWN TOWN HOSPITAL

EAST END NURSING HOME

EYE FOUNDATION HOSPITAL

GNRC HEART INSTITUTE

GOENKA NURSING HOME

GOOD HEALTH HOSPITAL

GURUCHARAN POLYCLINIC

GUWAHATI CHILDREN'S CLINIC

GUWAHATI NEOROLOGICAL

RESEARCH CENTER

INSTITUTE OF HUMAN REPRODUCTION

INTERNATIONAL HOSPITAL

KUMAR NURSING HOME

K.C. DAS HOSPITAL

LION’S EYE HOSPITAL

DISPUR

BAMUNIMAIDAM

R.G. B. ROAD

SUPER MARKET

BHARALUMUKH

DISPUR, G.S.ROAD

PALTAN BAZAR

BORA SERVICE

SUPER MARKET

BHARALUMUKH

CHRISTIAN BASTI

KUMARPARA

BIRUBARI

CHATRIBARI

122

MARWARI MATERNITY HOSPITAL

MIDLAND HOSPITAL & RES. CENTRE

NEMCARE HOSPITAL

NIGHTINGALE HOSPITAL

NORTH EAST PAIN CLINIC

NORTH EAST CANCER CARE

FOUNDATION

PRATIKSHA INFERTILITY HOSPITAL

RED CROSS HOSPITAL

SANKARDEV NETRALAYA

SANJIVINI HOSPITAL

SACRED HOME NURSING HOME

ST. JONES MISSIONARY HOSPITAL

WINTROBE HOSPITAL

HAYAT HOSPITAL

SJ RD, ATHGAON

RGB RD.

SRINAGAR

BHANGAGARH

GANESHGURI

GANESHGURI

NINE MILE

PANJABARI

CHANDMARI

BELTOLA

MALIGAON

LACHIT NAGAR

CHRISTIANBASTI

AMBARI

LALGANESH

Source : Field Survey

123

The study will cover the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital, Guwahati;

which is a Public Sector unit and the Down Town Hospital, Guwahati,

being the first private sector full fledged multispecialty hospital within

the state of Assam as well as the Christian Medical College & Hospital,

Vellore in the state of Tamil Nadu which is the health destination for

most of the patients from the state of Assam. The profile of those are

as under :

3.3 GAUHATI MEDICAL COLLEGE & HOSPITAL,

GUWAHATI

Dr. John Berry White, MRCS, a British Surgeon of the East India

Company, was the pioneer to start Health Education and health care in

Assam. He established a medical school known as 'Berry White Medical

School' at Dibrugarh, Assam in 1898-99. In course of time this medical

school was upgraded and on 3rd Nov., 1947 the Assam Medical College,

Dibrugarh was established and it stands as the first medical college in

Assam.

With increasing demands for health care and health education, the need

for more medical colleges in Assam was keenly felt. The State

Government in 1959 headed by Mr. B.P. Chaliha, the then Chief Minister

of Assam, Mr. Fakaruddin Ali Ahmed, the then Finance Minister, and

124

Mr. Rupram Brahma as the then Medical Minister of Assam decided to

have a second medical college in Assam.

Gauhati Medical College Hospital

On 7th November, 1959 the State Government set up an expert

committee to go into the matter and as per their recommendation the

Assam Government decided to have both the medical colleges

125

simultaneously from August, 1960. So a second technical expert

committee was formed on 6th April, 1960 to go into the details.

After several rounds of discussions, the committee visited the sites at

Ulubari, Jalukbari, Chandmari and other areas of the city of Guwahati

and the committee submitted its report on 26th April, 1960 stating that it

was feasible to start the Gauhati Medical College from August,1960 in

the vacant Ayurvedic College buildings and the Physical Education

Training buildings at Jalukbari, Guwahati. The committee recommended

Ulubari for Gauhati Medical College to be the permanent sites.

