Holy Cross Hospital, Tura ,West Garo Hills, Meghalaya

Holy Cross Hospital, Tura ,West Garo Hills, Meghalaya

Easter Sunday saw me crossing Nagaland and Assam into Meghalaya. Six hours drive in a ‘shared Sumo’ put me in Tura in the west Garo Hills.

The Hospital in Tura is a blessing for the Hill people. Despite the advent of government schemes, competent healthcare remains a myth in large parts of the North East.

Two Johnites of  different  generations and temperament hold fort here. 

Sr Claire

The calm and serene Dr Sr Claire ( Batch of ’72) is the Obstetrician and Gynaecologist here. Having been through the North Indian Missions, notably Khairabad in UP, she feels most at home in the NorthEast.

Sr Lias

The fiesty Dr Sr Lias( Batch of ’93), is the paediatrician and present Medical Lead there. She is already a veteran in Meghalaya with this being her second stint. An astute clinician, she handles all the medical cases. She uses her links with St John’s and her classmates regularly in patientcare.

Sr Lias with the babies

Bishop Mammalessery

 Here I was fortunate to meet Bishop George Mamalassery of Tura, a legend in these parts. A giant of a man, he has established multiple Missions in Meghalaya over the last 50 years with Churches, schools and this Hospital. He now lives in retirement on this campus-as the spiritual guide to the community.

Without exception, everyone I spoke to commented on the easygoing and accepting nature of the tribals with a fatalistic view of life and death. The doctors feel this enhances their emotional connect and responsibility as health custodians of these people.

From the early days ( Archives)

Carmelite Sisters of Charity , Bardipada, Gujarat

Vedruna Carmelite Sisters of Charity , Bardipada, Gujarat

Deep in the tribal belt at the Gujarat- Maharashtra border is the hamlet of Bardipada. After a road journey of about 110 kms from my previous stop at Zankhvav, I reached Bardipada to be greeted by an amazing sight of community work. There is a combined venture of the Jesuit priests doing developmental work and the Vedruna Carmelite Missionary Sisters doing healthcare and educational work.

 

 Dr Sr Joemol Peter( Batch 0f ’97) is doing her second stint here, back after her OB& GYN postgraduation. She is in the process of revamping the system to further help the community. In addition to her specialty, she sees a variety of medical and surgical cases, with an interesting case of leopard bite (more like mangling) being the most recent.She has been requested by governmental agencies to help out with maternal and child services in few adjacent health centres.

Herbal medicines

Having worked out of thatched huts with minimal to no electricity and pumped water, the group is a hardy and versatile lot. Over long years of interaction with tribals, there are many herbal medications the nurses have discovered which work well in a variety of conditions. 

Mahouda fruit

Use of aloe vera and the fruit of the mahuda/mahua tree(the brew of which is also used in these parts of prohibition Gujarat for other interesting purposes) is common in some of these preparations.

As a major bonus, I got to meet Fr Ignacio Galdos, a legendary Spanish Jesuit missionary. Having established the Zankhvav and Unai missions, he now lives at the Bardipada mission.  Here in addition to all the development work, he has established a wonderful museum highlighting all facets of the tribes of the region from prehistoric times. Respecting the elements of nature and the tribal way of life is the practise of this religious community.

Fr Galdos at the Museum

The Altar at the Hospital Chapel

  

The Jesuit order which established this missionary outpost is appreciative of the Sisters, especially a specialist like Sr Joma, who now faces the onerous task of scaling up the health services.

The Medical Team

DAYASADAN DAVAKHANA, ZANKHVAV, SOUTH GUJARAT

DAYASADAN DAVAKHANA, ZANKHVAV, SOUTH GUJARAT

 

Daughters of the Cross run  the Dayasadan Davakhana in Zankhvav, South Gujarat. Dr Sr Annette Fernandes ( Batch of ’78) has been holding the fort there for the past 27 years. An astute clinician, she has worked with meagre resources treating all kinds of clinical cases, often being the only qualified doctor in the entire region.

