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50 years of quality medicare to common man
| “VHS evolved as a model to provide quality care that was dependent not on the purse but on illness” |
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru lays the cornerstone for the Voluntary Health Services Hospital in October 1961.
CHENNAI: Many years before Taramani became synonymous with the IT corridor, it saw the birth of a revolution in health care in the country. Fifty years ago, on July 14, 1958, the Voluntary Health Service (VHS) came into being as a registered society.
The corner building on the edge of what is now known as the IT Highway, has been, for the last 50 years or so, the home of the VHS Hospital, established by K.S. Sanjivi, a renowned physician, teacher and visionary. The institution will observe the occasion in a modest manner on December 31, in a function in which its current president M.S. Swaminathan will preside.
An institution that was started with the aim of serving the common man, the VHS has glued on to its mission, continuing to serve the common man with quality medical care. Sanjivi was a firm believer in the idea that the government alone cannot be assigned the task of health care and that voluntary organisations are best suited to bring medical aid to the people.
His vision crystallised in October 1961 when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru laid the cornerstone for the first block of buildings. The centre was fully equipped and staffed by July 1963 when the first patient was admitted in what was then a 25-bed hospital.
Bridging the gapThe VHS sought to bridge the wide gap that existed between health care in the government sector, accessed by the poor, and expensive treatment in the corporate hospitals, affordable only to a few. “The middle class had nowhere to go. VHS evolved as a model to provide quality care that was dependent not on the purse of the individual, but his or her illness,” says N.S. Murali, secretary, who has been with the institution since its inception.
Patients from different strata of society get medical care at the ICU.
“It is a truly non-profit institution. Over 50 per cent of the patients are treated free, with only a nominal fee collected to make them feel as participants in the care. Concessional rates are charged for even those who can pay,” Dr. Murali says.
DonationsVHS runs solely on donations received from corporate houses and individuals, endowments, and in association with organisations such as the Rotary and the Sashishnatha Trust.
The Central government has supported the hospital to procure instruments. Until last year, the State government provided Rs.22 lakh per annum to support treatment of 160 patients free of cost. This year, the amount has been raised to Rs.50 lakh for about 180 patients.
Sandeep Murali, consultant laparoscopic surgeon, VHS, says even those who fall under the category “high income group” pay much less than what they would in a private hospital. For years, juvenile diabetics have been receiving insulin free of cost. Even if it means the administrators run a deficit budget every year, the hospital nurses its core ideology of increasing access and affordability of health care.
Dr. N.S. Murali, VHS secretary.
Through the tireless efforts of K.S. Sanjivi and his dedicated band of students, inheritors of his ideology and doctors with commitment, the VHS has now grown into a 440-bed hospital with several specialities. The senior consultants work without compensation and the pay for the juniors, as Dr. Murali says, “is certainly not commensurate.”
While the general shortage of medical professionals affects VHS too, as an institution for training students in higher medical education (as part of the National Board of Examination), nursing and dentistry, it can call on the acumen of a large number of post graduates and nursing trainees.
Community health programmeAn important component of the care provided by VHS, a part of the vision of its founder, is its community health programme, service covering the southern suburbs through 14 mini health centres, Joseph Williams, community health specialist, says. Free check-ups are also offered to schools and children of nearby orphanages.
Fifty years on, the institution continues to grow. Works are on to set up a cardiac outpatient unit, a pay ward and a food court that would service the entire corridor. Much more needs to be done, S. Janaki, medical superintendent, says. For instance, a key concern is to replace major equipment, most of which have been in use for nearly 40 years and building staff quarters. However, as “every brick is donated,” VHS continues to depend on the magnanimity of individuals to realise the dream of the founder — “health care unto the last.”
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