Founded in 1926, the Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College (GSMC) and the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital are amongst the foremost teaching and medical care providing institutions in India. The medical college (school) provides training to about 2000 students in undergraduate, postgraduate and superspeciality medical courses; in undergraduate and postgraduate physical and occupational therapy; Masters and PhD courses in various allied specialties. A nursing school is also maintained by these institutions.
With about 390 staff physicians and 550 resident doctors, the 1800 bedded hospital treats about 1.8 million out-patients and 68,000 in-patients annually and provides both basic care and advanced treatment facilities in all fields of medicine and surgery.
Funded mainly by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai , these institutions render yeomen service – virtually free of cost – mostly to the underprivileged sections of the society.
How to Get to KEM
The KEM hospital and the G.S. Medical College are big enough and famous enough in Mumbai (Bombay) for any one in the public transport system to know how to take you there. You can sit in a taxi anywhere in Mumbai and tell the driver to take you to “KEM” and almost certainly you will have to give no further address or instructions.
KEM is located in central Mumbai in an area called “Parel”. This locality is home to the middle and lower middle class citizens of Mumbai. It also has many medical centers in a area of a square kilometer. These include, besides the KEM and GS Medical College, the Wadia Maternity Hospital, the Wadia Children’s Hospital (both affiliated to the KEM); the Tata Memorial Hospital which is the largest cancer hospital in Asia , the Institute for Research in Reproduction and the Haffkine Institute, the latter being a premier “basic medical research” institute in the city.
If you travelling from outside Mumbai:
A. From the airport:
a. The Santacruz Domestic Terminal: This is about 8-9 kilometers from the hospital. Travel by cab takes between 25 and 40 minutes depending on traffic conditions and costs around Rs. 225.
b. The Sahar International Terminal: This is about 12-13 kilometers from the hospital. Travel by cab takes between 50 and 60 minutes and costs around Rs.300
B. From the railway stations:
If you reaching Mumbai by long distance trains, The Dadar stations [Dadar (central railway) and Dadar (western railway)] are closest to the hospital. These are less than 2 kilometers from the hospital. The taxi fares should be around Rs.20.
In case your trains do not halt at the Dadar stations, you will be getting off at the Kurla Terminus (Lokmanya Tilak Terminus) or the Chatrapati Shivaji (Victoria) Terminus on the central railway and at the Bombay Central Station on the western railway.
On the central railway , the Kurla Terminus is about 6 kilometers from the hospital, a 30 min cab drive costing around Rs. 100. The same is true of the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
On the western railway, the Bombay Central station is closer at about 4 kilometers, a 20 minute cab ride at around Rs.50.
C. From the bus stations:
You will be getting off at the Dadar bus terminus from where the hospital is less than two kilometers. The taxi fare should be around Rs.20.
If you are traveling within Mumbai:
A. From the suburban railway stations:
The Parel Station on the mainline of the central railway is the closest from the hospital; it is less than a kilometer from the hospital; cabs are freely available and cost Rs.13.
The Elphinstone station on the western railway is adjacent to the Parel station and is as close.
The Sewree station on the harbour line of the central railway is about 2 km. From the hospital. Taxi fare is around Rs.20.
B. Local B.E.S.T buses:
There is an extensive network of these buses and the hospital can be reached from every part of the city by the B.E.S.T buses.
The following routes stop at about 100 meters from the hospital:
9,14,34,36,50,53,54,57,77,61,64,65,67,68,69,134, 161,162,166,168,200,201,212,312
and
40 ltd., 255 ltd., 368 ltd.,The following routes stop at about 500 meters from the hospital.
5,15,30,18,38,59,66,73,76,
and
1 ltd; 4 ltd; 4ltd; 6 ltd; 7ltd; 8ltd;9 ltd; 11ltd;12 ltd;16 ltd; 19ltd; 21 ltd; 22 ltd; 24 ltd; 25 ltd; 503;868 ltd; 869 ltd.STATE OF THE ART EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES AT KEM HOSPITAL
On October 5, 2000, a new state-of-the-art Emergency Medical Services area was commissioned in the hospital.
Housed on the ground floor of the main hospital building, it is located where the old casualty, medical and surgical OPDs, minor surgery and Wards 20 and 20A were located. This approximately 15,000 square ft area, houses all emergency facilities. There are separate medical (adult and pediatric) and surgical (surgery and orthopedics) areas to cater to all emergencies.
Each area is provided with all necessary monitoring and life support systems. The five fully equipped operating rooms are capable of handling all types of emergency surgeries including urologic, and vascular or thoracic surgery.
Fully functional biochemistry, pathology and microbiology laboratory facilities are housed within this area itself. Plain radiography and ultrasonography are also available within this area. A CT scan specifically for emergencies will be commissioned shortly.
Established at a cost of approximately Rs.30,000,000 , this service has been made possible with a generous donation of Rs. 17,500,000 from the “Jasoda Narottam Public Charity Trust” and was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh.
A unique feature of this service is that all areas of this emergency care facility are computerised and are linked up through a Local Area Network, for both clinical and administrative needs. Dedicated software has been developed for the same. In time, this data will be exploited for evaluating and defining emergency management and treatment protocols in a typical urban Indian setting and could be used to develop and set standards for emergency medical practice in India.
Mumbai Meri Jaan 