So the State Government decided to start the college with preclinical

classes in the vacant buildings of the Ayurvedic College at Jalukbari,

Guwahati with 60 students for Gauhati Medical. By a State Govt. order

no. MM-D/275/60/45 dated 26th June, 1960, Dr. S.N. Sarma, the then

Principal and Supdt. of the Assam Medical College & Hospital,

Dibrugarh was entrusted with the responsibility to make all necessary

arrangements for starting the preclinical classes at Jalukbari from August,

1960 and also for taking necessary steps for establishment of the

proposed medical college at Gauhati in addition to his duties in the

AMC, Dibrugarh.

126

Accordingly the vacant Ayurvedic College buildings at Jalukbari were

taken over and arrangements were started by August, 1960. On the 20th

September, 1960, the functioning of the Gauhati Medical College was

formally inaugurated. The first batch of the 100 students were

interviewed and selected in the AMC, Dibrugarh in the last week of

September, 1960. Preclinical classes were started from 10th October,

1960. Lady students were accommodated in Ayurvedic College hostel

building when available. Subsequently two temporary barracks were also

built in the Physical Education Training building at Jalukbari where

second year students were accommodated while the first year students

had to come as before.

The Gauhati Medical College (GMC) took its start under the stewardship

of Professor I. Jahan from October, 1960 to June, 1961. Professor S.N.

Sarma was transferred from AMC, Dibrugarh and he took over the

charge of the Office of the Principal, Gauhati Medical College on 3rd

June, 1961. Professor S.N. Sarma as the founder Principal of the Gauhati

Medical College took great interest in the construction of the permanent

college and hospital complexes. Paraclinical and clinical departments

were started in the Civil Hospital Campus at Panbazar, Ulubari Maternity

Home, Emigration Hospital (later on Infectious Diseases Hospital) and

T.B. Hospital at Birubari, Guwahati as and when they became available.

127

The members of the teaching staff were brought from Assam Medical

College, Dibrugarh.

The Govt. of Assam decided to construct the permanent buildings of the

Gauhati Medical College & Hospital on the Narakachal hill. The

P.W.D.,Govt. of Assam, took up the survey and started road constructions

in 1962 in the Narakachal hill. The hostels were completed and taken

over and occupied in between August, 1965 and October, 1966. Girls'

hostel could be occupied in June, 1968. The new hospital at its permanent

site at the Narakachal foot hill started functioning since 1984.

128

Map of Assam State with Districts

129

Site Map of GMCH

130

OPD Registration at GMCH

131

OPD cash counter at GMCH

132

Inpatients at GMCH

133

Inpatients at GMCH

134

3.4 DOWN TOWN HOSPITAL, GUWAHATI

135

Map from Guwahati Railway Station (A) to Down Town Hospital (B)

136

Registration & Cash Counter at Down Town Hospital

137

Sitting arrangements at Down Town Hospital

138

Inpatients at Down Town Hospital

The vision for Down Town Hospital came to Dr. Narendra Nath Dutta,

its founder and presently the Chairman cum Managing Director during

his 14 years of service in the Guwahati Medical College. This region

lacked quality healthcare but did not lack quality doctors. What was

missing was quality infrastructure. This was the what prompted the

establishment of Down Town Hospital in 1989, at G.S. Road, Dispur,

Guwahati in order to be the platform for providing the best medical

139

practitioners the best medical infrastructure, and to give the people of the

North-Eastern states the best health care services.

Down Town Hospital is a tertiary care referral centre with all facilities

under one roof. It is the first multispecialty Corporate Hospital

in the Northeastern part of India and is also accredited by the

National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH). Presently, there

are 300 beds in General Wards, Semi-Cabins, Non-A C Cabins, AC

Cabins and AC Deluxe Suits. Medical Care is provided from Nursing

Stations in each floor staffed by trained Nurses and Resident Doctors

round the clock. Patients come here from all the seven NE states,

besides people from outside the region and the neighbouring countries

viz: Bihar, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh etc. The hospital is located in

Dispur and is well connected by roads, railways and air. The Hospital is

a nice amalgamation of experienced professionals, specialists,

Consultants, Resident Medical Officers, Resident Doctors, GNM nursing

staff, Paramedical Staff and a large number of other executives and

paramedical staff, backed up by modern and well equipped laboratory,

radiology services, physiotherapy unit, well equipped recovery, ICU, and

ICCU and dedicated workers in various other non-medical services.

