A unique hospital in Palwal is putting back smile on children and hope for their parents with thepower of healing touch and treatment at no cost.
Situated in Palwal, 60 KM south from New Delhi, Shri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital treats children with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD).This is one of the 3 Sanjeevani Hospitals; the other two are located in Raipur, Chhattisgarh& Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra.In India one out of every 100 children are born with cardiac ailment.
The hospital offers world class service but has no billing section. The hospital provides free food to all their patients and their parents. Lodging is provided too which proves very helpful as patients and their parents come from nook and corner of India.
The scale at which this Institution is being run needs much more funding, to strengthen the facilities of the hospital. More Operation Theatres are needed with advanced diagnostics, clinical tests and allied tech support in the form of machines.
Vivek Gour, Co-Founder of Heart to Heart Foundation and one of the supporters of the Hospital says, “Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common congenital problem in children accounting for nearly 25% of all congenital malformations.”
“The prevalence of CHD within India is approximately 2.5 Crores. Early recognition of such diseases is of immense importance as clinical presentation and deterioration can lead to sudden collapse”, he says.
The hospital receives patients not only from remote parts of India but also from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Afghanistan and treats them for free. Its vision is to serve the cause of “Right to Healthy Childhood” through creation of a holistic ecosystem, resulting in reducing the global congenital heart disease burden.
State of the Art Centre
The hospital offers state-of-the-art modular operating rooms for open-heart surgery and houses India’s first exclusive Cath Lab for congenital heart disease which was funded by TATA trusts. Sanjeevani Centres boasts of India’s largest, exclusive PediatricCardiac Intensive care units.
Prevention& Early Detection
Gour says causes for CHD cannot be pin pointed. “The Centre aims at unravelling the possible causes of CHD at Advanced Human Genomic Research Lab setup in the hospital premise”, he says.
The Centre will procure samples of CHD patients and family from across the Group of Sanjeevani Hospitals, and is set to be the Largest Biobank in the country for CHD.
The Centre will also have strategic tie up with National & International Institutes of repute to do collaborative work on finding causes and solutions to address the issue of Congenital Heart Disease.
Apart from this, he says, the hospital has started its community interventions as apart from curative care, it is also imperative to focus on the preventive and educative healthcare spectrum.
Sanjeevani launched the Divine Child Health Program in 2013- a comprehensive early detection and systemic health screening program for rural school going children. The program expanded into the Divine Mother & Child Health Program in September 2017, focusing on Preventive Care for Pregnant Women and Children.
Medical Ethics: Care with Compassion
While Healthcare is considered as Industry, Sanjeevani’s model of Healthcare breaks the commercial norms and brought in Compassionate Healthcare which is brings enormous value to patient care. Today Sanjeevani’s model of Compassionate Healthcare is being studied by Ministry of HRD to formalise Compassionate Healthcare as part of Curriculum.
There are also formal training programs for the Nursing Staff from International Experts to understand and inculcate love and compassionin Patient Care.
Impact
As per Gour, A Totally Free of Cost Compassionate Healthcare provided to the child & family is considered by him as an Investment and not an Expense. TheseChildren will be future Doctors, Scientists, Artists etc who shall not onlycontribute to the GDP of the Nation but also be torchbearers of eternal values of Selfless Giving brining Goodness & Harmony in the society.
Financing
The Hospitals are run by Sri Sathya Sai Health & Education Trust and has seen Institutions and Individuals from India and Abroad supporting the cause. But the enormity of the problem is humungous and it demands multiple times expansion of Sanjeevani’s capacity which needs increased support from the Society to address this National Problem.
Heart to Heart Foundation, founded by Gourhas supported400 surgeries as of now and plans to support 2000 per year.
“We are looking for partners in the mission. All it requires is ‘heart’ to bring back smiles in the little ones of the country”, he says.
