Introduction and History of Pediatric Department
The Department of Pediatrics at the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital was
established as a teaching unit in the 1950’s. Since then the Department has
advanced in high-quality patient care and management, catering to thousands of
patients from all over India every year.
This Department has established itself in
Pediatric Medicine with its intensive academic curriculum and state-of-the-art
medical facilities. It is a multifaceted Department with well-developed
sub-speciality services for children inNeurology, Epilepsy and Developmental
Pediatrics, Hematology-Oncology including Bone Marrow Transplant,
Gastroenterology-Hepatology and Nutrition, Obesity , Intensive care, Asthma,
Pulmonology, Nephrology, Learning
Disability, HIV , Endocrinology, Child Palliative care and Cardiology .The
Department runs general Pediatric out-patient services daily and
13sub-specialty clinics. All these services are offered free of cost, thus
catering mainly to poor and needy patients unable to afford costly medical
treatment.
Milestones
·
1959:
Ø
Existence of Department of Pediatrics on the 1st of
April 1959.
Ø Dr VB Athavale as the acting Chief. Sir was an eminent Pediatrician, a
philosopher and was spiritual in his thinking.
Ø There were 60 beds in two spacious barracks.
Ø Dr. Athavale was a visionary anddeveloped 2 Pediatric
sub-specialitiesi.eNeonatology and Hematology.
·
1962:
Ø
Dr.C.S.Wagle, an astute clinician and excellent teacher joined the department.
Ø
Sion Hospital was considered a Medical College by the Municipal Corporation.
·
1967:
Ø
Dr. George Coelho, MRCP (London), MRCP (Ed.) senior most Pediatrician, alsocalled the “Father of Pediatrics” in India was
given charge of the department for 2 years(1967 to 1969)
Ø
MD (Pediatrics) and MBBS got recognized.
·
1969:
Ø
Retirement of Dr. Coelho in 1969
Ø
Dr. Athavale was
recognized as Professor of Pediatrics by Bombay University and was given
charge of the department.
Ø 2
clinical units – one under Dr. Athavale and the other under Dr. Wagle were
formed.
Ø Dr. WK Kandoth, Dr. Radha Iyer,
Dr. Sam Toddywalla, Dr. MR Lokeshwar, Dr. Armida Fernandez and Dr. SantoshPuri
joined the department subsequently.
Ø
Subspecialty afternoon
OPD began.
·
1972: Silver jubilee of the hospital celebrated.
·
1973:
·
A third unit established in RaoliCamp Maternity Home, headed by Dr. W.K.Kandoth. This was
later shifted to UHC, Dharavi in 1981.
·
1976:
Ø Dr. Lokeshwar initiated the division of Pediatric
Hematology-Oncology.
Ø Dr. Fernandez began the Neonatology division.
Ø Dr. Athavale started a 16-bedded Pediatric
and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit which had separate septic and aseptic units.
·
1988: Establishment of Thalassemia
Day care center by Dr. Lokeshwar.
·
1990:
Ø
Establishment of Human
Milk Bank, the first of its kind in the country by Dr.
Fernandez.
Ø
Diarrhea Treatment and Training Unit funded by
WHO, was established by Dr. Meenakshi Mehta.
·
1992: Establishment
of Childhood Asthma Services
·
1993: Establishment
of division of Pediatric
Nephrology .
·
1996:
Ø Establishment of the Learning
Disability Clinic.
Ø It was the first clinic forCertification of
specific Learning Disability by State of Maharashtra.
·
1997:
Ø
Establishment of the Pediatric HIV Clinic.
Ø
2006- designated as Regional
Pediatric ART Centre
Ø 2011- Rechristened as “Pediatric Centre of Excellence for HIV Care”
Ø Largest Pediatric ART Centre by NACO (one of the seven national centres).
Ø
Nationally as well as internationally renowned as a centre of excellence
for care of children with HIV.
·
1998:Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic was
established.
·
1998:
Ø Establishment of the Division
of Neurology, Epilepsy and Developmental Pediatrics.
Ø In 2013, Pediatric EEG services were started
to diagnose various epilepsy syndromes and treat children with refractory
epilepsy.
·
2010:
Ø Establishment of division of Gastroenterology,
hepatology and nutrition.
Ø The Nutrition Rehabilitation and Research
Training centre was started in UHC Dharavi.
Ø In 2015 endoscopy services for children with
gastroenterological disorders were started in collaboration with adult
gastroenterology department.
Ø Establishment of Pediatric
Cardiology.
·
2012: Established Child Palliative Care Clinic.
·
2013:
Ø Established “State-of-the-Art” Thalassemia Day Care Centre and Pediatric
Centre of Excellence for HIV Care (PCOE).
Ø Also Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Centre was started which catered to
diagnosis, evaluation and remedial education of children withspecific learning
disability.
·
2014:
Ø Established a “State-of-the-Art” 20-bedded Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Ward through donor support (Cherish Life India Foundation).
Ø This ward caters todiagnosis, evaluation and treatment of children with
cancer.
·
2015:
Ø Started Hematopoietic Stem Cell
Transplantation in the Pediatric Hematology Division – first of its kind in
public sector hospital.
Ø We have completed 15 Bone marrow transplants till date successfully with
zero cost to the families.
·
2016-
Ø Autism Intervention Centrewas started in UHC Dharavi in
collaboration with Hi media laboratories.
Ø This centre offers comprehensive care to these
children i.e diagnosis, evaluation, therapy and certification.
Ø This is in joint collaboration with
theDepartment of Occupational Therapy and Psychiatry, LTMMC and LTMGH.
·
2017-
Ø Retirement of DrMamta V Manglani ,
Professor and Head , Pediatrics on 31st January 2017.
Ø Welcome to Dr Radha Gulati Ghildiyal,Professor
and Head Department of Pediatrics on 15th March 2017.
2018 –
Establishment
of After Completion Chemotherapy in January 2018 by the Division of Pediatric Hematology- Oncology.
The ACT Clinic aims to provide ongoing care for
children with malignancies even after they have completed chemotherapy. A
thorough clinical, endocrine, psychologic and emotional evaluation of children
with malignancies who have completed 2 years post chemotherapy is undertaken in
this clinic and appropriate remediation is done in case of any abnormalities.
2019 –
The Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation which was started in the
Pediatric Hematology Division
has performed 30 Bone
Marrow Transplant till September 2019