Online only — no clinic in Chennai
This page describes an online video consultation service for patients in Chennai. There is no physical clinic, no consulting address and no in-person appointment in Chennai. Dr. Ruskin’s physical practice is at PPK Hospital, Marthandam, in Kanyakumari district, with monthly camps across the surrounding towns. Online consultation is not for emergencies — call 108.
Who consults from Chennai
Three groups, mostly. Patients whose diabetes has stopped responding — HbA1c stubbornly above target despite years of correct medicine-taking, or readings that swing without explanation — who want the plan examined by someone with no stake in defending it. Patients facing an insulin decision, wanting an independent view on whether it is genuinely needed, at what dose, and whether it might later be withdrawn. And families from the southern districts now settled in Chennai, who want a doctor who speaks Tamil, understands the food their parents actually cook, and often already treats relatives back home in Kanyakumari or the Kerala border towns.
The Chennai connection
Dr. Ruskin’s clinical years included service at Madras Medical College, one of India’s oldest and highest-volume teaching hospitals — the training ground that shaped how he reads a difficult case. Chennai patients are consulting someone who learned medicine in their city’s wards, then spent twenty-four years applying it in a district practice where the same families return for twenty years. That combination — metropolitan training, long continuous practice — is what a second opinion is meant to bring.
How a second opinion works
Book on WhatsApp or through the booking form, then send your reports in advance so the consultation begins with your history already reviewed rather than reconstructed on the call. The consultation itself is unhurried: your reports and medicines are examined in detail, the reasoning behind your current treatment is assessed, and you are told plainly whether it is sound, needs adjustment, or needs rethinking — including when the honest answer is that your existing plan is appropriate and should continue. You receive a written summary afterwards, framed so you can discuss it with your regular doctor rather than being caught between two prescriptions.
What to prepare
Your last two or three HbA1c results — the trend matters more than one number. Recent fasting and post-meal sugars. Kidney function, urine protein and lipid reports if available. Photographs of every medicine strip with its dose, including anything prescribed by other doctors and anything bought over the counter. Discharge summaries from any admission. Your home readings diary if you keep one. And a short note of what you actually eat on a normal day — honestly, not aspirationally.
The limits, stated plainly
A video call cannot examine your feet, and foot examination is the most important physical check in diabetes. It cannot assess a wound, measure your blood pressure, or feel your pulses. If you have burning or numb feet, a cut that is not healing, or any foot wound, arrange a physical examination in Chennai promptly — that is not a reason to travel, it is a reason to be seen locally, and quickly. And for stroke signs, chest pain, unconsciousness or very high sugar with vomiting, call 108 and go to the nearest hospital.
Diabetic foot and neuropathy →How online consultation works →