It was towards the end of the year 1979…a young boy in his twenties, pursuing his MBBS( almost at the tail end) from the premier most institution of India ,used to very often visit/stay at the residence of his elder brother, who was serving govt of India and was staying in a govt accommodation in RKPuram, came in contact with brother’s neighbor…a govt servant cum RMP who used to run a part time clinic in RKPuram and Munirka.
He periodically carried the young medical lad to his clinic for case analysis/case examination etc. Which the young boy was able to do with ease , efficiency and good results.
The time passed by , all this continued while the young medical lad completed his compulsory rotatory house man ship and MBBS came to an end.
The young doctor carrying dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon, totally inexperienced and adverse to private medical practice, some how slipped into starting a small clinic with the name Daya Memorial clinic in the year 1980 _81 to support himself and relieve
his father and elder brother of the responsibility of self and a down’s sister for the period he was waiting for post graduation seat.
This small step finally became a thousand miles journey leading to this day multispecialty unit Hygiea Hospital after passing through many years with the brand Daya Memorial Hospital, Daya Memorial Charitable Trust erc.
This young Dr. R. K. Kapoor, whose only interaction with rural population was at the Ballabhgarh PHC unit during compulsory house manship, turned out to be very successful and soon became one of the most leading medical practitioners in Munirka village, catering to the core village population as well as large number of surrounding population belonging to almost all stratas of the society.
Soon, he got empaneled with organisations like Delhi Transport Corporation, BEL, etc exclusively by virtue of his capabilities and hardwork.
As the time passed by, Daya Memorial became the integral part of his life and the only legacy he had, and the fancy dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon were left far behind. The only reward he carried along, till to date is the affection and patronage of billions of humans he dealt with, providing them preventive, promotive and curative care, with good outcomes, at a very reasonable price.
Gradually in the year 1984 and 1987 diagnostics were added to Daya Memorial Clinic- which became further unique healthcare facility in the area. Premises adjacent to the existent clinic initially housed the path lab with a very reasonable tariff for the investigations and a retired pathologist Dr. Das got associated.
1987-88 further in the lane, a small place was hired, laboratory was shifted out to that and a small 60MA X ray machine was installed in the premises adjacent to Daya Memorial Clinic and an eminent radiologist Dr. S. N. Tandon, agreed to report on the X Ray films. Dr. S. N. Tandon, a great human being, and a still greater professional, whole heartedly supported young Dr. R. K. Kapoor, putting in unparalleled contribution to the growth of Daya Memorial Family.
( Many pictures of this period are lost but few are uploaded. Hope to get many more in times to come, if found, they too shall be uploaded).
The wheel of time kept moving and the June of 1989 saw the inception of Daya Memorial Hospital in hired premises next to, then existent Daya Memorial Clinic. Ground floor and first floor of the building was hired and was converted into a 10 bedded facility with a small compact Operation theatre, a labour room, a nursing station, a doctor’s duty room, and a 100 MA X Ray unit. It was a small, compact unit meant to provide modern healthcare to people at a very reasonable price without making huge profits. In fact, to start with, it struggled for its existence because of greater financial liabilities than returns, but somehow pulled through.
Primarily this unit was started by Dr. R. K. Kapoor on the persuasion and encouragement of eminent Pediatrician colleague, Dr. Rajiv Tandon, who was a post graduate pediatrics from a very premier institution in India. Besides Dr. S. N. Tandon and Dr. Rajiv Tandon, Daya Memorial Hospital was supported by gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr. Poonam Sharma, Dr. V. P. Sharma( Anaesthetist), Dr. Amit Das ( Surgeon) and this kept growing periodically and multispeciality OPD’S were run in the premises adjacent to Dr. R. K. Kapoor’s OPD.
(Many pictures of this period are lost but few are uploaded. Hope to get many more in times to come, if found, they too shall be uploaded).
This unit started in 1989 was under the proprietorship of Mrs. Reema Kapoor, w/o Dr. R. K. Kapoor, it kept going on till the beginning of 1995, but was shutdown towards the middle of 1995 due to rising financial pressures and poor returns which also included greater demands by the owner of the property.
Towards the end of 1995, on repeated public demands, and persuasion of fellow colleagues, Daya Memorial Hospital re- surfaced, now in different premises which were just preceding to the existent Hygiea Hospital’s building. To seek greater support and to function more effectively – Daya Memorial Charitable Trust was constituted and was registered with Govt. Of India through its deed of registration. It was just a basement with 10 general beds and ONE well equipped operation theatre and was a great success- very well accepted and patronised by not only the surrounding population but people from far and wide. Complicated surgeries like Pyeloplasties, various abdominal surgeries, hundreds of NVD’S, LSCS were performed – all documented till to date at an unbelievably reasonable price by many eminent urologists, Gynaecologists, general surgeons etc.
