Tribune News ServiceLUDHIANA,
When 36 years ago, Dr Banarsi Dass Soni, set up a small medical school here with 20 students, no one could imagine that it was the beginning of a new era in medical education and treatment in this part of the country. Today Dayanand Medical College and Hospital is counted among the premier institutions of medical education and patient care. As Mr Prem Nath Gupta, Secretary of the Managing Committee, puts it, the institution considers it its mission to provide modern and specialised health care to the maximum number of people. Last year, its OPDs were visited by 2,67,959 patients and 44,888 persons were treated as indoor patients. The emergency wing handled 19,196 cases.
It has more superspecialities than any other medical college in Punjab. The 1107-bed hospital with its modern facilities provides care to patients and training to undergraduate and postgraduate medical students. Its clinical and diagnostic laboratories work round the clock.
Consultants of the DMC keep visiting the best medical centres of the world and a number of conferences and workshops are held regularly in the hospital. Last year, the DMC organised more than 100 conference.
The DMC is the only medical institution in India to use in its Department of Orthopaedics the unique technique of external fixators perfected by Prof Ognesyan, a Russian expert of word renown. The hospital has set up the first Haemodialysis unit in Punjab which gives treatment to nearly 700 patients every month. Besides, there is a modern intensive coronary care unit (ICCU), intensive care units (ICUs), a stroke unit, a paediatric ICU and a respiratory
critical care unit.
The Department of Urology of the DMCH is rated as one of the best in the country. Dr B.S. Aulakh, a renowned urologist and transplant surgeon, has given new life to hundreds of patients through kidney transplant and other kidney-related surgeries. On an average, 15 to 20 kidney transplants are done at the DMCH every month.
The DMC has also earned a name in the field of medical education. In the entrance test held in 2000, the top 30 candidates opted for DMC. The medical college admits 70 students every year for the MBBS course and 77 for the post-graduate degree and various diploma courses.
In the field of social service, the DMCH organises public health lectures and Hepatitis B vaccination camps every month. Its rural health centre at Pohir serves 20,000 people of 10 villages and the urban health centre at Kirti Nagar provides door-to-door service to the residents of the area. Its family planning unit functions without any help from the government. It also organises Sat Pal Mittal Oration and Joginder Pal Pandey Oration in collaboration with Nehru Sidhant Kendra. Financial and other help is provided to some families of Kargil martyrs.
It is planning to set a new milestone by starting Hero DMC Heart Centre, a unique tertiary cardiac care unit. This will be the biggest heart centre in north India and is likely to be operational very soon. The Rs 35 crore project includes an expenditure of Rs 20 crore on construction and Rs 15 crore on the purchase of new sophisticated equipment and patient monitoring units in the first phase.
The air-conditioned complex will be built on an area over one lakh sq ft and will have five storeys. This superspeciality wing will provide all the possible facilities to heart patients under one roof. The surgical wing will have an adequate number of operating theatres and a team of expert doctors will perform coronary angioplasty, stent implantation, permanent pacemaker implantation, balloon dilatation for valve disease, coronary artery bypass surgery, valve replacement surgery and surgery for congenital diseases.
