The department of Paediatrics was started in the late 1960s under the able guidance of Dr R K Seth as one of the first broad specialty departments for teaching that was established at St John’s Medical College Hospital when it was still a part of St Martha’s Hospital, Bangalore.

The department shifted to its current location in the St John’s campus in 1975 under Dr Padmini Urs. Since then what began as two clinical units have grown and spread into excellent general paediatric care and a host of relevant subspecialty clinics.

The post graduate program began with DCH in 1985 and later MD in 1987. As the department flourished, we started fellowship programs with Fellowship in Paediatric Nephrology (2004), Neonatology (2007), Paediatric Critical Care (2008) and Infectious Diseases (2012). Subsequently DNB Neonatology started in 2010 followed by DM Neonatology in 2011 and DM Paediatric Nephrology in 2013.

We have two state of the art ICUs where proactive quality care is being provided for all children within the Neonatal ICU, which was started in 1990, and the Paediatric ICU in 1995.

From its inception till now, the department has remained at the forefront of all academic activities and has always remained a strong contender each year for the best department award with many of our eminent faculty bagging awards for best teachers. We constantly aim to inspire and train our residents to be proper advocates of child care.

As the department grew and blossomed, to facilitate care and specialty training, the Departments of Neonatology and Paediatric Nephrology were established in 2008 under Dr Swarna Rekha Bhat and in 2012 under Dr Kishore Phadke respectively.

The Department of Paediatrics at St John’s Medical College Hospital is also well known for the care extended to children with special needs in the Unit Of Hope, which was established in 2002 and the care extended to adolescents and children with infectious diseases. Critical Care and Paediatric Hematology - Oncology have also begun as separate divisions within the department since 2017. We also offer separate clinics for Well baby care and immunisation, Paediatric Gastroenterology, Paediatric Endocrinology and the care of children with Thalassemia.