Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Lifeline group of hospitals has embarked on a new venture the family physician centre. The first of such centres started in Vettu-vankeni on East Coast Road over two months ago has been successful, according to hos¬pital chairman J.S. Rajkumar.

The hospital authorities told press persons here on Monday that of the 100 pa¬tients who walked into a big hospital only eight required admission. Of them only two needed attention from spe¬cialists.

It is in this context that family physician centres would help prevent delay for the patients and provide them enough time that doc¬tors in tertiary care centres are unable to spare, Dr. Raj¬kumar said.

“There will be four beds for patients who require to be put on drips for conditions such as gastritis, equipment like ECG, regular testing fa¬cilities and an ambulance. There will be a doctor round-the-clock. Doctors at the cen¬tre will filter the patients and refer only those who need further medical attention to the tertiary care centres,” he explained. The hospital is also launching emergency and trauma care centre at Vettuvankeni as the ECR stretch is an accident-prone area. The hospital has proposed to set up physician care centres in Ambattur and Perambur too.