News and Stories

News on GHRC
Focus on Physiotherapy – 2002
Dadi Janki’s (The President), message for the 10th anniversary of GHRC – 2001
Village Outreach Programme … Dec 2000
Nurse Training Centre – April 2000
Chairman’s Report - 1999

 

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Focus on Physiotherapy at
Global Hospital & Research Centre – 2002

Ram Prasad, physiotherapist at GHRC, has a varied and busy job, fitting in referrals from the wards, out-patient appointments, educational input to nurse training and occasional lectures on sports injuries to local organizations.

Averaging 35 patients a day, Ram is ably assisted by Kiranjee, the physiotherapy technician. To outpatients, he is able to offer all the electro-therapy modalities seen in most physiotherapy departments: diathermy, shortwave, differential ultrasound etc, as well as teaching exercises suitable for home treatment and for prevention of injury. He introduces some simple ayurvedic treatments, where they complement his approach, for example, applying an ayurvedic oil for muscle pain and joint stiffness.

On the wards, Ram follows up all the joint-replacement patients seen by resident and visiting orthopaedic surgeons as well as all the trauma injuries. He also attends neurological patients, training relatives and carers to apply the appropriate treatment regimes.

An 8-year-old child, unable to move any of his body, was referred to him after a meningitis infection. During a month's stay at GHRC, Ram diligently applied passive movement to all his joints, to prevent joint contractures and cleared his chest daily. Gradually, as the child's strength increased, Ram was able to teach exercises and finally to encourage him to walk. Splintage of his hand was necessary to correct a contracture of the wrist. In the last photo you can see him going up the stairs very happily.

Ram Prasad has been meditating since the age of 10, in his home state of Tamil Nadu and always had a keen interest in sports. It was during a visit to Global Hospital , as a teenager, that he was inspired to take up physiotherapy and over the last 3 years, since qualification, he has been working at GHRC, something he thoroughly enjoys. Ram feels that the combination of meditation and spiritual pract ic e has enhanced his ability to focus on his work and decide quickly on appropriate treatment.

Joy Rendell , Senior Occupational Therapist & Trustee of The Janki Foundation

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Excerpt of Message from Dadi Janki
President of The Janki Foundation for Global Health Care

For the tenth anniversary celebration of GHRC and the launch conference of the International Association of Consultants for Spirituality in Medicine – 2001

Hospitals in many parts of the world are performing great wonders, often at great expense, in terms of technical achievement. Universally, however, health care systems suffer shortages of two important ingredients and as a result, health and happiness are generally in decline.

The missing ingredients are compassion and truth. Compassion comes when the heart is full, so that it easily reaches out to others who are in need. Compassion flows from inner peace and as patients receive this peace, both body and mind start to heal.

Truth is also necessary and means recognising ourselves as spiritual beings, and knowing God. When we live with this true awareness, compassion is automatically present.

The wonder of the Global Hospital and Research Centre is that its doctors, nurses and others are working with truth and compassion, as well as high technical skills. So it is more than a hospital and more than a research centre. It is a lighthouse, pointing the way to a better world.

Through the example of the lives of all who serve at Global Hospital , visitors can see a practical demonstration of the value of spiritual understanding and lifestyle. The atmosphere of peace and love promotes healing and well-being for the patients.

In just 10 years, it has won national and international support, co-operation and recognition for its holistic approach to health care. Through its research projects, particularly the Coronary Artery Disease Reversal Programme conducted with the Defence Institute of Physiology, Delhi , it has brought lasting positive change into the lives of many patients whilst playing an educational role in India and abroad.

As President of the UK-based Janki Foundation for Global Health Care, I would like to pledge the Foundation's continuing support for GHRC, and for the task of sharing globally the values, methods and achievements pioneered at the hospital.

BK Janki

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The Village Outreach Programme: December 2000

Dr Vinay Lakshmi, MBBS, DRCOG(UK), the driving force behind the village outreach programme, was awarded a Certificate of Honour by the Government of Sirohi District on 15th August 2000, India’s Independence Day, for the outstanding service of the outreach programme.

Having worked in Indian hospitals for 2 years and for 10 years in teaching hospitals throughout the UK, Vinay Lakshmi joined Global Hospital, while it was being constructed, in 1991. She recalls, "I spent two hours a day looking after the labourers and the families who were working on the hospital. On reflection, I suppose this was the birth of the outreach programme."

Eighty percent of Mt Abu's population is spread over 90 remote villages and is too poor to afford medical treatment and is mostly unable to reach the hospital. Dr Lakshmi was determined to take the hospital to them. "In the beginning I would hire a jeep and literally head for the hills!" Although fitted in between gynaecology clinics and general commitments at the hospital, the outreach service continued to grow and eventually needed an ambulance desperately. "One day, an 'American tourist' came out to the villages with me. Six months later we found a new ambulance on the doorstep of the hospital!" This 'tourist', deeply touched by the work, was in fact from Rotary International and only too happy to help.

Individual inspiration, in fact, appears to be the ‘secret of success’ underpinning the work of village outreach. At first, Dr Lakshmi worked alone. "However, as my patients recovered from illness, many became my assistants. They would help with dressings and simple procedures, after I'd given them basic training. Now we have a small team, two ambulances and a newly appointed project worker who is helping with the nutrition project at Salgoan village."

