Hospitals in India have been organized along British
lines with a strict hierarchical structure.
The term hospital implies an establishment for temporary occupation by
the sick and injured. The World Health
Organization (WHO) defines modern hospitals thus: “A hospital is an integral
part of social and medical organization, the function of which is to provide
complete healthcare for the population, both curative and preventive and whose
out-patient services reach out to the family and its home environment. The
hospital is also a center for training of health workers and bio-social research”.
Thus, the hospital is a specialized body where patient
care is the focal point and about which all activities of the hospital revolve.
The physician who examines and takes care of the patient is in the principal
position and special facilities and trained personnel are provided to him to
make his easy and efficient. Trained personnel include technical staff of nurses,
dieticians, and pharmacists.
Though essentially the priority is given to the care
of the patients who are bed-ridden and suffering from serious diseases, the
scope of the hospital services also extends to those who may be potentially ill
in their usual surroundings of home and town or village. The hospital, in western
countries also takes upon themselves the great responsibility for putting into operation
the programs in the fields of preventive medicine. They serve as a source in many
areas of the population, from which the professional staff and personnel of
various health agencies put their efforts and expend energies with the sole
object of improving public health.
From the Organizational and Administrative point of
view, a hospital is virtually a city within a city. Within its four walls, it
has an operation theatre, a hotel that is in the shape of a patients room, a
dormitory for student nurses, residents, and internees, a school for the training
of nurses, technicians, dieticians, laboratories, a pharmacy, food vending
operations, laundry, and linen service, delivery services, blood bank,
accounting and credit services, a public relation department, motor service,
and security patrols.