Overview

ENT-Lab

Department of General Medicine
Started in 1993

gmchnew

20 Senior Residents (Sanctioned Strength) 02 CMO's 12 Junior Residents per year (Sanctioned Strength)

The Department of General Medicine was started in 1992 and was first headed by a very eminent internationally acclaimed neurologist Prof J.S. Chopra, MD, DM (Neurology) Padma Bhushan awardee, who, incidentally was also the Founder Director Principal of this Medical College and Secretary, Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh Administration .

In August 1994, Prof. H.S. Malhotra, MD, DM (Nephrology) a nephrologist from the PGIMER, Chandigarh was appointed as its second head . His extensive experience in computer technology and administrative acumen, lead to a multifaceted development the department, and the college as a whole, especially in the field of computerization and telecommunications. Subsequently the Department was headed by Prof. Atul Sachdev, MD, DM (Gastroenterology) who later rose to become the Director-Principal. He was followed by Prof. Ram Singh, MD (General Medicine), FIACM and Prof. Sarabmeet Singh Lehl, MD (General Medicine). Currently the department is headed by Prof. Sanjay D’Cruz MD, DNB, DM (Nephrology), FISN, FRCP (London).

The department began functioning as a service for out-patients in Sector 22 Polyclinic on 04.10.1993. It began providing indoor facilities as well as emergency services to the patients in Sector 16 General Hospital, Chandigarh.

Inpatient services in the present campus in Sector 32 were started on 23rd March 1996 and Emergency services on 26th March 1997. OPD services were shifted to Block-B in Govt. Medical College Hospital, Sector-32 subsequently.

The department caters to patients from Chandigarh as well as neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, J&K and Uttar Pradesh.

The department has a sanctioned strength of 15 Faculty members. At inception, the department had 06 Senior Residents which has increased over the years and presently it has 20 Senior Residents. Postgraduate courses began in the year 2013 with an initial intake of 03 students per year and presently it has increased to 12 Post-graduate (General Medicine) Junior Residents per year. In addition, there are 2 posts of Casualty Medical officer and 2 non-PG Junior Residents. The department functions as 5 Medicine Units having 3 faculty in each unit.

The total bed strength as of date is 156 beds. To cater to the increasing academic needs & patients care, the department continuously strives to augment its requirement of faculty, residents as well as infrastructure.

Gastroenterology super-speciality services began in the Department in the year 1993. Over the period of time additional super-speciality services are being provided in the field of nephrology, neurology, rheumatology, endocrinology and geriatrics. Medicine OPD runs daily in area 53 level 5 block B and super-speciality clinics run twice a week as per the schedule uploaded on the website http://gmch.gov.in/opd-schedule-for-general-medicine in Area 54 Level V, Block B. There is an average of 300-350 patients per day in Medicine OPD and 100-150 patients in super-speciality clinics.

Emergency services are provided round the clock and are staffed by senior residents and junior residents round the clock, with daily appraisal by faculty during rounds. About 125-150 patients visit the emergency on a daily basis The Emergency has 08 cubicles and 12 Emergency ward beds. A modern 09 bedded fully equipped medicine ICU (MICU) was started in the year 2015. There has been a consistent increase in the number of patients attending the various services of this department. Bed occupancy is over 95% in general wards.

During the COVID 19 pandemic the department did exemplary work in coordination with other departments and catered to over 3000 patients of COVID 19, including providing critical care and dialysis to these patients. The department’s contribution was acknowledged by the Chandigarh administration and Dr. Sanjay D’Cruz was awarded commendation award on Republic Day in 2021.

Recently a new facility has been launched through “e-Sampark services” by which OPD registration can be done online. Currently 08 patients per faculty per hour can register online. The Department is actively engaged in academic, teaching and research including inter-institutional teaching and research activities.

Service being Provided

The department of General Medicine works as 5 units with bed capacity of 30 in each unit. In addition to General Medicine the department is providing specialized services in the fields of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Nephrology, Cardiology, Rheumatology, Endocrinology, Diabetes, Thyroid disorders, Neurology, Haematology - Oncology and Geriatrics. It is worth mentioning that the first Geriatric clinic in this region was started by the department to cater to the needs of the elderly population. The Geriatric clinic is situated on the ground floor of B" Block in the Room No.1405 for the convenience of the elderly patients and is currently being managed by the Department of General Medicine along with department of Community Medicine.

Emergency Services:

The department provides 24x7 emergency care for patients from Chandigarh and the region. It is staffed by a team comprising of Senior residents, trained and dedicated nurses and technicians. It works in 3 shifts per day. At any given time there are 6-8 Junior Resident doctors and 2-3 Senior Residents posted in the emergency area. Facilities include bed side point of care ultrasound, central line insertions, toxicology screen and cardiac biomarker studies in the emergency area. A 9 bedded fully equipped medical ICU (MICU) was added in the emergency complex in the year 2015 to care of critically ill patients needing respiratory support.

Gastroenterology and Hepatology Services:

Upper GI and Lower GI endoscopy are being done since the inception of the department. Therapeutic endoscopies were started in 1994. ERCP was started in the year 1995. Available equipment includes state of the art video endoscopes. The department of Medicine had procured its own "C"-Arm for ERCPs in the year 2006. Endoscopic ultrasound was added to the diagnostic armamentarium in the year 2018. Liver biopsies are done in the department.

Nephrology services:

Hemodialysis was started in the year 1998. Thirteen Haemodialysis machines cater to patients with acute and chronic renal failure and toxin overdose. Hemodialysis for inpatients is regularly performed at our centre. A SLED machine is also available in the unit for dialyzing critical and unstable patients. Facilities for peritoneal dialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) are also available in the hospital. Renal biopsies are done regularly as a diagnostic tool. A separate 3-bed facility was created for dialysing COVID 19 patients during the pandemic.

