Ganga Hospital founder J.G. Shanmuganathan passes away in Coimbatore

Dr. Shanmuganathan established Ganga Hospital as a small unit in 1972 at Ramnagar. The facility moved into its own building in Ramnagar in 1978. His sons Dr. S. Rajasabapathy and Dr. S. Rajasekaran joined the hospital in 1991 after specialising in plastic surgery and orthopaedic surgery respectively in the UK and the US.


J.G. Shanmuganathan, founder of Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, died of cardiac arrest on Friday, August 18, 2023. He was 92.

Born to Captain Dr. J.S. Gangadaran and Shenbagavalli Ammal at Sivagiri in Erode on October 30, 1931, he completed his MBBS from Government Stanley Medical College, Chennai, in 1954. Dr. Shanmuganathan became a busy and popular family physician in Coimbatore soon after he started his medical profession in March 1956. He was one of the 15 Indian delegates to the first World Conference of Cheshire Homes in London in 1969 and utilised the opportunity to specialise in anaesthesiology (D.A.). He returned to Coimbatore as the first qualified anaesthetist of the city at the end of 1970.

Dr. Shanmuganathan established Ganga Hospital as a small unit in 1972 at Ramnagar. The facility moved into its own building in Ramnagar in 1978. His sons Dr. S. Rajasabapathy and Dr. S. Rajasekaran joined the hospital in 1991 after specialising in plastic surgery and orthopaedic surgery respectively in the UK and the US. The hospital was developed into a 650-bed tertiary care super-specialty hospital for orthopaedics and plastic surgery under Dr. Shanmuganathan’s guidance in the later years.

Due to his love for Bharathiar and Tamil literature, Dr. Shanmuganathan enrolled in Bharathiar University as a research student at the age of 80 and was awarded Ph.D. at the age of 82 in 2013. His research was published into a book titled Bharathi Endroru Manudan.

Along with Dr. Major Rao as president and himself as the secretary, Dr. Shanmughanathan established Cheshire Home, a home for physically disabled and incurable sick in 1969. As the secretary of the Coimbatore District Welfare Association, he was involved in establishing a Senior Citizens’ Home in 2002. It takes care of 40 elderly citizens, providing them free accommodation, food and medical assistance. He also established a Senior Citizens Day Care Centre at Kavundampalayam to provide relief to senior citizens from depression and to treat injuries.

Dr. Shanmughanathan was a life member of the Indian Medical Association, a full-time member of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore branch and was involved in social activities. The last rites will be performed at GKD Crematorium at Pappanaickenpalayam in Coimbatore at 4.30 p.m. on Saturday.

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