Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi
Sri Sathya Sai Institute
Geography
Location	Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, India
Organisation
Type	tertiary care
Services
History
Opened	1991
Links
Website	psg.sssihms.org.in
Lists	Hospitals in India

The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi, is a free 300-bed tertiary care medical centre based in Prasanthigram, on the outskirts of Puttaparthi town, Andhra Pradesh. The hospital was founded by Sri Sathya Sai Baba, a spiritual guru and philanthropist who is revered as God by His devotees. The hospital was inaugurated on the 22 November 1991 and endeavours to provide high-end healthcare to patients free of charge.

The hospital is a part of the social welfare initiatives under the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust founded by Sri Sathya Sai Baba as a public charitable trust in 1972.

The hospital provides free out-patient as well as in-patient treatment in the fields of cardiology, cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, urology, plastic surgery, ophthalmology, orthopaedics and gastroenterology (endoscopy). Patients from all over India, and even from the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan visit the hospital for treatment.

History

The hospital started with the Departments of Cardiology and Cardio Thoracic Vascular Surgery initially and then on new departments were added in the following years. The following table provides the dates of inauguration of the specialties at the hospital.

S.No	Department	Date of Inauguration
1	Cardiology	November, 1991
2	Cardio Thoracic Vascular Surgery	November, 1991
3	Urology	November 1992
4	Ophthalmology	November 1994
5	Plastic Surgery	November 1997
6	Orthopaedics	July 2006
7	Gastroenterology(Endoscopy)	July 2008

The hospital celebrated its 22nd anniversary on 22 November 2013. To date the hospital has seen around 2.9 million outpatients and performed 215,971 operations and procedures.

NABH Accreditation

The SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram was conferred National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) accreditation on in 11 July 2016 for quality patient care. According to the press release of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, the hospital is the only totally free hospital to receive this recognition.

Services provided

Cardiology

With complex procedures being performed free of cost, patients visit the department from all over the country. The invasive cardiac set up of the department has 2 fully equipped top-of-the-line flat panel catheterisation labs with hemodynamic recorders. A 16 bedded Critical Care Unit (CCU) is equipped with patient monitors networked with a central station, ventilators, infusion pumps, ECG and echo machines, defibrillators, portable X-Ray and imaging units. Patients mostly belong to economically weaker sections of the society, who could not have afforded the cost of the treatment elsewhere.

Cardiothoracic vascular surgery

The CTVS department in the hospital conducts all types of cardiac surgeries, except heart transplants. One-third of the cardiac surgeries are congenital heart diseases, one-third valve replacements/repair and the remaining, coronary revascularizations with 90% of them being off-pump procedures.

Urology

All major surgeries of the kidney, bladder, ureter, prostate, and urethra are performed at the department. Further, endoscopic procedures like transurethral resection of the prostate, percutaneous nephrostomy, and cystoscopy are performed for prostate, stones and strictures. Open surgeries for stones, cancer of the kidney, bladder, prostate and stricture of urethra are also undertaken by the department. There are three operation theatres, a urology ward, an intensive care unit, an outpatient department supplemented with urodynamic equipment and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripter. The Urology ward has 72 beds.

Ophthalmology

The department of Ophthalmology has three operation theatres, a laser unit and a 42-bed ward. Ailments treated in the department include refractive errors, cataracts, glaucoma, diseases of the retina, strabismus, diseases of the eyelid and neuro-ophthalmological disorders.

Plastic surgery

The Plastic Surgery department provides treatment for congenital defects and acquired conditions as follows: Congenital conditions include cleft lip, cleft palate, hypospadias, epispadias, deformities and defects. Acquired conditions include contractures due to burns, accidents, snake bites and infective conditions and neoplasms – benign and malignant especially in the face, breast etc.

Orthopaedics

The department has three modular operation theaters. An 8-bedded post-operative recovery room is attached to it. Currently, up to eight major operations are done daily, adding up to around 11,000 surgeries from the inception of the department. The surgeries performed include:

• Total Joint Replacements
• Arthroscopic surgery
• Spine
• Ilizarov
• Paediatric orthopaedics
• Complex deformity corrections
• Trauma including pelvic and acetabular

Gastroenterology (endoscopy)

Basic Endoscopy and colonoscopy services are being provided at the unit.