Cardiology services:

Non-invasive cardiology services like Tread Mill Testing (Stress test), Holter, 24 hours Ambulatory BP monitoring and Echocardiography are being provided since 1995. The department played a major role in the development of the Department of Cardiology which is providing specialized services including invasive cardiology since 2015. The hospital has state of the art 9 bedded Coronary Care Unit (CCU) situated on level 5, block C, currently run by the department of cardiology.

Neurology Services:

The services of EMG, NCV, EEG and Evoked Potential are being provided since the year 1995.

Rheumatology services:

Patients having various rheumatological problems are being provided comprehensive care.

Endocrinology and Diabetes:

Super speciality care in Endocrinology including diabetes mellitus, thyroid disorders and other endocrine disorders is being provided.

Haematology services:

Full care to patients with haematological problems including anaemia, thrombocytopenia, neutropenia, leukaemia and lymphoma is being provided to the patients in collaboration with Radiation-Oncology services.

Undergraduate training programme:

The department provides quality clinical and theory teaching to undergraduate MBBS students and junior residents. The department is involved in teaching of 150 undergraduate students per admission batch in different phases using early Clinical Exposure, Aligned and Integrated Topics approach using vertical and horizontal integration as prescribed by the NMC. Both didactic lectures and clinical demonstrations are held and on an average the department takes about 8-10 theory lectures and 18 clinical demonstrations on a weekly basis. Symposia and tutorials are held regularly for the students and their performance is assessed by summative and formative assessment as per current prevailing NMC guidelines at periodic intervals in both theory and clinical aspects.

Postgraduate training programme:

Apart from undergraduate curriculum which has been upgraded as per NMC norms, the department runs a very robust post graduate academic curriculum, which includes weekly MD guest lectures, MD bedside, simulcast of weekly clinicopathological correlation (CPC) meeting, Seminar, Radiology meet, Mortality meeting, clinical meeting, journal club and histopathology rounds on a week days as per a fixed time-table. The popularity of our training programme is evident as all India NEET cut off rank for MD entrants is less than 1000 consistently over the last few years. Our postgraduates have been performing well in various spheres of life and a majority of them are getting admission to premier DM programmes in various institutes across the country.

Research and related activities:

Faculty members of the department participate in various national and international conferences and present scientific papers and deliver talks at different forums. Over 385 papers have also been published by the department since its inception in a short span of 25 years in leading national and international journals. The publications can be viewed under publications tab of the department of General Medicine https://gmch.gov.in/publications-6.

The department has been organizing CMEs regularly since November, 1998. The Annual Conference of the Indian Academy of Geriatrics was organized by the Department in 2015. The 50th Golden jubilee Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Nephrology was organized by the Department in collaboration with PGIMER Chandigarh in December 2015. The department was also involved in organizing six monthly workshops for the Punjab Health System Corporation. It has also conducted WHO-MOHFW sponsored workshops for training medical officers in health care of the elderly. Research activities are being actively pursued by the department in various fields including collaborative inter-institutional research with other institutes and funding agencies. Our faculty have been serving on governing bodies of various regional and national societies. Senior faculty of the department are on the Review as well as Editorial Board of for indexed journals .

VARIOUS NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DEPARTMENT

The teaching facilities of the department have been upgraded by adding Laptops, Computers and a Multi Media Projector, Video conferencing equipment from departmental funds to upgrade teaching methodology.
The department has been designated a centre for training of Doctors in Health Care of the Elderly in this region by WHO.
The department was the coordinating hub for the telemedicine project under the chairmanship of Prof. Atul Sachdev.
Telemedicine services was started in the year 2020 during COVID pandemic. The services are still available for the patients. They can contact by email at consult.medicine.gmch[at]gmail[dot]com or WhatsApp number +91-9517771740.
State of the art Advance Diagnostic Lab and Intervention lab was inaugurated on 14/09/2023 in Area 55 Level-5 Block-A.

FUTURE ENDEAVORS

The department plans to become self-sufficient in all medical specialties to reduce the need for referral of patients to other centres as well as continue to provide high quality comprehensive services to the public. The department will continue to strive to educate the physicians of the region so that they are kept up to date with the latest developments in medical field and will improve its curriculum and teaching methodology to make the outgoing graduates and postgraduates capable of meeting the challenges in general practice. The department plans to start educational programme for the public in certain key areas. In addition the department continuously endeavours to upgrade its infrastructure by adding state of the art contemporary equipment and diagnostic tools. The department intends to purchase a bed side echocardiography machine for use in the emergency department. The department proposes to increase the faculty strength to 18 to cope with increasing patient load over the years. 200 bedded emergency complex is coming up and will enhance the services for needy patients in the region and a new emergency medicine department is being planned by hospital administration.

Department of General Medicine HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENT
	PROF. JAGJIT SINGH CHOPRA MD, FRCP 31.07.1992 – 01.08.1994
	PROF. HARINDER SINGH MALHOTRA MD. DM 02.08.1994 – 22.07.1999
	PROF. ATUL SACHDEV MD, DM, MNAMS 23.07.1999 – 23.04.2013 23.04.2017 – 28.06.2019
	PROF. RAM SINGH MD, FIACM 24.04.2013 – 23.04.2017
	PROF. SARABMEET SINGH LEHL MD 28.06.2019 – 09.11.2020
	PROF. SANJAY D’CRUZ MD, DNB, DM, MNAMS, FISN, FRCP 09.11.2020 – till date