140

3.5 CHRISTIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE & HOSPITAL,

VELLORE

The idea of starting a hospital came to Ida Sophia Scudder in the late

19th century, when Ida visited her medical missionary father, John

Scudder, Jr., at his post in Tamil Nadu. One night, Ida was asked to help

three women struggling in difficult childbirth. Custom prevented their

husbands from accepting the help of a male doctor and, being untrained at

that time, Ida could do nothing. The next morning she was shocked to

learn that the women had died. She believed that it was a calling and a

challenge set before her by God to begin a mission dedicated to the health

needs of the people of India, particularly women and children.

Consequently, Ida went back to America, entered medical training and,

in 1899, was one of the first women graduates of the Weill Medical

College of Cornell University.

Shortly thereafter, she returned to India and opened a one-bed clinic in

Vellore in 1900. In 1902, she built a 40-bed hospital. In 1909, she started

the School of Nursing and, in 1918, a medical school for women was

opened under the name Missionary Medical School for Women. The

medical school was upgraded into a university affiliated medical college

granting the degree of M.B.B.S. in 1942, under the name Christian

141

Medical College. Men were admitted to this college in 1947, ten men in

a class of 35 students.

In addition to the medical and nursing schools that she founded, Dr. Ida

frequented outlying villages and started a roadside dispensary in 1916.

Over the years, these roadside dispensaries were upgraded into rural

health and development.

Christian Medical College & Hospital is now one of the Asia's most

famous Hospital for treatment as well as for medical degrees. It has got

2695 nos. of beds of which 46 are Emergency, 168 are in ICUs, 248 are

in community facilities, 85 are for long-stay rehabilitation of physically

disabled. Each year around 1.9 million outpatients and 120,000 in-

patients are being treated. Daily 125 operations; 45 births; 25,635

laboratory tests are performed at CHCH. Regarding education more than

110 courses including MBBS, Nursing, Allied Health Sciences, many

Postgraduate medical specialities, plus distance learning courses and PhD

programmes are being offered under Dr. M.G.R. Medical University,

Tamil Nadu.

CMC has over 7,600 staff, including over 1,200 doctors and 2,400 nurses.

There are 95 wards including 15 ICUs. About 76% of the beds are in

general wards and are subsidised to reduce the financial burden on

142

patients. There are 39 major operation theatres and a further 18 facilities

for minor procedures. An average of 125 operations are carried out each

day.

CMC has several firsts to its credit : It performed the first successful

open-heart surgery in India (1948), the first reconstructive surgery for

leprosy patients in the world (1948), the country's first middle-ear

microsurgery for deafness (1961), the first kidney transplant in India

(1971), the first gastrointestinal endoscopy (1972), the first carotid

bifurcation stenting in India (1996), the first transeptal carotid stenting in

the world (1996), and the first transjugular mitral valvuloplasty in the

world (1996). Its other achievements include the setting up of the first

neurological sciences department in South Asia (1948) and the first

rehabilitation institute (1966) and the first virology department (1978) in

the country.

143

Map of Tamil Nadu with Districts

144

Map from Katpadi Railway Station to CMCH, & of Vellore City

145

146

OPD Block & Emergency at CMCH

147

Reception / Registration Counter at CMCH

148

CMCH Hospital

149

Inpatient’s nursing care at CMCH

150

3.6 COMMONALITIES OF VARIOUS SERVICES

AMONG THE THREE HOSPITALS :

Table 3.3 : AVAILABILITY OF MEDICAL DEPARTMENTS :

Sl.

