The Department of Pulmonary Medicine was established in March, 1983. This department was initially started to give specialised treatment to TB cases and other Respiratory/ Pulmonary diseases like asthma, COPD etc. But within a short span of time, two new units for allergy and bronchoscopy were added. The allergy and bronchoscopy units were among the earliest to offer such facilities in our country.
Detection of allergy is a challenging aspect in management of respiratory allergic disorders. Proper allergy detection requires allergy testing which is not available in many hospitals. In our department, allergy testing is done for nasal allergy and selected cases of asthma. Allergy treatment is given in selected cases of allergic respiratory problems.
Smoking is harmful to the health and causes addiction. Chronic cigarette or beedi smokers have frequent lung problems, the most important among them being COPD. A special clinic called the smoking cessation clinic is run every week on Wednesday for the benefit of those who want to quit smoking. COPD is not curable but stopping smoking early in the course of disease is the only way to slow its progression.
Kasturba Medical College & Hospital has one of the most advanced fully equipped Pulmonary Medicine departments, which now includes sleep medicine also. The department of Pulmonary Medicine is involved in the diagnosis, treatment and continuing care of patients with a considerable and challenging range of pathologies. These include:
- Asthma
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
- Tuberculosis
- Pneumonia
- Bronchiectasis
- Management of Chronic and Acute Respiratory Failure
- Sleep Disordered Breathing
- Bronchogenic Carcinoma
Other important departmental activities:
Lung Health Free Checkup camps: every month in peripheral areas.
National and International Clinical trials conducted by the department