Caritas Hospital

Caritas Hospital foundation stone laid by Cardinal Tiserang in the presence of Mar Thomas Tharayil on 27 November 1953. The site of the hospital, about six acres in area, was donated by Joseph Vallapally's widow and children. In 1962 Mar Thomas Tharayil, Bishop of Kottayam, in collaboration with a few German people started the venture of health care naming it ‘CARITAS’. The word itself adheres to the recommendations of the 1946 Bhore committee report "to ensure medical care for every individual including those who cannot pay for it’’. of the system, deficiency of proper planning, lack of true commitment and above all, widespread corruption, have led to the deplorable situation whereby ‘CARITAS HOSPITAL’ has to play a vital role in alleviating pain of the sick and the suffering, especially to those who cannot afford adequate treatment. Spread over 25 acres, 4 kilometers from Government Medical College and seven kilometers from Kottayam.

Caritas Hospital Aerial View

With he support of the Bishop of Kottayam, the hospital has grown to a world-class manifold academic and community based hospital that is from a 50-bedded hospital to a 635-bed hospital. It now cares more than 3 lakhs outpatients and almost 50,000 inpatients each year. The hospital has 33 clinics in the Outpatient department and 25 wards in the Inpatient department. In addition there is a full-fledged Emergency and Trauma care unit also.

The hospital runs a full range of medical and acute surgical services. Anaesthesiology, Biochemistry, Blood bank, Cardiology, Cardio Vascular and Thoracic Surgery, Dermatology, Dietetics, ENT, Gastroenterology, General Medicine, General Surgery, Microbiology, Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology & Fertility, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Oral & Maxillo Facial Surgery, Pathology, Pediatric, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitative & Sports Medicine, Plastic and Micro Vascular Surgery, Psychiatry & Psychology, Radio diagnosis, Urology, Oncology, Pediatric Surgery. It also has an ayurvedic treatment division.

The Caritas Cancer Institute is an 82-bed center with Medical, Surgical and Radiation Oncology departments as well as a Pain and Palliative Care division. It was inaugurated on 24 February 2003. Current HOD is Dr.Jose Tom, who was the Principal of multiple medical colleges under kerala DME;he is a Radiation oncologist and has been heading the Radiotherapy departments of Govt medical colleges. The center is equipped with 2 linear accelerators for radiation teletherapy via [[Radiation therapy|IMRT]. Other Radiation oncologists at C I are Dr.Johny Joseph (previously Associate professor at MCH),Dr Judith Aaron and Dr Jenny Joseph. World-famous Senior medical Oncologist Dr. V. P. Ganagadharan was a visiting faculty at the center.

Dr. Mary Kalapurakal is  the head of the  pain & palliative Dep. in caritas. She is the founder and first president of the palliative association in the Kottayam District. Dr. Manu John, one of the few Palliative Oncologists in India, also works there as a full-time Consultant.

Medical oncology department currently has Dr Boben Thomas(From KIMS pinnacle) and Dr Unni.S.Pillai(JIPMER, Pondicherry) Surgical Oncologist is Dr Sajith Sasi from Tata memorial hospital,Mumbai

The Caritas Cancer Institute aims to give holistic support to the patients so they may live and die with dignity.

Caritas Heart Institute was inaugurated and blessed on 24 September 2011. It has South India's First Hybrid CathLab, Two state of the art Operation Theaters, 24 bedded Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, 14 bedded post operative ICU, Hi-end Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory & Well equipped 24 hours mobile emergencyThe cardiology department at this hospital has completed 25 years of service to the community. The department has earned a great reputation for rendering excellent service in the past with one of the third in Indian subcontinent. Interventional Cardiologists, American trained Cardiac Surgeon and a Cardiac Anesthesiologist with vast experienced have been posted . Facilities for Angioplasty, Bypass surgery, Valve repair, Balloon dilatation of the valves, Valve replacement surgery, Pacemaker Implantation etc. are available in the new complex. In addition to this there is a Research cell in the cardiology department which participates in multiple multi centre international research studies.

The hospital runs the following institutions:

Caritas College of Pharmacy - conducts the D.Pharm course with an intake of 60 students per year.

Caritas College of Nursing - offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and has an intake of 50 students per year.

Caritas Allied Health Science - offers various Paramedical courses for students with different qualification levels

• The Archeparchy of Kottayam , Caritas