Statistics

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram, Puttaparthi: Cumulative: 22 November 1991 – 31 October 2014

Speciality	OPD	Surgeries/Procedures
Cardiology	1,062,048	39,857
CTVS	-	24,473
Ophthalmology	654,503	58,932
Plastic Surgery	18,996	8,338
Urology	936,857	62,596
Orthopaedics	237,809	12,415
GI Endoscopy	-	9,360
Total	2,910,213	215,971

Academics

The hospital is accredited by the National Board of Examination, India to provide Diplomate of National Board (DNB) training to doctors in the specialties of Cardiology, Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS), Urology, Ophthalmology, Anaesthesiology and Orthopaedics. The hospital has earned two gold medals in the DNB courses of Urology and Ophthalmology. Dr. N.N. Sridharan received the Gold Medal for DNB Urology in 2004 and Dr. Amit Chabbra received the DNB Gold Medal in the 2010.

The hospital has periodic academic sessions in which doctors from the hospital and from outside share their knowledge on specific topics of academic interest with the doctors and students. SSSIHMS, Puttaparthi, also receives visiting professors from India and abroad who provide their expertise in their specific subjects to the students. The students are exposed to a spectrum of cases, as the hospital is charitable in nature. The number of candidates admitted for training in this Institute every year is two each for cardiology, urology, ophthalmology, anaesthesiology and orthopaedics. The DNB training for these departments is 3 years. Two candidates are admitted to the department of CTVS. The period of training in CTVS being 6 years post MBBS.

National Board of Examination(NBE)guidelines are adhered to with respect to stipend, library, internet facilities etc.

The hospital does not collect Rs. 50,000/- a year from trainees as training charges/fee as prescribed by the NBE, since it is run by the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, which functions on the philosophy of Sri Sathya Sai Baba that education and health should be provided completely free to all.

Conferences and seminars

Various departments of the hospital organize yearly conferences which are attended by faculty members and delegates from across the country and sometimes from nations across the world. Most recently the department of Cardiology conducted the Advanced Echo Cardiology Conference in the on 11 and 12 October 2014 in collaboration with GE healthcare. This conference is a part of a series on Echocardiography conferences, which take place alternately between the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram and Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Whitefield. The faculty members at the conference included Dr. R. Alagesan Former President of Indian Academy of Echocardiography, Dr. G. Vijayraghavan, Vice –chairman and founder director, Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. P. K. Das, HoD Cardiology of SSSIHMS, Whitefield.

List of Conferences and Seminars held at Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram, is as given below.

S.No	Conference	Year
1.	Cardiac Specialty Symposium	6–7 February 1993
2.	International Conference on Cardio Vascular Diseases	January, 1994
3.	International Conference on Cardio Vascular Diseases	December, 1995
4.	Cardio Thoracic – Continuing Medical Education Programme	20–21 September 2008
5.	Sri Sathya Sai Continuing Orthopaedic Education	11–13 July 2008
6.	Sri Sathya Sai International Conference on Advances in Arthroplasty	10–12 July 2009
7.	International Conference on Cardiovascular Diseases- The Sri Sathya Sai Model	25–26 October 2010
8.	Musculo-Skeletal Ultrasound Workshop	8 May 2010
9.	Sri Sathya Sai International Conference on Pelvis and Lower Extremity Trauma	22–24 July 2011
10.	Urology Clinical Workshop	23–24 February 2013
11.	Glaucoma Continuing Medical Education Programme	16 March 2013
12.	Update on MRI of Shoulder, Hip and Knee	26 October 2013
13.	International Conference Cardio Vascular Diseases: Current trends in Cardiac Surgery	14–15 December 2013
14.	Fundamentals of Echocardiography Workshop	8–9 February 2014
15.	Advances in Arthoscopy and Sports Medicine	18–20 July 2014
16.	Advanced Echocardiography	11–12 October 2014
17.	Sai Vaidya Sangamam, First Annual Alumni Meet	24–25 December 2014
18.	Sri Sathya Sai International Healthcare Information Technology Practitioners Conference	7–8 March 2015
19.	PhacoRet 2015 Phacoemulsification and its Retinal complications	26–27 September 2015
20.	Sri Sathya Sai Pediatric Orthopaedic Conference 2015	28 Feb- 1 March 2015
21.	Midterm Cardiac CME "Surgical Spectrum for Mitral Valve Diseases"	21–22 August 2015
22.	Sri Sathya Sai International Ilizarov Conference- 2015	18–20 December 2015
23.	Sri Sathya Sai Conference on Hip Replacement- 2016	23–24 July 2016

Collaborative research

The hospital in 2012 collaboration with the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, started the Chondrocyte Cell Culture Laboratory. The research thrust at this facility will explore the possibilities of chondrocyte cell culture in treating knee cartilage defects. It will therefore aid the quality of health of patients by avoiding joint replacement surgeries and the symptoms and costs associated with it.