No.

Department GMCH

Guwahati

Down Town

Guwahati

CMCH

Vellore

1 Accident & Emergency Yes Yes Yes

2 Cardiology Yes Yes Yes

3 Cardiothoracic Surgery Yes Yes Yes

4 Child Health No No Yes

5 Clinical Haematology Yes No Yes

6 Clinical Immunology &

Rheumatology

No No Yes

7 Dental & Oral Surgery Yes Yes Yes

8 Dermatology, Venereology &

Leprosy

Yes Yes Yes

9 Developmental Paediatrics Yes Yes Yes

10 Dietetics Yes Yes Yes

11 Endocrinology, Diabetes &

Metabolism

Yes Yes Yes

12 ENT Yes Yes Yes

13 Gastrointestinal Sciences Yes Yes Yes

151

Sl.

No.

Department GMCH

Guwahati

Down Town

Guwahati

CMCH

Vellore

14 General Surgery & Head & Neck

Surgery

Yes Yes Yes

15 General Surgery & Vascular Surgery Yes Yes Yes

16 General Surgery & Oesophago

Gastro Duodinal Surgery

Yes Yes Yes

17 General Surgery & Hepato – Bilary

& Pancreatic Surgery

Yes Yes Yes

18 General Surgery & Clorectal Surgery Yes Yes Yes

19 General Surgery & Surgical

Endocrinology

Yes Yes Yes

20 HLRS – Hand & Leprosy

Reconstructive Surgery

No No Yes

21 Medical Oncology Yes Yes Yes

22 Medicine Department Yes Yes Yes

23 Neonatology No No Yes

24 Nephrology Yes Yes Yes

25 Neurological Sciences – Neurology Yes Yes Yes

26 Neurological Sciences -

Neurosurgery

Yes Yes Yes

27 Nuclear Medicine No No Yes

28 Obstetrics & Gynaecology Yes Yes Yes

152

Sl.

No.

Department GMCH

Guwahati

Down Town

Guwahati

CMCH

Vellore

29 Ophthalmology Yes Yes Yes

30 Orthopaedics Yes Yes Yes

31 Palliative Care No No Yes

32 Paediatric Surgery Yes Yes Yes

33 Physical Medicine & Rehablitation Yes No Yes

34 Plastic Surgery Yes Yes Yes

35 Psychiatry Yes Yes Yes

36 Pulmonary Medicine No No Yes

37 Radiation Therapy – Radio Therapy Yes No Yes

38 Radiology Yes Yes Yes

39 Reproductive Medicine Unit Yes Yes Yes

40 Urology Yes Yes Yes

41 Clinical Biochemistry Yes Yes Yes

42 Clinical Microbiology Yes Yes Yes

43 Clinical Virology Yes No Yes

44 General Pathology Yes Yes Yes

45 Transfusion Medicine &

Immunohaematology

Yes No Yes

Source : Field survey

From the above table 3.3, it transpires that the Down Town Hospital,

Guwahati is lacking in many features of multispecialty departments

153

while the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital, Guwahati and the

Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore are equal barring seven

departments.

3.7 AVAILABILITY OF MEDICAL FACILITIES :

The facilities available for patients in the hospitals covered on our study

are as in table 3.4 :

Table 3.4 : Availability of Medical Facilities

Sl.

No.

Item GMCH

Guwahati

Down Town

Guwahati

CMCH

Vellore

1 Total Nos. of beds 1587 300 2695

2 Nos. of ICUs 3 3 15

3 Nos. of major Operation Theatres 17 6 39

4 Nos. of Doctors 358 100 1200

5 Nos. of nurses n/a 150 2400

6 Nos. of other staffs n/a 550 3000

7 Blood Bank 1 1 1

8 Pharmacy 3 3 10

Source : Field survey

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