Bengaluru hospital offers discounts on medical services for needy

St John’s Medical College Hospital has initiated this to mark its golden jubilee celebration

St John’s Medical College Hospital will celebrate its golden jubilee by carrying out welfare initiatives and hosting events throughout the year. The medical institution — established in 1975 — turns 50 next year.

To kick off the celebrations, they have launched a three-month programme that provides a 25 per cent discount to all common ward patients. Between January and March 2024, the hospital will be offering these discounts to non-insured patients: 30 per cent concession on in-patient investigation and services, 10 per cent discount on surgical implants, and free lunch for the patients.

“All of this will be in addition to the free beds we offer in common wards. In-patients will not be required to pay for bed charges and doctor consultations. By using all these discounts we want to ensure that every patient’s bill will be reduced by 25 per cent. We’re hopeful that this will benefit many as a majority of the hospital’s beds are common ward beds,” says Dr Arvind Kasthuri, chief of medical services.

The initiative has been launched to honour the hospital’s mission. He says, “The hospital’s mission has always been to train those who will serve the medically underserved. In keeping with this, we launched the initiative as a pilot programme. After evaluating how this fares, we will plan more programmes for the rest of the year.”

As a part of the celebration, the hospital will also organise a large-scale medical exhibition on its premises, in December. “Last month, as a precursor to the upcoming exhibition, we organised a two-day medical exhibition with 35 stalls. People can expect to see interactive and creative demonstrations and models of interesting projects that our departments are working on,” he elaborates.

For details about the initiative, call 2206 5000 or 2553 0724.

History tidbit

The St John’s Medical College celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2023. Both the college and the hospital started from a rented building in 1963. Today, they have a campus spread across 132 acres. “We built our own hospital in 1975, in Koramangala. What once started as a hospital with 300 beds, has more than 1,500 beds and 40 departments today,” Dr Arvind Kasthuri tells Metrolife. 

The hospital was inaugurated on December 8, 1975. Currently, it is one of the renowned teaching hospitals in the country.