The Ganga Odyssey

Coimbatore—the industrial town of Tamil Nadu, is famous for various engineering goods and its textile mills. The city also houses one of Asia’s largest hospital dedicated to orthopaedics and trauma–Ganga Hospital, which stretches across two sprawling buildings with a combined bed strength of 600. The old building with 135 beds caters to women and children
and has the obstetrics and gynaecology and
paediatric department, whereas the new building
with 450 bed houses the now world-renowned orthopaedic department.

History
From the outside, it looks like any other huge hospital with an elaborate building standing tall in an area of 3,20,000 sq feet. What mesmerises you is the atmosphere inside, which is as compassionate as its inhabitants. It speaks of the dedication and devotion of its creators and amalgamates the past with the future.
It all started when Dr. JG Shanmuganathan and his wife birthed a small 17 bed hospital in 1978. This facility grew from strength to strength till 1991 when their sons came back from UK—trained in orthopaedics and microsurgery—and converted the hospital into a specialty centre with 135 beds. Soon after having established the facility as a specialty hospital for trauma, orthopaedics and plastic surgery, both the brothers thought of expansion. What birthed through their dreams was an engineering masterpiece that breaths life into patients 24x7. The elaborate six-storied structure stands tall to narrate the story of the success called Ganga Hospital.
The architecture of the building is exceptional with lots of open spaces and plenty of natural light. Here, the wards cater to all sections of the society and range from general to luxury rooms. Incidentally, the OTs and emergency rooms are not only well equipped with the latest state-of-the-art equipment but also are very spacious. What’s unique to these OTs are huge glass windows. Here, a surgeon would not only gain professional satisfaction of working with
hi-end equipment and able staff, but at the end of the day they could also bask in the hues of the setting sun right in the middle of a complex surgery. Such is the thought behind every room in the building and every inch speaks of the deliberation that has gone into its planning. From busy emergency rooms to special burns center, from sprawling convention center to spacious canteen and library everything is well planned.
The hospital is well equipped with latest technology. It also has India’s largest inventory of implants and instruments for orthopaedic surgeries. Moreover, the techno-savvy proprietors have not only invested in good HIS but also in value efficient systems like pneumatic tube system. One of the firsts in the country, pneumatic tube system transports various small and medium sized items from one place to another inside the hospital through vacuum or air movement.
The hospital is creating waves in the international orthopedic circuits for their excellent academic courses. In fact, Ganga Hospital is the only hospital in India, which is blossoming into a true academic medical center, attracting students from all over the world. This is not all, Ganga Hospital is also known for its support to various social causes. During the Kargil war, the hospital extended free services to soldiers who had severe mutilating injuries.

Key focus areas
Although Ganga Hospital houses two departments its key focus area is the department of orthopaedics. The department provides the state-of-the-art treatment in all fields of orthopaedic surgery including trauma and accident surgery, spine surgery, joint replacements, paediatric orthopaedics, shoulder surgery and arthroscopy.  The unit is supported by an efficient team of doctors who have completed extensive training both in