Shirdi: A 300-Bed State-of the-Art Super Speciality Hospital Inaugurated

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Article published in Mumbai Newsline - Mumbai, India

May 5, 2006

URL: http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=181047

 

 

Ready: A 300-bed super-speciality hospital in Shirdi Idea is to make quality medical care reach the poor, says P L Tiwari, consultant cardiologist and trustee Mumbai, May 4: THE temple town of Shirdi is moving towards becoming the region’s hub for quality medical treatment and surgeries at discount rates with the opening of a new 300-bed super-speciality hospital on Sunday.

The Shri Sai Superspeciality Hospital set up by the Sai Baba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi, will offer a range of specialised medical services—like cancer surgery, plastic surgery, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, nephrology and ophthalmology—either free or at discount rates to lower-income groups.

‘‘The objective is to offer quality medical services at affordable rates to the poor,’’ says P L Tiwari, consultant cardiologist and physician at Bombay Hospital, who is also a trustee of the sansthan. ‘‘We’ve renovated an old general hospital in just one-and-a-half years and made it state-of-the-art.’’

A panel of honorary doctors from across India will come to Shirdi at least twice a month to provide consultancy or conduct surgeries.

On Sunday, a team of top doctors from Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai, led by the institute’s director Ramakant Panda, will conduct the hospital’s first bypass surgery at a sophisticated cardiac theatre. The hospital has already started accepting patient registrations for bypass surgery.

‘‘This hospital is one of its kind in Maharashtra for its charitable services,’’ says Tiwari. ‘‘Twenty per cent of the total operations will be free and 15 per cent subsidised heavily.’’

Patients with an income below Rs 50,000 a year can avail free treatment and those with income above Rs 1.5 lakh will pay at subsidised rates. For example, a bypass surgery can cost up to Rs 1.5 lakh in a general ward in a city hospital but it will be offered at discount rates in this Shirdi hospital. At Rs 1.5 lakh, a bypass patient can check into a deluxe room for the price that a patient would pay in a general ward in Mumbai, he said.

The staff of 720 includes about 100 consulting doctors, 200 nurses and 100 junior doctors.

‘‘We’re expecting patients from across India,’’ says Tiwari. ‘‘Neurosurgery will begin within six months. We’ve already done about 500 CT Scans at discount rates between Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 on imported machines that provide a detailed scan in a few minutes.’’ A CT Scan usually costs between Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000.

The trust will soon start construction on a new 450-bed hospital building.

 

Article published in The Indian Express - India ( India News)

May 8, 2006

URL: http://in.news./060507/48/642pe.html

 

 

Shirdi's state-of the-art hospital inaugurated

DILIP Pagare feels truly blessed. Hardly a few metres from Shirdi's Sai Baba temple, he sits in the waiting room of a super speciality hospital, waiting for his father's bypass surgery to be completed.

The carpenter from Malegaon, around 80 kms from Shirdi, was always a devotee but he believes that it is nothing short of Baba's miracle that his father is in the care of some of the best doctors in the country.

"There was no such facility anywhere near where we live," says Pagare. "We would have to go to Nashik or Ahmadnagar and sometimes even Pune or Mumbai. Now, just a two-hour road journey away, we have an incredible option."

And it is not just the Pagares who can't believe their luck. Matron Manda Thorat says that this is the kind of institution she has always wanted to be a part of.

"I have seen patients die because they just didn't have enough money for a heart surgery or even smaller procedures," the veteran matron recalls. "Now suddenly they all have a chance. Everyone will now have an affordable choice."

The hospital is already being flooded with calls from across the region. Doctors from Nashik, Ahmadnagar, Dhule and even tribal Nandurbar are queuing up to refer their patients to the super speciality hospital.

Watching the renovated premises of the Shree Saibaba Superspeciality Hospital resonate with hymns and prayers during the inauguration on Sunday morning, Pagare adds that in no other place would his father be operated upon in such a serene atmosphere.

"It is a fact, not just the poor but anyone would want to get treatment here," says Dr Nagendra B Shah, a consultant eye specialist with Bombay Hospital. "Imagine this. A patient undergoes an eye surgery and when his bandages are removed, the first thing they will see is Saibaba."

The 300-bed super-specialty hospital, promising quality medical treatment and surgeries at discounted rates has got Shirdi talking. "We really needed this facility," says Jayant Sasane, chairman of the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust. "It was Saibaba's will and we are going to help Dr P L Tiwari fulfil his dream. Our vision is to eventually have a medical college and an even bigger hospital."

To be run on a no-profit-no-loss basis, the hospital is equipped with state of the art equipment, and a panel of honorary doctors from across the country will come to Shirdi at least twice a month.

"It is a unique opportunity for doctors like me to be in a facility which is at par with Mumbai and Delhi hospitals and reaches out to even those who can't afford expensive medical care," says cardio-thoracic surgeon Dr Ramakant Panda of the Asian Heart Institute. Officially inaugurating the hospital with a bypass surgery on Sunday morning, Panda promised to be back.

In turn, Tiwari, who is also a trustee of the temple, has promised a free darshan to doctors volunteering their time at his "dream hospital", modelled on the vision that made his alma mater The Benaras Hindu University so special.

Features of the hospital

* It's a super-speciality hospital with 300 beds in a building area of 83,000 sq ft

* Twenty per cent of patients with annual income lower than Rs 50,000, will be given free treatment and another 15 per cent will be treated at subsidised rates

* The hospital has a state-of-the-art Cardiac-cath laboratory to diagnose coronory artery diseases and for angiography. It also has a Dialysis Centre with two units

* The hospital's five operation theatres are fitted with advanced equipment. There will also be three theatres are for orthopaedic and opthalmic surgeries

* The Intensive Care Unit includes two wards with 20 beds. Two general wards will accomodate 50 patients who will be treated free of cost.

 

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