Joy Koothur

Co-founder

Co-founder of Shanthibhavan Palliative Hospital

Joy Koothur is the co-founder of Shanthibhavan Palliative Hospital [1], an Indian non-profit working on healthcare from Thrissur.

Joy Koothur is an Indian Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Thrissur and a co-founder and chief executive of Shanthibhavan Palliative Hospital at Pallissery, Arattupuzha, in Thrissur district, Kerala. The hospital describes itself as India's first palliative hospital and operates as a 'no-bill' institution, providing all care free of charge.

Career

Koothur began a palliative care service in 2014 for bedridden patients in a village in Thrissur district. The foundation stone of Shanthibhavan Palliative Hospital was laid on 19 December 2015 and the hospital opened on 20 November 2016. It was founded with the support of Mar Andrews Thazhath, Archbishop of Thrissur, who is its chief patron, and is a mission of the Franciscan Sisters of St Clare; Koothur's co-founders were Sr Beatrice Scalinci and Sr Maria Chiara.

The hospital has no cash counters and charges registered patients nothing for beds, treatment, food or accommodation. Its facilities include centralised oxygen, an intensive care unit with ventilators and a solar-powered dialysis unit. Beyond the hospital it runs a fleet of home care vehicles across Thrissur district, providing round-the-clock emergency home care and free ambulance services.

Recognition

Koothur received the Best Social Service award from the Chamber of Commerce in 2019, a Human Excellence Award from the Human Rights Foundation in 2021, the United Religious Forum award in 2022 for establishing India's first palliative hospital, and a national award from the Asia Today Media and Research Group in 2023.[2][3]

Shanthibhavan Palliative Hospital

Founded in 2016 by the Franciscan Sisters of St. Clare at Pallissery, Arattupuzha in Thrissur district, Shanthibhavan is a free palliative hospital with no bills and no cash counters. It provides inpatient palliative care, a solar-powered free dialysis unit, ambulance services and round-the-clock home care for bedridden patients across the district.

Shanthibhavan Palliative Hospital reports the following, on its own site:

With 99 beds and a heart for service, we provide complete palliative care with no bills and no cash counters.
With the capacity to serve 40 patients, this facility provides life-saving kidney dialysis treatment completely free of charge to indigent patients
99 Bed Hospital 15 Home Care Vehicles 24/7 Emergency Care