Leonard Hospital is the sole multi-specialty hospital in Batlagundu, a town of 300,000 souls at the southern foot of the Palani Hills in Tamil Nadu, South India. Our dedicated medical teams' work is enhanced with the next-generation of surgical and investigative equipment – from diagnostic scans to laparoscopes to computer navigation. While Leonard Hospital is a charitable organisation, due to paid professionals being included within the medical teams, we often struggle to meet expenses.

Our visiting physicians and surgeons with a permanent staff numbering some 250 professionals maintain the highest standards in seeking to raise the level of health in the community. Popular workshops in public health range from dental hygiene to balanced nutrition and breast feeding for young mothers to a day-care centre and de-addiction centre.

Our present medical director Dr Sr Jacqueline Pragasam envisions taking the existing diploma course Claudine School of Nursing, inaugurated to bring disenfranchised young women out of poverty, to the next level in a separately housed Nursing College which would offer diploma holders a nursing degree course. Leonard Hospital welcomes equipment, funds and volunteers with medical specialties and other skills.

The Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross of Chavanod is responsible for the running and management of Leonard Hospital. This 200-bed facility hosts a busy walk-in clinic serving villages and communities consisting of about 1.5 million people. Leonard Hospital’s treatment and expertise include cardiology, trauma care, care for critically ill patients, maternity, paediatrics, dentistry and various surgical procedures required on a daily basis.

Leonard Hospital also provides dialysis, physiotherapy, diagnostic and imaging services. Leonard Hospital maintains departments in General Surgery, General Medicine, Paediatrics, Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, Anaesthesia, ENT (ear, nose and throat), Ophthalmology, Pulmonology, Psychiatry, Cardiology, Neurology, Urology, Medical and Surgical Oncology, Plastic Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Neuro Surgery, Spine Surgery, Dentistry, Endocrinology and Gastroenterology.

Together with its satellite Community Health Centre (CHC) at Karisalpatti, the Hospital serves the immediate surrounding towns of Batlagundu and Districts including Dindigul, Madurai and Theni.

Leonard Hospital is the multi-specialty medical care institution in the area treating people from all walks of life. In addition, Leonard Hospital provides medical and health care to remote villages and tribal areas in the Western Ghats mountains via weekly field visits by mobile clinic teams. These mobile clinics cover general physical, gynecological, eye and dental check-ups at their camps and provide on-site consultation and treatment as necessary. Patients diagnosed with more acute medical problems are welcomed back to the Hospital for treatment and medical attention.

Leonard Hospital attends to about 400 out-patients daily treating them for various medical conditions, including Cancer and related illnesses, Tuberculosis, AIDS or infected with HIV. In addition, its 200-bed capacity for in-patients is always 90% full. Leonard Hospital provides in-house prepared food services for the admitted patients. Ambulatory transportation services are provided via two ambulances also used for emergency responses and for weekly medical field trips.

The Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod at Leonard Hospital serve communities located in the urban, rural and tribal areas of the Dindigul District of Tamilnadu. Many of the recipients of their care have a literacy rate of about 35%. The unemployment rate amongst the labouring classes is intermittent and the drop-out rate from formal schooling is high despite legal strictures against this. Discrimination on the basis of community/caste is illegal in India but still common practice. The combination of negative social, political and economic conditions result is still strong as in other places in the world. Extremely poor living conditions far below even basic acceptable Indian standards in turn results in poor health, illness and, for the most part, malnutrition. 

The segments most affected by these conditions are the children, women and elderly. Urban communities, rural villagers and tribal peoples are being provided high-quality health care by Leonard Hospital and its outreach programs. These communities are regularly educated on health and hygiene issues through awareness programs, through which their quality of life has improved. Because of Leonard Hospital the often unsafe home-deliveries of babies has reduced significantly and, as a result, so has the mortality rate of infants. Death of mothers during childbirth has also reduced significantly. Patients suffering from AIDS and HIV infections are getting professional medical care and support they need on a regular basis and Tuberculosis patients are enrolled under the Government's RNTCP program.