Masina Hospital

Masina Hospital, located in the heart of Mumbai, India, is a medical hospital belonging to the eponymous trust. Built in memory of Jerbai Masina by her family and descendants, this hospital is a well-known landmark in Byculla (E). It serves the community through various out-patient and in-patient services manned by a competent staff — both medical and non-medical.The building was an original residence of the Wealthy Jewish businessman and the one who made a greatest contribution to the city of Bombay Sir David Sassoon it was his residence from the time he arrived from Babylonia (Bagdad) till the Sassoons lived in India. This bungalow was a palace.

Departments

Masina Hospital is well known for many years for running a state-of-the-art Burns Center. Run by its Plastic Surgery Department, the Eric Kharas Burns Unit, headed by Dr. A.M. Vartak, is one of the best in the country.^{[citation needed]} Masina Hospital is also known as one of the first hospitals in the private domain to start a sick newborn unit or the "Premature Baby Unit" under the stewardship of Dr. Mrs. Maharukh Joshi, now retired. The present NICU is located in a different building within the complex of Masina Hospital but is run by the Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, headed by Dr. Mrs. S.H. Mullan. This Premature Unit often received babies from as far away as 300–500 km from Mumbai at one time. The third, albeit recent distinction, and a feather in the cap for this institute^{[citation needed]} is its well-equipped Department of Psychiatry. It also has a fully functional Orthopaedics department located in the same campus, which provides state of the art treatment.

Apart from these, Masina Hospital has almost every faculty of medicine and surgery, including Obstetrics and Gynecology, General Medicine, General Surgery, Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Neurology, Cardiology, Endocrinology and so on.

The most recent accomplishment has been the establishment of a full-fledged blood bank with a fractionation Unit that is one of the most modern units in the city. The psychiatry department of the hospital is credited to be the only private hospital in the city with a tertiary care psychiatry ward, where patients are treated for as many as two years. Says Dr Y A Matcheswalla, HOD, psychiatry, “It is sad that most private hospitals are wary of having a psychiatric ward far various reasons. We have achieved excellence with a dedicated and trained staff.”

Service before self

Run by a Parsi trust, Masina Hospital has always placed service before self.^{[citation needed]} Many of the patients that seek expensive medical care are often given 90% or even 100% concession and allowed to be treated completely free of cost. The working staff is outstanding they supporting patients family from ever corner of their heart

Illegal Practices at Masina Hospital

The Psychiatric Ward at Masina Hospital has recently been in the news for rampant violations of the Mental Health Act of 1987.^[1]

A report filed by a five-member committee, appointed by The Directorate of Health Services (DHS), stated that the hospital has been illegally detaining patients in its psychiatry ward and forcefully administering psychotropic drugs to the detainees, including the infamous and illegal electro-shock therapy. One patient has been reported missing since her discharge from the hospital,^[2] while another has been trying in vain for the past two years to forget his 6-day ordeal in the ward.^[3] Sometimes being subjected to this psychiatric treatment is a deliberate action taken at the request of the relatives of the patients who have a vested interest. When contacted, Dr. Yusuf Matcheswalla, the head of the Psychiatric Ward, did not deny the allegations and stated that there isn't sufficient grounds for the shutdown of the Psychiatric Ward.

References