Rotary Club of Coimbatore honoured Ganga Hospital with the ‘Pride of Coimbatore’ award at a function held here on Friday. The Club president G. Karthikeyan and lyricist Vairamuthu presented the award to its founders J.G. Shanmuganathan and Kanakavalli Shanmuganathan in the presence of the doctors S. Raja Sabapathy and S. Rajasekaran, the Club office bearers Secretary S. Swaminathan, Director-Vocational Service Harjit Singh Wahan and Project Chairman K. Ravi.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vairamuthu said that the Central Government should initiate steps to increase the number of doctors as there was only a doctor for every 2,000 persons in the country. This was against the ‘a doctor for every 1,000 persons’ norm.
He also urged the Government to either take steps to encourage manufacturing of high-technology medical equipment in the country or remove the customs duty on such equipment as patients here needed high quality and also affordable medical care.
In the absence of such Government support, patients might have to go through several tests, some of which are not needed, to use the imported medical equipment.
Appreciating the high ethical standards followed by the Ganga Hospital, the poet urged all hospitals to follow suit. Dr. Rajasekaran traced the growth of the hospital from a 17-bed facility in 1978 to the current status, were it had over 450 beds.
