Chennai has been his dwelling for half-a-century. He has seen the town by means of completely different lenses: as a scholar, a health care provider, and the town’s well being officer.

Meet P. Kuganantham, 67, a local of Cheyyur, who went on to grow to be a family identify within the metropolis’s well being sector. Stepping into Chennai as a 17-year-old, Dr. Kuganantham was admitted to Loyola College for PUC, and went on to finish his medical schooling at Madras Medical College and Stanley Medical College.

“I did my schooling at a government school at Cheyyur. I came to Chennai with my father in 1972. I was barefooted and wore trousers. I was admitted to Loyola College for PUC. The college transformed my life and empowered me,” he remembers.

His scientific follow at Tiruvottiyur introduced him nearer to the fishermen neighborhood and manufacturing facility employees of north Chennai. In 1987, Dr. Kuganantham entered the Chennai Corporation service.

Heading CDH at Tondiarpet

Five years later, he went on to move the Communicable Diseases Hospital (CDH) at Tondiarpet. He launched a round the clock outpatient one-rupee clinic for residents of slums in north Chennai. In reality, he was instrumental in making ‘vettiyans’ (burial-ground employees) into the everlasting staff of the Chennai Corporation as burial-ground assistants.

If the COVID-19 pandemic was one thing that can not be forgotten, Dr. Kuganantham noticed one of many worst cholera outbreaks within the metropolis throughout 1992-93. It was his crew that recognized a brand new pressure that he named Madras strain-non-01 0139.

“We also came up with a line of treatment that was replicated globally and adopted by the World Health Organization as proven with the treatment of over one lakh patients,” he remembers.

He grew to become the City Health Officer in 2007. Dr. Kuganantham recounts how the town rolled out on-line registration of births and deaths, thus simplifying the difficulty of extracts, when Rajesh Lakhoni was the Commissioner.

Challenging occasions

The cholera outbreak was not the one difficult interval that he had seen. Dengue was one other rising problem between 2009 and 2014. “We introduced sector-wise individual house control measures with dedicated men to visit 500 houses a week. We relied on clearing breeding sources instead of using insecticides for spraying and fogging,” he says.

After retirement, Dr. Kuganantham continues his scientific follow, however desires extra to be carried out for the town that he calls his dwelling. “I admire the city of Chennai that changed my life. I want the city to become more liveable; to be free from pollution and diseases; and transformation of slums,” he says. While the CDH, the Ripon Building, Stanley Medical College and the Marina Beach are near his coronary heart, nearer are the town’s slums. “Life in the slums hasn’t changed. Improving slums does not mean removing them or relocating the people. It means improving the place with life-changing measures. Any Smart City programme should cover slums and its people,” he notes.