KEM Hospital gets private touch

The 80-year-old KEM Hospital is getting a Rs700-crore makeover. The huge grant will enable the hospital to buy new technologies, set up advanced research labs and restore the heritage building. Deepa Suryanarayan tells us what to expect after the revamp of one of the city’s biggest hospitals.

In the long-standing battle between private and public health providers, the latter has always been seen as the last resort of the cash-strapped common man. But not for long. With education and health being the two most important sectors for the government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) this year, major changes are in the offing. The best of services will be available to the common man at affordable prices, say authorities.

Concentrating on the public health sector, the BMC has made huge budgetary allocations to improve and modernise existing infrastructure — including manpower — to tackle the demand in all 16 peripheral hospitals and three tertiary care centres. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this budgetary allocation is KEM Hospital and GS Seth Medical College, which has received a grant of Rs700 crore. The makeover project for one of India’s biggest tertiary care centres, renowned for its orthopaedic expertise, will span five years.

Patients going to KEM will find several changes every time they visit the hospital over the next few months. “The expansion and modernisation plan is intended to meet our existing needs and also to cater to needs 20 years down the line,” says Dr Nilima Kshirsagar, dean, KEM Hospital.

“There is a huge gap in what the hospital provides and what is needed. As the years pass, this gap is going to increase drastically. Cardiac problems, diabetes, psychiatric ailments and infectious diseases are all set to rise,” predicts Kshirsagar. This is why KEM has focused on increasing staff strength specifically catering to these ailments, she adds.

The institution, which started off with just 125 beds and 274 in-patients in 1926, now boasts of 1,800 beds and over 80,000 in-patients and 1.5 million out-patients. In the past five years, eight new OPDs (Out-Patient Department) have been added to the already-existing 15. Another 17 will come up in the next five years. But the demand for health services is still increasing.

“The current bed strength (1,800) will be enhanced to 2,400 beds. We are nearly doubling the capacity of 160 beds to 300 in the ICU. This will also help in doubling the space available in the emergency cases, as the number of patients coming into casualty in high,” says Kshirsagar.

Renovation of OPD and registration counter

The first of the major plans for KEM’s upgradation project was a Rs5.98 crore project which included the total renovation and modernisation of the OPDs and registration counter. The spanking new building was inaugurated on April 27. It took one-and -half years to complete the 25,000 sqft two-storeyed building. It will now help over 5,000 patients daily. The new building has been specially designed to minimise patient inconvenience.

It also has a central registration counter, which will have 30 multi-purpose counters, including the enquiry and information counter. The OPD building will have a 3,300sqft Endocrinology OPD, offering the services of diabetes specialists, dieticians and other experts and an attached blood collection centre which will enable patients to give blood tests on the spot. The OPD building also houses separate departments dealing with dermatology, neurology, gynaecology and psychiatry.

Restoration and renovation of the heritage building

The renovation of any building within the sprawling KEM campus is a major hurdle, considering the fact that it is a heritage structure. The hospital completed 80 years on January 21 this year. “Though it is a heritage structure, the hospital building over the years, had grown haphazardly to accommodate increasing demands from patients.
Therefore there is an urgent need to restore the structure, remove the damage that time has wrecked, as well as to renovate it,” explains Dr Kshirsagar. A budget of Rs5 crore has been allocated for this purpose.

There will be many new structures that will come up in the surrounding neighbourhood. However, the new constructions - multi-storied towers - will be designed while keeping in mind the design of the heritage building. “For instance, we have interconnected long corridors, which will replicate the beauty of the original structure,” she adds.

Advanced equipment and research

One of the hospital’s biggest and most ambitious plans is the development of the concept of Telemedicine. “With the help of telemedicine, funded by GTZ, Germany
and ISRO, we will be able to reach villages across the state as well as peripheral hospitals in the suburbs. We will be able to give them the benefit of KEM’s expertise so the patient will not have to come all the way to the hospital,” explains Dr Kshirsagar.

In the coming year, advanced technology and equipment such as a neuro-navigation system, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan machines, computerised orthopedic systems and digital radiography systems are proposed to be acquired. Research facilities in Genetic Transfusion Medicine and Stem Cell research are also in the offing.

The idea is find newer ways to treat diseases, taking into consideration modern development, she adds. 

New hostel building and quarters for nursing staff

Even though KEM is spread over 1,20,000sqft, space on campus is tight.

However, with new multi-storied buildings coming up on campus, this problem is expected to be solved.

The facilities in the students’ hostel, which houses around 700 resident doctors and students from the GS Seth Medical College, leave a lot to be desired. But a new 18-storey building, which will come up soon, will accommodate over 500 students. The building will also have a fully-equipped gymnasium.

The tender document for the Rs20 crore project has been prepared.

Apart from this, a Rs81 crore project to provide residential quarters for the nursing staff will also come up in 2008. A new hospital building and new floors, which will be added to the already existing single multi-storeyed building within the campus, are also being considered.

Restoration of hospital’s museum

Unknown to the lakhs of visitors and patients who visit KEM Hospital every day, nestled in a secluded corner within the KEM Hospital campus, is a three-storied museum which houses rare and valuable items of interest.

The first ECG machine to be used in Mumbai, the first dialysis machine in the city, the needle used by renowned surgeon Dr Dwarkanath Kotis, pathology and anatomy specimens of common and rare diseases dating back by about 50 -70 years, old photographs and articles about KEM Hospital’s history, are among the things on display at the museum.

Currently, the museum is accessed by medical students, but once the Rs24.50 crore restoration work is done, it will be open to citizens.

The galleries will house separate sections like anatomy, pharmacology, preventive and social medicine.