world-class facilities and quality medical treatment to the patients who flock to its doors

Insurance for the poor In the two years of its existence, the 'Shri Saibaba Super Speciality Hospital' in Shirdi has ensured world-class facilities and quality medical treatment to the patients who flock to its doors.

Ninety years ago in the small village of Shirdi, in Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra, Shri Saibaba took samadhi. During his lifetime he spent considerable time nursing ailing people and caring for the poor. After he took samadhi, people's faith in his powers only seemed to increase. Today the words 'Saibaba' and 'Shirdi' are synonymous. From a small dusty rural vil­lage, Shirdi has grown into a bustling pilgrimage centre with thousands of de­votees descending on it every day. Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, which looks after the temple has en­sured that

Saibaba's tradition of serving the poor continues. Rooms for devotees have been built and annadaan (donation of food) started by Saibaba is done through the Prasadalaya. The Trust has 'set up two schools and an industrial training centre. However its biggest pro­ject has been the setting up of a modern super-speciality hospital, one more step in their attempt to provide medical facil­ities for those who cannot afford the steep prices of private hospitals. The Trust has been providing medical care since 1964 when the Shri Sainath Clinic was established to treat poor pa­tients. Today over 1,000 patients are treated in the out-patient department every day, and the 200-bed hospital always has more than 200 patients on any given day. Each patient is charged a token fee of one rupee only. Medical Director Brig (retd) Dr. C.S. Bobdey says, "We do not turn away any patient." Says an inhabitant of Shirdi, "This is one hospital where we can be sure of getting treatment.

The doctors are always available." State-of-the-art technology Two years ago the Trustees decided to take patient care to the next level and the Sri Saibaba Super Speciality Hospi­tal was established. From the outside the hospital looks like any other general hospital, with patients and their rela­tives milling around, and a general air of confusion. Step inside however and you will be pleasantly surprised at how clean and organised the hospital seems to be. consultants are at­tached to the hospital. In the short span of two years the hospital Built at a cost of Rs.60 crore, the 200-bed hospital has world-class facil­ities and provides quality treatment to patients.

The hospital has well-equipped Neurology, Cardiology, Ortho­paedics, Plastic Surgery, General Sur­gery, Dental Surgery and Dietetics departments, in addition to its own blood bank, state-of-the-art CT scan and MRI machines. Forty resident med­ical officers and 20 al draws patients not only from Maharashtra but also from all over India. Several senior doc­tors from different cities and even abroad offer their time free of charge here. "We heard about the hospital and decided to check it out when my father was told he had a heart problem," says M from Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh. "We came and had an angiography done and have now returned a month later for my father's bypass surgery."

The hospital PRO Ashok Walunj adds, "Sev­eral patients come from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Last week a man from Varanasi came to us saying that he had heard of the conces­sional rates and the excellent treatment." Says Dr. Bobdey, "The trauma unit is the busiest on weekends, as that is when Shirdi gets the maximum number of visitors. Being a rural area, snakebites are very common; every day the hospital treats three to four cases free of cost. Our neuro-surgeon performs one major operation every day. We have also start­ed total hip replacement operations. At our dialysis centre we perform dialysis for as little as Rs.600 and plan to start a transplant centre soon." Constantly busy The hospital performs an average of three cardiac surgeries per day and 350 cardiac procedures like angiographies and angioplasties a month. Ninety per-cent of the cardiac surgeries are per­formed under the State Government's "Jeevandayi" programme.

Cardiologist Dr. Harish Bajaj, who has been working here for the last year and a half, says, "We performed 4,000 procedures here last year including angioplasties, BMVs and pacemakers. We have world-class equipment and our mortality rates are no different from the best hospitals in the world. There is nothing sub-stan­dard here. I would call this hospital the poor patient's insurance." Trained in Mumbai and abroad, Dr. Bajaj is happy to be working here. "We have done no official studies but have observed that faith plays a great role in the healing process. Perhaps because patients come here with faith and are mentally prepared to accept their fate, even difficult patients heal quicker."

A classic case is that of a 60-year-old patient who was admitted to the hospi­tal with a severe heart condition and suffered a heart attack after his bypass operation. After being re-operated and spending a month in the Intensive Care Unit, he has been shifted to the recovery ward. "I am feeling fine," he smiles. "We never expected him to survive but mira­cles do happen," adds his son. The hospital is already falling short of place. "There is a two-month waiting list for cardiac surgery," says Dr. Bob-dey. The Trust has approved plans for a new project on 37 acres of land, a short distance away from the main temple complex, where the Sainath hospital and the super speciality hospital will be accommodated in one spacious com­pound. "We hope to continue the tradi­tion of serving and caring for more and more people in the future too," says President of the trust, Jayant Sasane

by SHUBHA GADKARI

(compiled from The Hindu)