Building up trust took time and was not easy. "Initially, they were sceptical of 'do gooders' coming in from outside. However, being a female doctor helped as the women are more at ease with me and maternal mortality is high. Now they have accepted us and we are often invited, as friends, to their tribal functions."
Malnutrition is still the most prevalent problem. GHRC facilitated the donation of funds and expertise for a new school building at Salgoan, a prominent village 'adopted' by the outreach programme. Two existing classrooms were completely renovated and furnished and three new ones were constructed - quite different from the dim, musty schoolrooms generally found in India’s remote villages. A school playground was also created. Thereafter, a dietary project to provide free milk and a nutritionally balanced mid-morning snack, including porridge, nuts, chick peas and cereals, has been initiated. This supplements the normally nutrient-deficient diet of these villagers and is tremendously popular with the children.

Since it started in January 2000, two thirds of the Salgoan village schoolchildren have gained weight. They have also gained height and show considerable improvement in general health. As a result, school attendance and examination results have improved. The Principal, Mrs Pavan Aggarwal, says the children's concentration, self-confidence and general morale has increased. Now the problem is that surrounding villages are seeking admission for their children and the school intake has already increased by 33%!

Report by Dr David Goodman,
Community Dentist and Trustee of The Janki Foundation

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The Nurse Training Centre at
Global Hospital & Research Centre – April 2000

Since its inception in 1995, there has been slow but steady progress for the Nurse Training Centre at GHRC. Established with funding from a charitable trust in India and the Dutch Government, the training centre began as a makeshift classroom but has now expanded into a well equipped unit, with a teaching room for 25 -30 students and a small library facility. The faculty is run by Dr Indu Chandramani, Director of Nursing services and Mathilde Sergeant, a Nurse Tutor from the Netherlands who is now resident in Mt Abu.

During 1999 the intake numbered 17. Student attendance has been gradually improving. As each group progresses, the students themselves have been enthusiastically recommending the course to their peers. Avenues for employment in and around Mt Abu are limited, thus the centre is providing a welcome opportunity for some local young people to train as nurse assistants.

Jagdish, one of the trainees commented, "I come from one of the nearby villages and I have always had the desire to help people. The training programme has given me a great chance to do something worthwhile, help my family financially and also to put something back into my local community."

Dr Pratap, the Hospital Superintendent said, "The course has been carefully designed to give trainees theoretical knowledge and also a practical understanding of the challenges of the nursing profession. There are around 250 hours study of human anatomy, emergency nursing and first aid, child care and nutrition and 450 hours of practical training which includes six months internship. The objective is to equip the students with basic nursing skills for the care of people of all ages with differing needs, within the hospital as well as in the community health programmes."

He continued, "The assistants have been very useful as they work on the wards and in the outpatient clinics and operating room. With the village outreach programme, particularly in the blindness prevention programmes, they have been especially helpful as they are trained to screen for cataracts and then refer patients to the base camp at Abu Road or the hospital directly. More recently we had a very successful Oral Health Day organised by John, facial surgeon and Genifer Fleet, Dental Health Educator from Jersey in the UK. This was conducted with some of our trainees in their home villages. We find the young students are enthusiastic to learn new techniques and nursing skills and because they can speak to people in their own language and are from similar backgrounds the patients quickly feel at ease.”

Certainly the determination of the students has to be admired. Many live in small one-roomed dwellings with up to five other family members - not ideal conditions for home study and yet they have progressed well. This situation will be greatly improved by the completion of the nurses’ hostel, due to open shortly. This was made possible in collaboration with the Dutch government who granted funds equal to those provided by the hospital.

In keeping with the ethos of the hospital and the motto ‘Physician Heal Thyself’, the nurse training course emphasises the development of an holistic approach to nursing care. Relaxation techniques such as meditation and positive thinking have been introduced to the trainees. Some students have now integrated this into their work by offering positive thinking sessions to selected patients in their native dialect.

Dr David Goodman

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Chairman's Report - 1999
The Janki Foundation for Global Health Care

The Janki Foundation for Global Health Care was launched at The Royal College of Physicians in London in December 1997 to support and develop the life-saving work of the Global Hospital and Research Centre and its School of Nursing (Registered Charity) on Mt Abu, Rajasthan , India . The GHRC is a small, acute District General Hospital (120 beds) which serves over 200,000 rural and tribal people in some 90 villages scattered throughout Rajasthan. There are no other hospital facilities in the district.

Global Hospital 's research programme targets not only advances in the management and eradication of malnutrition, tuberculosis, diabetes and cataracts, which are widespread, but also advances in the treatment of stress-related major diseases, hypertension and coronary artery disease. As a testimony to the unique standing of Global Hospital , their Heart Symposium in May 1998 attracted over 800 distinguished cardiologists, metabolic doctors and nurses, physiologists and cardiac surgeons from across India.

The GHRC is a pioneer in the development of holistic healing practices that include a meditation programme. We believe this will make a unique contribution to improving global health in the millennium year as through the art of meditation and self-healing, patients and health professionals alike can conquer stress-related diseases.

We wish to thank all our donors and the entire team of workers, without whose sterling support none of our listed targets would have been possible within our first year. We must especially thank our patrons, Lord Norrie and Manibhai Patel, MBE, for their constant presence, arduous work and encouragement. Dadi Janki, my fellow Trustees and I will continue to do our utmost to attract new friends and urgent contributions to start a cancer unit in Mt Abu and to nurture and propagate this crucial work.

Dr Ray Bhatt
Chairman of The Janki Foundation

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