“What is the point in doing unnecessary research when millions of our children are dying of preventable diseases? We must first offer them the basic minimum,” these were the words of Dr K. C. Chaudhuri (1901-1973), a pillar of Indian Paediatrics.
After attending and caring for thousands of children with all the kindness, tenderness, and eagerness by establishing India’s first Paediatric Institute of Child Health, Dr Chaudhuri wanted to do more for the country’s children before his death. And he did it, till his last dying breath.
His devotion and sincerity are still carried out by the institute today, after thirty-eight years of his passing, in providing positive and complete child healthcare to all, and especially to the underprivileged children.
In our pursuit of ‘India’s Best Child Care Clinics,’ we met Dr Apurba Ghosh, Director of this first paediatric institute of India.We were humbled by his compassion, his dedication, and his unselfish love to care for children of all ages.
In an interview with Insights Success, he told us more about the story and future goals of this noble, philanthropic child healthcare providing hospital, of one of its kind.
Below are the highlights of that interview.
Please describe for our audience about ICH in detail.
In the present day, the Institute of Child Health (ICH) is an autonomous, non-profit making institute, managed by a trust.And an MCI recognized 200-bed paediatric teaching hospital, for the postgraduate students in paediatric medicine.It is affiliated with the West Bengal University of Health Sciences.
ICH has three clear focus areas:
Care of under-privileged children in health and disease. Education of the people and the professionals in child health, research, and advancement of knowledge in child health.
Our responsibilities are immense and indeed challenging when working for no profit on a social cause. Our charges are nominal, yet our institute is self-sustainable in its operation.
This would have not been possible without the help of doctors, who have rendered theirselfless services,absolutely free of cost.
What made you venture into the Paediatric Care Space?
Institute of Child Health, Kolkata, was the dream project of the late Dr K C Chaudhuri, the doyen of paediatrics in India when paediatrics was not considered a separate speciality. His effort got due recognition, when the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated this Institute in 1956.
Subsequently, several other stalwarts like Dr Sisir Kumar Bose, Dr S P Ghoshal, Dr U C Chakraborty (father of Paediatric Surgery in India) and many others, dedicated their careers to this hospital without any reciprocation –to serve the less privileged sections of the society at minimal cost and provide them with quality medical care.
What kind of services do you provide to your patients?
In sixty-five years, the institute has evolved into a prime paediatric hospital with a referral from within and outside of the state. The hospital provides service to the lower-middle-class group with minimal cost or even free of cost.
With the dynamic change in the socioeconomic status of our country, the awareness of disease management has increased the need for state-of-the-art therapy, for the underprivileged population.To look for a better outcome for both morbidity and mortality.
The dedicated team of professionals in all specialities and super-specialities, who had been serving the institute, felt the need for this upgraded facility.And with efforts of all of them, we could motivate generous donors in all sectors from the corporate, individuals, NGOs etc., to support this cause.
This has helped the hospital to expand over the years and has been equipped with various super-speciality services like surgery, neurology, nephrology, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, rheumatology, haemato-oncology, endocrinology, skin, neurodevelopment, and others. At present, about 80 paediatricians and specialists are attached to this hospital.
What kind of challenges do you face while providing Paediatric Care?
The tradition of providing voluntary services is still in vogue, which has been initiated sixty-five years back. But the targeted expansion has been crippled by the infrastructure, which is out of date.
There is a need to have a modern hospital, with a vision towards the future. A well laid down planned superstructure, with a multidisciplinary approach, in a patient-friendly manner, is the need of the hour. A dedicated nursing college is also needed to train and equip nurses, in this evolving field of medicine, with a special focus on childcare.
Over the years, the 50 bedded hospital had to be expanded to 200 bedded.To fulfil the need for the growing patients’ admission and treatment and MCI requirements of a post-graduate teaching hospital.
The main building was constructed six years before and now with the encroachment of newer buildings around it, have helped us to accommodate the various facilities.But the scattered location of the related department, at times, does create a lack in the smoothdelivery of the management.
The need for expansion of the various speciality departments – PICU, Haemato-oncology,Nephrology along with diagnostics facility, would require a new space.
What would you like to advise the young generation of PaediatricCaregivers?
