Learning about how the city built its health infra Premium

Stepping into Chennai as a 17-year-old, Dr. Kuganantham was admitted to Loyola College for PUC, and went on to complete his medical education at Madras Medical College and Stanley Medical College

Meet P. Kuganantham, 67, a native of Cheyyur, who went on to become a household name in the city’s health sector | Photo Credit: S. Thanthoni

Chennai has been his home for half-a-century. He has seen the city through different lenses: as a student, a doctor, and the city’s health officer.

Meet P. Kuganantham, 67, a native of Cheyyur, who went on to become a household name in the city’s health sector. Stepping into Chennai as a 17-year-old, Dr. Kuganantham was admitted to Loyola College for PUC, and went on to complete his medical education 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 recalls.

His clinical practice at Tiruvottiyur brought him closer to the fishermen community and factory workers of north Chennai. In 1987, Dr. Kuganantham entered the Chennai Corporation service.

Heading CDH at Tondiarpet

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

If the COVID-19 pandemic was something that cannot be forgotten, Dr. Kuganantham saw one of the worst cholera outbreaks in the city during 1992-93. It was his team that identified a new strain 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 recalls.

He became the City Health Officer in 2007. Dr. Kuganantham recounts how the city rolled out online registration of births and deaths, thus simplifying the issue of extracts, when Rajesh Lakhoni was the Commissioner.

Challenging times

The cholera outbreak was not the only challenging period that he had seen. Dengue was another rising challenge 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 clinical practice, but wants more to be done for the city that he calls his home. “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 close to his heart, closer are the city’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.