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