A Mumbai doctor’s tryst with Thodupuzha

KOCHI: He won his specialist's spurs in Mumbai's cancer wards but India's best-known oncologist is now planning to set up shop in rural Kerala. Dr Suresh Advani, Padma Bhushan awardee and pioneer of bone marrow transplant in the country, will soon start a 350-bed hospital in Thodupuzha because he thinks he owes it to his wife and daughter.
Dr Advani first met Geeta (then Rose) from Thodupuzha at Tata Memorial Hospital in 1979, where she was working as a nurse and where he had embarked upon on what would turn out to be an illustrious career.He was wheel-chair bound — having been polio-affected since eight — and she an unassuming caregiver. They fell in love and married in 1981.
Thirty five years later, the couple has decided to give their daughter — still the light of their lives — her due. The hospital at Vengalloor, with a budget of Rs 150 cr and oncology and cardiology as its two super-specialities, will be named Smita Memorial Hospital. "We lost our daughter in an accident when she was doing her MD. The hospital will be named after her," said Geeta.
Dr Advani says that the hospital will have more than just their daughter's name – it will implement her philosophy of life as well. "The hospital's motto will be ‘smile and serve'. We will treat everyone who comes to the hospital with a smile," he said.
Interestingly, there will be no general ward in the hospital. "I have been to various hospitals and whenever I visit the general ward, I feel that it is not correct for poor people to be put there. I believe that even poor people should get a room as it reduces risk of hospital infection and they get better care. In our hospital, there will only be single rooms and 10 % of these rooms will be provided free of cost to poor patients," said Advani, who was in Kochi to attend Cochin Oncology Group's first annual CME.
This will help hundreds of cancer patients from Thodupuzha and nearby places who now have to go either to Kottayam Medical College or Kochi for treatment.
"The civil work on the hospital is already over. Within a year, the hospital will be ready," he said. Also once the hospital is ready, Dr Advani would be offering his expertise to people here. "I will come every month and at some stage, I intend to take voluntary retirement from Mumbai and come here," he said.