Labour Analgesia, an Article by Dr. Parashar published in BD

Bring Cheers and Wipe off Tears

POLIO PATIENTS IN NEED OF CORRECTIVE SURGERY

The Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital (SDMH) Outreach Initiative aims to reach out to the needy and underprivileged members of society. We do this by organizing Monthly Health and Rehabilitation Camps as also through numerous other endeavors. These have been organized for almost two years now. Click the link to see the pictures of Rehabilitation Camps.

In the last camp at Tilonia (in Ajmer district) on 10-11 July 2010, a total of 78 patients, mostly amputees and polio victims, reported for rehabilitation. Seven of them could be fitted with artificial limbs in situ. Measurements were taken for another 30 complex cases for fitting limbs/polio calipers at SDMH. The cost of fitting limbs/polio calipers is being born by the hospital.

There were also 10 young patients, mostly below 35 years of age, suffering from post polio paralysis with fixed joint deformity in lower limbs, needing corrective surgery to make them ‘Locomotive Disability Free’. These patients have a long residual life ahead of them. In order to enable them to lead a life of hope, dignity and respect, surgery is the recommended line of action. On an average, each surgery costs Rs. 50,000/- and, thus, a sum of Rs 5 lacs is involved. All patients are from extremely poor families, and are not in a position to bear the cost of surgery.

In the recent past, SDMH management has undertaken various social and charity initiatives, and more are on the cards. We have funded corrective surgeries and treatment for a number of paraplegic cases from certain NGOs as also in the case of patients from the previous camp (in May 2010) at Sawai Madhopur. Through this blog we wish to reach out to potential donors for help in alleviating the suffering of unfortunate polio victims. Please let us know if you wish to sponsor such surgery or make any donation to give new hope to such patients. Donation may be forwarded in favour of Durlabhji Outreach Trust, and is the same exempted under section 80 G of the IT Act 1961. Alternatively, the amount may be given directly to the patients, under intimation to us. You can mail us at sdmhadm@hotmail.com or call us at 99296-07041, 99296-07081.

Details of these patients are given at Appendix attached.

An account of firsthand experience with SDMH - a mail received from an overjoyed father.

Dear Dr.Fayyaz,

Thank you for giving us our most precious gift- Our daughter Aaina.

I am writing to tell you how grateful we are for the wonderful tasks you and your team did for us. We have no words to describe our appreciation because what you did is invaluable, really, thank you.

When we were deciding on where to get the delivery done, there were several doubts/questions which were coming to our minds. We had on one hand the option of choosing the most distinguished hospitals which are on big on brand name & are most professionally managed with SDMH on the other hand. We chose SDMH above the popular hospitals because of the good things we heard about your expertise and aptitude, and as first time parents we gave priority to the well being of the child rather than the brand name of the Hospital.

Our stay at the LDR was wonderful and stress free, the nursing staff treated us like guests in their own home. I would like to mention a few instances which have left an everlasting impression in our minds. On the night of the delivery, Sister Priyanka Yadav kept our daughter very cozy in her lap and didn’t wink an eye throughout the night. And in the evening when our daughter was diagnosed with jaundice and was not comfortable in undertaking the light therapy, Sister Josmi K.J kept standing next to the incubator for 11 hours and gave us the comfort that our daughter was in safe hands. This is something which you can never expect from even the most qualified nursing staff in the top notch hospitals of India.

I would also like to mention the experience of Sister Manta Yadav and Sanju Dular in the three days we spend at the LDR and not to forget Lalita (Baijee) who kept the LRD spic and span and was always a call away.

Today when our daughter is 15 days old, we are very sure in our minds that we took the right decision of getting our first child delivered at SDMH and under your expert care.

Thank you for all your help. You did it so well and so willingly, and taught us a lot. We can't thank you enough or adequately express our appreciation. If ever there is some way that we can repay you please don't hesitate to call us.

Thank you yet again.
Best wishes to you and your team.

Regards,
Aaina, Aaysu and Nitin Choudhary

Crafting the "Temple of Healing"

Like most great institutions, the Santokba Durlabhji hospital had a very modest start over 4 decades ago. The year was 1963 when, during an evening stroll, Dr. Tarachand Gangwal proposed to Shri Khailshanker Durlabhji – ‘Khelu Bhai’, as he was endearingly called - that a diagnostic clinic be started on a “no profit, no loss basis”. The clinic began without any hype or fanfare in a small corner of the Modi Dharamshala, opposite SMS Hospital. It became an instant success. The State Government recognized the potential of this highly useful public utility undertaking, and further strengthened it by lending to it the services of its medical experts. This encouraged the Founder to start a Maternity cum Nursing Home in C-Scheme in 1968.