The institute over six decades has followed the pathway of dedication amongst all medical professionals, who have supported the cause wholeheartedly and treated all the poor patients with the fullest care.
The donors over the years have also offered repeat donations after seeing our track record.
We would request everyone to please help us in the expansion, not only by the equipment provision but also helping us to build the new construction.Without it, it would be difficult to carry this noble effort for another sixty years.
Where do you envision ICH to be in the long run and what are your future goals? How do you plan to embrace the changes happening in Paediatric Care?
The Institute of Child Health has the following plan for the future:
An exclusive Hospital Building (300 beds), with all modern indoor facilities and increased capacity, spreading over all sub-specialities, to serve more ailing children, costing about Rs.80.00 crores.
With research and development in medical science, opportunities are now vast, accessibility is easier, and functionality has been simplified. The development of medical science has brought in new life-saving technologies and methodologies, enabling healthcare more methodical, systematic, and prompt. We intend to open this door of vast opportunity, to the benefit of the poor and ailing children of our society.
The new building would accommodate all the different departments in a much-oriented manner.It would facilitate and optimize the delivery of healthcare management.
The main building would have the outdoor facility of all the speciality, hostel accommodation of the doctors and nurses.The rest would be converted to a nursing college, which would help our patients to get better nursing care.
Advances in diagnostics and critical care management facility, with the awareness of healthcare development through media and technology, the population at large seek for a diagnosis of each and every disease of their child. Overall, in the eastern part of our country, the diagnostic facilitiesare quite less for the uncommon/rare diseases, which are no longer uncommon nor rare amongst the patients.
With the installation of all these diagnostic equipment, ICH would be able to provide diagnostic facilitiesfor most of the diseases, malignancies, genetic, endocrine, autoimmune etc., at a relatively low cost.
A Compassionate Paediatrician:
“What one receives from the society, one is morally obliged to return some of it back to the society” professed Professor Apurba Ghosh, Director of ICH, Kolkata. Some of these guiding principles have shaped the life and services of the professor, who has spent over four decades treating and curing children seamlessly of the deadliest of diseases with passion and compassion. Ever ready to help the poorest of the poor, the needy, the destitute, the abandoned kid, Dr Ghosh has made it his mission to provide the best possible care to an ailing child, irrespective of his/her background, at the lowest possible cost. This is an ethos he has inherited from his revered teachers and seniors at ICH and which he pursues with all seriousness and zeal.
Fondly called “Dhanwantary” by the numerous parents and guardians who have a smile on their face today, Dr Ghosh has successfully treated many difficult and rare cases. He has special interest in dysmorphology and growth related disorders in children, endocrinological disorders, genetic conditions and rare diseases.
Quite a number of rare diseases have been reported by him whose diagnosis would have been otherwise remain unrevealed, and in a way he has been a pioneer to diagnose and manage rare syndromes in the eastern part of India. The growth and dysmorphology was started by him years ago, at Institute of Child Health, Kolkata.
Professor Ghosh loves academics to the core. An avid reader, and an early riser, Dr Ghosh had carved a disciplined and hard working life schedule, which is worth emulating for anyone who wishes to succeed. He has a special love for modern gadgets and is dynamic in the truest sense. Be it the practice of medicine, teaching or administration, he enthuses his dynamism and juggles effortlessly in the three arenas.
A devoted teacher, who has proved that knowledge, is ageless and a doctor needs to update his knowledge time and again if he wishes to serve the society sincerely. He has been an eminent teacher for the past 40 years serving, now as professor and principal of the college. He has contributed immensely to the growth and expanse of the Institute, which he joined himself as a Junior Resident way back in 1979, after graduating with laurels from Guwahati Medical College, Assam. Over the last forty years, he moved ladder to ladder and assumed Directorship at a young age of 46.
Under his command, the Institute made several achievements including addition of a nursing college in September 2020, to educate and train nurses, a pressing demand in the country today. A great visionary leader, who has driven the oldest pediatric hospital of India to become a tertiary care hospital of trust for millions and a center of learning for young doctors, nurses, and paramedical, is now on a war path to create a new modern hospital with advanced facilities for the coming generations of children and doctors alike.
