It was a nostalgic walk down memory lane for the retired doctors of Ooty GH, who were the special invitees at the sesquicentennial celebration of the hospital on Saturday. The doctors,
most being natives of Ooty, were the lifeline of the hospital. They recalled interesting stories about the facility and their service days.
Recalling a period where the Ooty GH lacked a generator, Dr NJ Rajan, an ENT specialist — who has conducted over 20,000 surgeries — said, “In those days, there were no CT scan or MRI scan facilities. Even generators were not available. As a precautionary measure, we used to call up the electricity board people and alert them when operations were going on and request them to curtail power disruption,” he said.
The hospital was provided with a CT scan and an MRI machine a few years ago, thanks to an in-house cook of the Kodanadu bungalow of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa. Dr Haneefa revealed how he was summoned by Jayalalithaa while she was camping in Kodanadu estate, to attend her cook, who suffered a fracture on her leg following a fall. “Only then the CM came to know that Ooty GH lacked the scanning facility. I took hold of that opportunity to get CT scan and MRI scan machines for the hospital and also four more CT scan machines for the four taluk government hospitals in the Nilgiris,” he said.
The government headquarters hospital is the only major hospital in the district. It has 421 beds, including 116 in the maternity wing.