The successful foray into the hitherto unexplored private sector further emboldened Khelubhai. Being a visionary in mind, and a missionary at heart, he embarked upon a bigger and more ambitious venture - the present-day Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital cum Medical Research Institute. SDMH was inaugurated by Smt. Indra Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, on 29^th November, 1971. Khelu Bhai’s dream of perpetuating the memory of his revered father by building a “Temple of Healing” for the sick and the needy became reality.

Right from inception, the hospital, with its modest bed strength of 80 beds and only 6 specialities, was imbued with the noble spirit of providing state-of-the-art health care at affordable rates through a strong commitment for excellence. In fact, the Santokba Durlabhji Trust, which managed the hospital, epitomized excellence, and firmly believed in rendering the "best service at minimal cost”. That is why, even after 39 years, the expenditure still exceeds the income from the patients. Further, no patient is ever denied treatment because he is too poor to pay.

Over the years, the span and scope of the hospital have undergone a metamorphosis, a huge sea-change. Specialties and super-specialities have been extended and expanded, with multiple procedures, surgeries and facilities - all under one roof.

Some milestones include:

1. A very well-equipped Blood Bank with NAT test facility.

2. A Computer Centre for supporting and co-ordinating multifarious hospital activities.

3. A spacious “atithigrah”, where relatives of indoor patients stay for a token payment.

4. A Physiotherapy Department ranked among the top centres of the country.

5. An on-line library.

6. A NABL accreditation diagnostic lab which is considered to be the Mecca of histopathology in Rajasthan.

7. Avedna Ashram: It is a hospice for terminally ill patients. Here the health-care staff works sincerely and patiently “to add life to a person’s days, when medicines cannot add days to his life”. The Ashram was described by the Hon’ble A P J Abdul Kalam as the “Work of God – this institution of kindness”.

8. An outreach programme where we tend to the people, the world tends to forget.

In addition, the hospital has become part and parcel of academia. It is recognized for post-graduate training by the University of Rajasthan, the Medical Council of India and the National Board of Examination.

It conclusion, it is to be emphasized that although exponential growth in medical amenities, facilities and services has occurred in record time, the trustees have never deviated from the basic tenets and essential philosophy of the Founder - namely, to blend the sophisitication and scope of services of the new millennium medical centre with the compassion, empathy and warmth of a community hospital.

Yogendra Durlabhji

SERVICE TO HUMANITY

Empathy is the word that immediately comes to mind as I think of my father. Empathy is aptly defined as someone else’s pain in your heart. My father felt the pain of many in his.

He was deeply affected by the plight of the pavement dwellers he drove past on his way to work – he would cover them with blankets during clandestine outings at night.

That shared pain for those who dwelt on pavements and lived on the periphery of life was evident at the hospital we know as Santokba. Santokba is the story of his vision which impacted a million lives. It is the story of the love and dedication of a family that, for almost 40 years now, has made Rajasthan a healthier place to live in. It is the story of nurses, technicians and doctors, of carpenters and electricians, of patients, attendants and residents. It is not about martyrdom or about sacrifice but about care, compassion and concern.

Khelubhai, or Khailshanker ji, conceptualized Santokba in the 60s in the course of his daily walkathons with Dr. Tarachand ji Gangwal.

Smt Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister, inaugurated the hospital in 1971. My brother, Rashmi, translated my father’s dream into cement and glass, IV drips and syringes, residents and rooms.

The family has carried on manfully – despite constraints, and disregarding handicaps. It has overcome challenges and hurdles, and it has done so with panache. It is a loving legacy that Pappa handed over to caring hands. For him, the hospital was the summun bonum of his very existence. He lived for the hospital, and the hospital lived in him. It filled his hours and days. Lovingly, he felt for the patients admitted there, and for their attendants. He was sensitive to their every need, sympathetic to their every requirement, responsive to their every problem.

We strive to carry the torch forward in this same spirit of joy and understanding. As we so fondly remember Pappa, we dedicate ourselves to creating the Santokba he always visualized.

Santokba was the true happiness that he may have missed out on at work. It was his life, quite literally. So is it ours.

Yogi Durlabhji