Healthcare service providers have always been at the forefront of any crises, be it natural or manmade. It is of no surprise that during peak periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals and hospitals across India strived day in and day out and made immense sacrifices to provide the best of care to all those affected and impacted.
On the same note, through our edition titled India’s Best of 5 Recommended Hospitals, we wish to exhibit those hospitals and healthcare service providers that have been actively contributing towards India’s recovery from the pandemic. And one prominent name among those hospitals is Bangalore Baptist Hospital (BBH).
BBH started as an 80-bed general hospital on January 15, 1973 and has today grown into a 340-bed tertiary care hospital providing state-of-the-art health care facilities to all strata of society. BBH is a non-profit organization registered under Karnataka Societies Act and is being governed by Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore since 1989. It is the first mission hospital to be National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) and National Accreditation Board for Laboratories (NABL) accredited.
“Medical practice is a service to mankind. It is both a skill and an art.”
BBH is on a mission to provide high quality holistic care, train and develop committed professionals through quality academic and research programmes, to serve the community. The hospital is also a recipient of many awards and accolades.
Through an educational motive, post graduate residency programmes (Diplomate of National Board) in 13 Specialties and multiple B.Sc., and Diploma programmes (in Nursing and in Allied Health Sciences under Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science) are conducted at BBH.
BBH’s super specialty services include Renal transplant services, Bone Marrow transplant services, Arthroscopy and Arthroplasty – Knee, Hip and Joint Replacement, Bone Densitometry, Bariatric Surgery, Cochlear Implants, Cardiac Science – Interventional, Cardiology with Cath Lab and Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dental Surgery with Dental Implants, Orthodontics and Pedodontics, Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery, Endocrinology and Diabetes, Gastroenterology – Medical and Surgical, Geriatrics, Interventional Radiology, Infertility Clinic and Reproductive Medicine Unit, Nephrology and Dialysis, Neurosciences – Neurology and Neuro Surgery, Oncology – Radiation, Medical and Surgical, Haematology, Sports Medicine, Oral and Maxillo Facial Surgery, Paediatric Endocrinology, Paediatric Genetics, Paediatric Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Pulmonology, Rheumatology, Urology, and Vascular Surgery.
The hospital also offers one-stop-full-body health check-ups where in every patient is able to do a series of lab tests and investigations based on their age and requirement and complete with doctor consultation.
Best of the equipments are available in the hospital. A state of the art Linear Accelerator for radiotherapy treatment in cancer, a 128 slice high-end CT scan machine, MRI, PCR Lab and a digital mammography machine with facility for stereotactic biopsies, critical care, anaesthesiology, operation theatres, state of the art bone marrow transplant unit etc have seen much investment and importance. Not only what is seen, but what is at the ‘back end’ – that is unseen is also given much importance at BBH.
In addition to high tech care, a large community health initiative covers a population of one million in the urban slums and another million in Bangalore rural district. BBH is also a model Palliative Care Centre. It is also the implementing agency for District Disability Rehabilitation Centre of Bangalore rural district.
“Quality with Compassion is the BBH motto. There is a mis-understanding in some quarters that compassionate care can be of a lesser quality. It could not have been further from the truth. True compassionate care is also of the best quality possible. A conjunction of the two has been a success story of BBH,” says Dr Naveen Thomas, the Director and CEO of BBH.
Dr Thomas has been in a leadership position at BBH since 2014 and has successfully led the hospital to zenith of success since then. He joined the hospital initially as a Junior Medical Officer in 1988 and later did his specialty in General Surgery, super specialty in Paediatric Surgery and an MPhil in Hospital and Health Systems Management.
“We invest in people. ‘Personnel’ have always been our greatest asset. Our commitment to teaching has resulted in further improvement in quality care,” says Dr Thomas.
Commenting on the challenges that BBH had to face during the peak periods of COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Thomas says, “BBH has faced with the challenging task of providing care/treatment to the COVID patients. Additional infrastructure was made. Patient beds were purchased. Partnership and support of many well-wishers helped us to sail through this. COVID did not stop our services in the hospital and in the villages. Apart from acute care for COVID patients in the hospital, our community outreach team continued reaching out to disadvantaged communities as well.”
Bringing his leadership experience into the spotlight, we asked Dr Thomas on what advice would he give to aspiring doctors and healthcare enthusiasts who are stepping into the healthcare sector, to which he replied, “Medical practice is a service to mankind. It is both a skill and an art. You must train yourself to become the best in your area of expertise. You must selflessly give yourself into this. Your reward is the satisfaction that your patients experience when healing occurs in their body and mind.”
BBH’s blueprint for a successful and ceaseless future includes achieving more milestones, addition of more healthcare facilities, and other provisions as follows:
- Be a beacon of healthcare innovation and quality.
- Continue to impact many more lives, communities, villages, and slums.
- Continue to grow to a 500 bed credible tertiary care centre of ‘Quality with Compassion’.
- To influence and partner in policy development and the quality journey of fellow travellers and health care organisations.
- A new mother and child block, addition of brachytherapy centre, liver transplant services, Assistive Technology services and oxygen generator are all taking shape.
- Another one of our aims is to grow as an educational institution – imparting quality medical education at all levels.
