Philip Augustine


Philip Augustine, an Indian gastroenterologist, specialist in gastrointestinal endoscopy and a hospital administrator from Ernakulam, Kerala. He founded the Lakeshore Hospital and Research Centre in 2003, one of the largest multispeciality hospitals in south India. The Government of India honoured him with the civilian award, Padma Shri, in 2010, for his services to the fields of medicine.

Biography

Philip Augustine was born in Kaduthuruthy, a small hamlet in Kerala. Choosing medical profession, he secured his MD from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in 1975, with a Gold Medal.
Augustine started his professional career at a small clinic in the town of Koothattukulam. Later, he specialised in Gastroenterology and had advanced training in ultrasonography and endoscopy at various centres across the globe such as Wisconsin Medical College, Milwaukee, USA, Eppendorf University, Hamburg, Germany, Hospital Beuton, Paris and University of Marseilles, France, Bern University in Switzerland and ULM University, Munich, Germany. His career took a turn when he joined Devamatha Hospital, Koothattukulam where he established a speciality gastroenterology department which now serves as a referral centre in Kerala. Later, he moved to PVS Memorial Hospital in Ernakulam to address a wider canvass of patients.
In 1996, Augustine joined hands with a group of doctors and launched the work on the Lakeshore Hospital and Research Centre. The hospital was opened to public in 2003.
Augustine is married, has four children and presently lives in Palarivattom, Kochi, Kerala.

Legacy

The primary contribution of Augustine is the hospital he found in 1996, along with a bunch of doctors and businessmen, the Lakshore Hospital and Research Centre, which became operational in 2003. The hospital, has, over the years, grown to become one of the leading multi speciality health care centres in Kerala and is stated to have several firsts to its credit. The hospital is certified by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare providers.
Besides, Augustine is credited as the first to report on Crohn's disease in the country in 1995, which he submitted at the national conference of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology. he also led a team of doctors who first reported Recurrent Pyogenic Cholangites or Oriental Cholangiopathy in India.

Positions

Augustine has published a book on bowel diseases which serves as a reference book on the subject.
He has also published several scientific journals and has contributed chapters on pancreasis in medical text books.