Tambaram Sanitorium, located six kilometres from Tambaram, derives its name from the Tambaram TB Sanatorium, also known as the Government Hospital of Thoracic Medicine.
The origins of the TB Sanatorium can be traced to 1928, when Muthu, a doctor specialising in the treatment of tuberculosis, established a hospital exclusively for TB patients. In 1937, when Muthu relocated to England, where he had studied medicine earlier, he sold the hospital to the Government of Madras, which developed it into a sanatorium. Tambaram Sanatorium became synonymous with treatment of what was then a dreaded disease and the locality came to be known as Tambaram Sanatorium. With the shifting of the Government Tuberculosis Hospital from Royapuram to its premises in 1950, the Tambaram TB Sanatorium grew in significance. According to The Hindu Archives , the Government Tuberculosis Hospital in Royapettah was shifted to Tambaram Sanatorium in September, 1950. Patients were removed in batches.