The region itself has seen improvement in the last few decades, a far cry from the time patients used to be brought in cloth cradles on bamboo poles.

With a strong commitment to community health programs, the Centre has been consistently awarded the best healthcare organisation in the NGO sector in the last few years. Sr Annette has also been organising camps at her centre; she is especially proud of the one where a group of Johnite doctors- Gary Chen, Dominic Lobo, Dr Srs Angela, Roshni, Shiny etc came over to help her.  The next camp in April 2012 is for children with cleft lip/palate where a group of doctors from Surat are coming in.

Recognition from the Gujarat government- the first of many

One of the outstanding contributions of Sr Annette has been in the field of sickle cell anaemia. Noticing the numerous cases of sickle cell anaemia, especially in crisis, she wrote up a proposal for large scale screening of the community. From the years 2002-05, in addition to her clinical work, she systematically screened 100 villages with health workers and established a comprehensive registry of all the inhabitants, showing people with the disease and career traits. Due to the consistent follow up and counselling, there has been a marked decrease in the morbidity and patients coming in sickle cell crisis.

The meticulous sickle cell registers

A clinician with a deep commitment to community and tribal health, she has also been the first to volunteer in times of crises like the Orissa super cyclone and the Gujarat communal riots (some of those experiences can be included in another post). Her fervent wish at present is for another doctor at her centre, freeing her for some time to work in the outreaches with the tribals.

Faced with de recognition- Johnites on the streets in protest(Archives)

The Batch of '78(Archives)

A personal note of thanks and wishes

A personal note of thanks

Three days before my trip to Gujarat, I met with an accident on the Bangalore Airport road which left me deeply shaken and stirred (in more ways than one). My vehicle and the road divider fortunately took most of the impact, with yours truly landing up with a badly sore shoulder and knee. Nursing real and imaginary bruises the morning after, I got a surprise call. 

Here was Dr Gary Chen (Batch of ’78) calling me from Bharuch, Gujarat. What followed has left me deeply grateful . He called me up to tell me that I need not worry about conveyance or other logistics when in Gujarat. True to word, from the time I reached Vadodara to the time I left, Gary and Sr Annette (also Batch of ’78, more about her in a subsequent post) made sure that everything was taken care of. Gary himself dropped me to the Ankleshwar station when I left Gujarat. Little does he realize just how much I needed this at that point.

Neelam and Gary Chen

Coincidentally, now in Dimapur(Nagaland), where I am stuck due to an ULFA ( Assam) bandh,another Johnite from the same batch, Dr Bijoy Sethi is taking care of me.

Bijoy and Sarita Sethi

Here is providence acting in the form of affectionate Johnites.

A meaningful and Happy Easter to all of you.

'Germany Hospital'- Jhansi

St Jude’s Hospital, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh

Stepping down at the Jhansi railway station, I mentioned St Jude’s Hospital and was greeted with blank stares. In Jhansi, this centre is popular as the ‘Germany Hospital’, a throwback to the time when there where German missionaries in the region.

One of the main reasons to visit this centre was the opportunity of meeting three generations of Johnite doctors in the same Hospital. Sr Faustina( Batch of ’63) has been at this Hospital from the time the congregation was handed over the Hospital from the German missionaries. She and Dr Sr Herman ( Batch of ’64) established the services over the initial period. Sr Herman has since moved to Ashta in Madhya Pradesh, where she continues to do wonderful work, alone for the most part- still doing Caesarians and emergency procedures. Sr Faustina, despite a limiting stroke recently, does regular OPD work.

Dr Sr Faustina

Dr Sr Augusta

Sr Augusta (Batch of ’74) has been at the centre for 3o years now. A paediatrician, she has over the years developed services at the Hospital, which now is considered one of the better referral centres.

Dr Sr Bindu

Sr Bindu( Batch of 2000) is the junior Johnite here, She is learning the ropes before she moves on to her own centre in the outreaches ( Nagpur district).

At the Hospital Chapel