Southwest Medical Center Adds Hospitalist

Southwest Medical Center is pleased to announce the hospitalist program launched for inpatients in April 2014 is fully staffed with physicians following the addition of Rama Chanda, M.D., in November. Dr. Chanda joins fellow SWMC hospitalists, Dr. Andrey Ilyasov and Dr. Akshath Kamath, in providing care for patients admitted to the regional healthcare facility.

Born in India, Dr. Chanda completed medical school at Zaporoshye State Medical University in the Ukraine before returning to India to work and finish his medical boards. During that time, he married Dr. Rohitha Inturi, who began work with SWMC as a family medicine physician in August. Dr. Chanda worked two years as a hospitalist and clinic physician in Jamaica before joining his wife in a family medicine residency at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He notes that accepting a position in Liberal came naturally.

“I grew up in a small town in India, and I appreciate that sense of community,” Chanda said. “My wife and I were searching for a good location in a rural area where we could both work and raise our kids. We really like the people here – this has been a good community for us.”

Hospitalists partner with a patient’s primary care physician to provide treatment to that patient during their hospital stay. Both internal medicine and family medicine physicians have the option to partner with and refer their patients to hospitalists. As with many hospitalist programs, Southwest Medical Center’s program allows primary-care physicians to check in on their patients and receive consistent updates on their condition.

“Dr. Chanda is an excellent addition to the exceptional team of medical providers serving our community,” SWMC President and CEO Bill Ermann explained. “Bringing in this team has allowed for inpatients to have immediate access to a physician on-site and for physicians to have more time in their clinics to see more patients. We are very pleased with the positive benefits this program has brought to our patients, our community and our physicians.”