Established over a century ago, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Pune’s KEM Hospital is a well-known tertiary care referral health care facility. It is also a highly sought-after locus of post-graduate academic training. The Department was recognised as a Human Reproductive Research Centre (HRRC) by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Under the direction of Dr. K. J. Coyaji, the Department has been actively involved in research in maternal health from the early 1980s. Several of these studies have been conducted in affiliation with ICMR/DHR, Population Council, Rockefeller Foundation, Gynuity, and WHO. Key areas of funded research include the use of novel PGA1 in pre-eclampsia, development of foetal growth charts, first trimester medical abortion with Mifepristone, case control study of maternal deaths, and a study of reproductive tract infections.
Several indigenous faculty-led research studies have been published in international journals, including a study of phenytoin for management of eclampsia, development of novel surgical procedures for correcting utero-vaginal prolapse, and procedures and devices for arresting massive obstetric haemorrhage. Numerous dissertations by post graduate students have been useful as pilot studies in hypothesis generation for larger prospective studies.