[1] The hospital was established by Dr. David Jacob Aaron Chowry-Muthu, a private tuberculosis specialist an MD and an MRCS, in 1928.

Upon returning from the United Kingdom, he started the hospital on 9 April 1928 on the mountainside of Pachamalai (Green Hillock) in Tambaram.

In an era when BCG was yet unknown, he was a strong advocate of the open air and clean surroundings cure for the dreaded disease, which meant the sequestering of patients in sanatoria.

Perhaps due to the latter's influence, Dr. Chowry-Muthu began spending increasing amounts of time in India from 1920 onwards.

He acquired 250 acres of land in Tambaram and on April 9, 1928, the sanatorium, with 12 beds was inaugurated by Sir C.P.

Upon Independence in 1947, a rehabilitation colony spread over an area of 17.14 acres (6.94 ha) was opened by the Indian government's then Minister of Health, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, for fully cured TB patients with facilities such as learning printing, tailoring, book binding and rattan chair making.

With the hospital gaining importance over the years, a new railway station named 'Tambaram Sanatorium railway station' was built to serve the locality and a separate postal division with the postal index code of 600047 was created.

The hospital is the largest AIDS care centre in the country, catering to about 300 in-patients in 8 exclusive HIV wards and 300 out-patients daily.

The lab is only the second laboratory to receive this recognition after the one in Madras Medical College, which is a national reference lab, and the only one to receive the same among state reference laboratories in Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.