When the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hit India, many hospitals found themselves struggling to provide basic amenities to their patients, due to the sudden surge in admissions. Some were running out of beds while some others were lacking oxygen cylinders, which is crucial for serious cases of Covid-19. However, there was one hospital in the temple town of Madurai that realized what was to come, and prepared for the worst by planning in the best manner.
Under its chairman Dr. Gurushankar’s relentless efforts, the Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre in Madurai (MMHRC) ensured ample medical support for Covid patients.
While Covid stretched India’s healthcare infrastructure to its limits and put a lot of hospital staff at risk, some creative and strategic planning on the part of the leadership led to MMHRC increasing the capacity of its ICU beds, creating separate Covid wards, ICU wards and negative-pressure ICUs. They even acquired iQAir, a Swiss-made air purifier that instantly creates a negative air space around it. To be more or less self-sufficient when it comes to medical supplies, MMHRC even set up an N95 mask manufacturing unit at the hospital.
The hospital also ensured that there was enough oxygen for all the Covid patients by installing 4 oxygen generators in the premises and importing over 380 oxygen concentrators from New Zealand.
MMHRC also followed a 6-stage Ultra Safety Program, ensuring total safety for patients and staff during the pandemic. To minimize human-to-human contact, they even used robots to sterilize the hospital and carry meals to patients.
Besides their fight against Covid, MMHRC has also notched several firsts in the region - South-East Asia's first Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) machine integrated to a Cathlab, the first Robotic Surgical facility, the first most comprehensive cancer care unit for patients of all age groups, from pediatrics to geriatrics, the first hospital with a bone marrow transplant centre, the largest Cardiology centre in Tamil Nadu, the first to establish an Emergency Medicine Department, providing the Golden Hour treatment.
And if all of that wasn’t enough, as a first in India, MMHRC has also deployed 16 Teladoc Health Robots for clinical examinations, diagnosis and monitoring of health parameters of both out-patients and in-patients. Using these robots, patients can get expert opinion from a specialist anywhere in the world. MMHRC also runs the oldest and biggest Telemedicine program in Tamil Nadu, which provides comprehensive quality healthcare services in rural areas.
MMHRC is known in the region for having brought affordable and quality health care to the people. Always embracing change and innovation, conforming to international standards, the hospital stands toe-to-toe with the best in the world, thanks to it equipping state-of-the-art technology, guided by experienced and dedicated doctors.
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