IT in Healthcare

From the inauguration of the hospital IT has been integrated in the healthcare delivery process. The hospital started with basic DOS based computer systems for maintenance of the medical records etc. in 1991 then slowly graduated to a stage where the hospital is almost paperless and filmless. The spectrum of IT in healthcare covers the following areas:

• Inpatient services
• Outpatient services
• Medical Records
• Diagnostic Imaging and Laboratory Services
• Material Management
• Administration

The hospital has also improved communication by widening of the electronic mail, SMS alerts to specific personnel as per the need in the hospital.

Telemedicine

The hospital in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) started satellite based telemedicine and tele-education services from 2007. The satellite link facility was provided by ISRO completely free of charge. Tele-consultation is provided for post-operative follow-up cardiac patients from the states Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal. Two centres have been in Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) and at Barrackpore (West Bengal) have been set up for that purpose. At SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, the consultant reviews the patient’s past and current records and while speaking to the patient directly over video-conferencing suggests suitable remedies and further investigations if necessary. The best part of this program is that the patient and specialist see and talk to each other directly. The patient, who are generally disadvantaged also avoid the trouble and expenditure of travelling a long distance from Odisha to Puttaparthi.

Apart from Tele-consultation, the Telemedicine Center at SSSIHMS, Puttaparthi, has been playing an active role in supporting the academic programme of the hospital by means of enabling participation in Continuing Medical Education (CME), lectures and discussions with institutions like Sankara Nethralaya (Chennai) and Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre (Chennai).Till date the hospital has participated in 690 such sessions.

Patient Counselling and Follow Up

The hospital has an outreach programme called Sai Rehabilitation Programme, for the discharged patients after a cardiac procedure or surgery with focus on patients. The programme approach is a holistic one, which includes overseeing medication, rehabilitation and integration into society, and as close as possible to the life they were leading before treatment.

The programme was initiated at SSSIHMS, Puttaparthi, on 16 February 2008 with the permission of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

To ensure that the patient has easy access to all the above factors for the duration of the rehabilitation programme, the tertiary care centre of SSSIHMS, Puttaparthi, works in tandem with the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations at the State and District levels for implementing the programme. Medical monitoring and management are the key issues. Hence the hospital has taken the lead role in program formatting and implementation with the Sri Sathya Sai Service Organisations (SSSSO) providing local volunteer doctors and other support staff at a district level. This programme is specially structured to cater to the large segment of rural and semi- urban patients with low literacy and economic status to create awareness to follow a structured lifestyle after surgery or intervention. Further, a long term surveillance rehabilitation to help the patients maintain lifestyle changes, lifelong medication compliance and improve their quality of life.

Hospital architecture

View from the balcony of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram, Puttaparthi

The hospital was set up on 110 acres of land near the Sri Sathya Sai Airport and was designed by Professor Keith Critchlow from the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture in London. The idea behind The architecture style is a mix of ancient Hindu and Islamic styles, while the arched windows in the hospital are reminiscent of the Palladian style of renaissance architecture.

Inside the Main Dome of SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, Puttaparthi

At the centre of hospital building is a dome, which is around 82 feet in height and 80 feet in diameter. It is a meditation hall where motifs of all religions are present. In total there are nine major domes in the hospital building, which represent the Hindu divine number 9. The meditation hall is also has 8 sides, which is normally the case with the sanctum sanctorum of Hindu temples across the world as the deity is considered the ruler of all the eight directions. The hospital has a total built-in area of 15,000 square meters.

Leadership

The first director of the hospital was Dr. A.N. Safaya appointed on 22 November 1991, by Sai Baba who remained as the director till November 2011, when he retired.

For a brief period Dr. Kumara Swamy Reddy, a pathologist took up the post, who then left for soon after.

Dr. Choudary D. Voleti a cardiac-surgeon by profession, who had been associated with the hospital as a visiting faculty since 1993 was the director from September 2012 till November 2015.

The current Director of the hospital is Dr. Gurumurthy, a Plastic Surgeon by profession, who had decades of experience in administration of Health Care Institutions.

SSSIHMS Alumni Association

1st Annual Alumni Meet, "Sai Vaidya Sangamam", was organized at the SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, on 20 and 21 December 2014. The conference saw the participation of over 300 alumni of SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram and Whitefield cutting across the various specialities from all over the country and abroad. The highlight of the meet was the formation of the SSSIHMS Alumni Association.

SSSIHMS Alumni Association Office Bearers

Post	Name	Current Institution
President	Dr. Keshava Murthy	Institute of Nephro Urology, Bangalore
Vice President	Dr. Kavitha Rao	Retina Institute of Karnataka
Vice President	Dr. K. Vishwanathan	MIOT Hospitals, Chennai
Treasurer	Dr.Vijay Sai	Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangalore
General Secretary	Dr. Isha Samadhiya	SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram
President Elect	Dr. Dwarakanath	Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore

External links

• Official website