 Rupak Barua COO, The Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI) |
The Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI) has been caring for the citizens of the eastern region, for nearly five decades now. Established in 1969, by late BM Birla, a visionary and philanthropist, CMRI has always operated with a focus on patient, employee and physician satisfaction. ‘CMRI continues its commitment to provide quality care at affordable price’, emphasises Rupak Barua, COO, CMRI.
CMRI is part of the CK Birla Group which has interests in diverse fields. The Group runs several charitable, educational and healthcare institutions on a ‘no-profit, no-loss’ ventures, so its objective is not to make money or profits from CMRI but run it as the most efficient healthcare organisation and gain people’s trust and confidence. It is a 400 bedded hospital, which includes 95 bedded critical care units. Shortly, it is planning to increase the bed strength by 50 to meet the increasing demand.
Mission: To offer the highest standards of medical treatment with utmost Care, Compassion and Commitment to all sections of the society at best value-for-money costs.
Vision: The vision is to be the leading multi-speciality healthcare and research institute in eastern India with world class standards of quality and service.
Commitment: To constantly upgrade human and technological resources in order to keep pace with the best global developments in medical science.
Accreditation: The CMRI is an ISO 9001: 2000 accredited hospital. It is only the second hospital in the country to have accreditation from College of American Pathologist (CAP) for its in house-lab. The lab also has NABL and Bio-Rad certification. The hospital is soon going in for NABH accreditation.
Strengths and achievements: Our biggest strength is the highest standards of medical treatment provided by us to all sections of the society at best value-for-money costs,’ Barua added.
He said that CMRI, which was the first private corporate hospital of the city, has established itself today as the most advanced multi-speciality tertiary care hospital in the city offering the most advanced medical services. “We have selected few departments as Centre of Excellence as these departments are capable of doing any complicated surgeries, procedures or treatment. They are namely, the Institute of Neuroscience, Department of Urology, Institute of Gastroenterology, Emergency & Shock Trauma Unit, Critical Care Unit, Cosmetic & Skin Care Clinic, Institute of Orthopaedics & Joint Replacement and Mother & Child Care Department,” he added.
Besides the regular multi-disciplinary departments, it has introduced super speciality departments to combat new age diseases like sleep apnea, obesity and stress management. The city’s first ‘Stroke Clinic’ was inaugurated at CMRI with a view to provide comprehensive stroke care with latest clot buster treatment or thrombolysis. The hospital has introduced eastern India’s first sleep laboratory for conducting sleep study.
Sustainability: “Our idea of making a sustainable hospital is a bit different. We believe that providing quality medical services at affordable rates is the best way to make a sustainable hospital,” Barua said. “This is also the motto of our hospital. So we are following this principle very rigorously,” he further added.
Safety of patients is of prime importance: “Safety of the patient in the hospital does not only mean safe treatment but physical safety of the patients is also of primary importance to the hospitals”, he stated. He also informed that fire safety and security is an important aspect of organisation and that they have been putting much thrust on this aspect for years. “It is an ongoing process in the hospital and we have thoroughly revamped and strengthened our fire-fighting mechanism over the last couple of years,” he revealed.
“You need to understand that ‘patient-safety’ has been accorded the utmost priority in our hospital and the Board of Trustees, has made it clear in no uncertain terms that the hospital will not compromise with safety and security of the patients under any circumstances,” Barua added.
He also revealed, “In the last two years we have installed well-knit water hydrant system with outlets on all floors, a sprinkler system, sophisticated smoke alarms, fire hose/ fire extinguishers and several other latest kits like ‘air-handling unit – auto shut down’ system in each and every floor of the hospital and also installation is in progress for the latest fire check doors (FCDs). We have already acquired more than 30 clearances and are in the process of acquiring more from different statutory authorities.”
State-of-the-art technology: The 12 state-of-the-art operation theatres have been modernised to suit international standards and with the help of laminar airflow system they are now protected from any kinds of infection threat. The Radiology & Imaging Department is run entirely by picture archiving and communicating systems (PACS) system which allows it to access information in a highly efficient manner from almost any location, using secure web-based software. Shortly, the hospital will be introducing SAP-based ERP solution to ensure quality and bring about complete transparency in billing and other operating procedures.
HR development: CK Birla Group is a very HR driven organisation. They conduct regular training sessions for the staff and paramedical staff and CMEs are conducted for medical professionals to improve knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour of health professionals and also improve patient health outcomes.
CSR activities: Since its inception, CMRI has always taken active participation in CSR programmes to serve the society in the best possible way. Suryodaya, the ophthalmology department of CMRI is actively involved in various CSR activities. It runs a ‘mobile eye care unit’ to cater to the needs of the downtrodden people of the society. Suryodaya, is also actively involved in free cataract surgery programme to eradicate cataract from a specific Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) ward.
Modular training programme in pre-hospital trauma care: CMRI is dedicated in its commitment towards the society. It has further extended the vision of ‘corporate social responsibility’ by educating the society towards trauma care where it matters the most – the pre-hospital scenario.
Future plans: The Group is setting up another 200-bed state-of-the-art, multi-speciality hospital at Jaipur in Rajasthan which is likely to become operational by the end of this year. It also plans to set up a mid-sized 100-odd bed super-speciality hospital at Siliguri in North Bengal, the land for which has been already acquired. These hospitals will be equipped with the most modern fire-fighting systems and equipments.
Future plan would be to further strengthen and improve the quality of medicare provided at CMRI keeping in tune with the changing times and technological advances and establish it as the ‘most trusted’ multi-speciality hospital in the country.
