Near the entrance of the old building of Government Rajaji Hospital, used only by the administrative personnel, lies a plaque that reads: The Erskine Hospital Madura ... opened on 18 November 1940 ,’ indicating that this towering public health institution turned 75 last week.
The hospital, inaugurated as The Erskine Hospital during the British Raj by the then Governor of Madras, Sir Arthur Hope, and renamed in 1980 as Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in 1980, has saved the lives of lakhs of people over the years. The sheer volume of patients, mostly poor people from Madurai and other southern districts who come to this hospital having more than 30 departments and 2,518 beds, is unimaginable for any other hospital, government or private, in the State.
“Everyone thinks that Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai treats the maximum number of patients in the State. Even the Health Secretary was surprised to learn that the GRH is treating more patients than the Chennai hospital,” said Dean Revwathy Kailairajan. Last year alone, the GRH treated close to 25 lakh outpatients, an average of around 6,800 a day, more than 8.5 lakh inpatients, performed 13,256 deliveries and 63,917 major and minor surgeries. “While doctors in speciality departments are not available round-the-clock even in private hospitals, GRH can take pride as the only hospital in the State to have doctors available 24x7 in all speciality departments,” said Dr. Revwathy who studied in Madurai Medical College.
Medical Superintendent G. Veerasekar said that as all departments — from neuro surgery and vascular surgery to surgical oncology — were available, patients were referred not only from hospitals in the south but even from Tiruchi and surrounding places.
For those who could not afford treatment at private hospitals, the service offered by the GRH cannot be overstated. “My daughter gave birth to a boy through normal delivery at the hospital on Saturday. There is a belief that if we come to Periyaspathiri (big hospital), as GRH is referred to by the locals, it will be a normal delivery. We just cannot afford a private hospital with our meagre income,” said G. Chandra from Mahaboobpalayam, wife of a worker earning daily wages.
“Even if I borrow money and go to a private hospital, I am not sure whether the treatment there is reliable. But I can trust GRH,” said R. Jai Kumar, a hotel employee who had come for the treatment of his wife.
However, some of the patients do complain about poor sanitation. While acknowledging that a facility that treats thousands of patients every day with limited resources is bound to have some issues, the hospital authorities said that the sanitation front had drastically improved over the years.
Future plans Dr. Revwathy said that the GRH is often attributed with comparatively high number of maternal deaths. “It is because cases are referred here at the last moment from rural areas. But the number of lives the hospital saved goes unnoticed,” she said.
The situation will further improve once the upcoming Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Centre of Excellence started functioning. A Super Specialty block is coming up on Madurai Medical College grounds, besides Regional Cancer Centre on the premises of Government Hospital, Balarengapuram.
