The 160-bed Bangalore Hospital, a multispecialty medical facility, has drawn up plans to launch telemedicine services to facilitate its rural healthcare programmes. This new area of activity is part of the hospital's expansion programme that includes satellite hospitals in the districts in the next 3-5 years. With this, the Hospital has allocated Rs. 3 crore for improvement in utilities and purchase of state-of-the-art medical equipment. The hospital has already upgraded its facilities in 2000-2001 at a cost of Rs. 4 crore.

This unit of the Sushrutha Medical Aid & Research Hospital will also start DNB courses in paediatrics and obstetrics and gynaecology within six months. As a requirement, the hospital has gone through a rigid inspection drive conducted by the National Board of Examinations, which is a part of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which approved its infrastructure and panel of specialists. Bangalore Hospital has also been conducting its postgraduate programme in medicine and surgery and has enrolled seven students for this programme, with three each in medicine and surgery and one in anesthesia.

This is one of the first corporate hospitals in Bangalore established in the early '90s before Manipal Hospital, Mallya Hospital and Wockhardt Hospital & Heart Institute. The hospital came up on its own land and owed its existence to banks unlike other corporate hospitals in the city that were backed by industrial houses.

"What sets the hospital apart from the other corporate hospitals is that we were the first to be financed by commercial banks and financial institutions,'' Dr. M.N. Subramanya, chairman, Bangalore Hospital, told Pharmabiz.com.

After becoming the first hospital to receive an industrial loan from commercial banks in 1986, financial institutions like IDBI, IFCI and ICICI chipped in with aid in 1987. The total investment for setting up the hospital was around Rs. 11.5 crore. Major term lending began when hospitals were recognised as an industry by a consortium of lenders- IDBI, IFCI and ICICI, which lent Bangalore hospital Rs. 10 crore and the remaining Rs. 1.5 crore was raised through shares.

"Hospitals are not considered as a profit making enterprise. It was difficult to get financial aid in the pre-liberalised era, but the hospital has been declaring dividends four years in succession,'' informed M V Shivaramamurthy, company secretary, Bangalore Hospital.

``This is among the first corporate hospitals in Karnataka to be set up by a team of experienced doctors who wished to practise at a facility that offered all specialities under one roof," Dr. Subramanya said.

``The objective behind setting up the hospital was to provide an opportunity for private practitioners in the early 80s, who had no facility to tackle complex problems in patients as most of the nursing homes lacked the infrastructure and equipment. Government hospitals and missionary medical care centres were difficult to access during emergencies,'' said Dr. C. Munichoodappa, medical superintend and joint managing director, Bangalore Hospital.

The hospital today is fully equipped with multispecialty services like general medicine, diabetes, kidney transplant, cardiac bypass surgery, cancer care, plastic surgery, paediatric surgery, orthopaedics and neuro-surgery, said Dr. Munichoodappa, adding that it has made efforts to provide these facilities at an affordable cost. The hospital also has a round-the-clock emergency and is a part of the Comprehensive Trauma Care medical facilities in the State.

In spite of the advent of multispecialty medical care providers like Manipal, Mallya, Wockhardt, Apollo Sagar and Mahaveer Jain Hospital, Bangalore Hospital has successfully established and retained its clientele. ``Our panel of consultants and the infrastructure have helped us earn the trust of our clientele and have led to improved growth and service," said Dr. Subramanya.

The hospital does not waive the treatment cost completely because the latest medical technology is a result of massive investments in advanced research by global medical equipment manufacturers resulting in enhanced equipment cost. "We have made massive investments in such sophisticated equipment and yet have managed keep the end cost to the patient at check. We believe in fixing a certain price to a service as only then will the patient value it,'' added Dr. Subramanya.

The hospital's plastic surgery department is known for its efforts in cleft lip surgery. It is associated with Smile Foundation USA and conducted 380 surgeries free of cost.

"Our plan for the future is to approach industrial establishments and create an awareness on the surgeries offered to save limbs," informed Dr. K.S. Shekar, managing director and head of plastic surgery department, Bangalore Hospital.

Currently, the hospital has adopted a village in Channapatna near Bangalore in association with Rotary Club and has a charitable hospital for the poor where cost of treatment is subsidised.

The hospital hopes to start a nursing school, update its equipment and continue its education programmes and rural health agenda.