Rajah Muthiah Medical College of Annamalai University, as part of its Silver Jubilee celebrations now on, has extended its intensive care unit to provide timely health care to more number of patients and built an auditorium to conduct seminars and symposiums to update the knowledge of the faculty, according to M. Ramanathan, Vice-Chancellor of Annamalai University.
Addressing a press conference here Dr. Ramanathan, who had earlier served as the Medical Superintendent and Principal of the college, as well as Dean, Faculty of Medicine, said that the University Grants Commission had sanctioned a grant of Rs.60 lakh to the medical college for conducting camps for cancer detection and screening patients for cardiac problems.
Dr. Ramanathan said started 25 years ago on August 1985 the medical college had a hospital attached to it right from the beginning to render quality and specialty health care services to the people of the backward region. The 1,500-beded hospital was equipped with modern equipment such as CT scan, MRI, mammography, colour Doppler with ultrasonogram, C-arm, laparoscopes and endoscopes.
Every day it treats 3,000 outpatients and 1,110 in-patients, and annually it performed 14,485 scheduled surgeries and 5,885 emergency surgeries.
It was also running a “Hospital on wheels,” an air-conditioned ambulance service with doctors, paramedical staff and sophisticated equipment such as ventilators, defibrillator and cardiac monitors, and life-saving drugs.
The hospital's community medicine division had adopted three Primary Health Centres and a rural health centre. Dr. Ramanathan further said that its plastic surgery division had specialised in treatment of lymphoedema and filariasis.
The hospital had a blood bank and a Raja Muthiah Blood Donors Club to create awareness among the students and the people about the significance of blood donation. It was also issuing identity cards and certificate of appreciation to the blood donors, he added.
N. Chidambaram, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, said that yoga therapy would also be introduced in the hospital. The year-long Silver Jubilee celebrations would culminate on Wednesday.
S. Viswanathan, Medical Superintendent, said that in recognition of the academic achievements the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow, had awarded FRCS to Dr. Ramanathan and himself, and, FRCP to Dr. Chidambaram.
