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St. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand First newsletter from Shubhro and Elisabeth at St Luke’s Hospital Hiranpur . On 9th August we left Scotland for a new venture here in India to revive medical and nursing services in a small village in the state of Jharkhand (formerly Bihar). The village is Hiranpur, and St Luke’s Hospital lies in a lovely situation surrounded by hills. The Church Missionary Society (Church of England) established St Luke’s Hospital here in 1929. First a little bit of history…………… Dr. H. C. Edmunds St Luke’s original Medical Superintendent served here from 1929 to 1959 and was greatly loved and highly respected by everyone. He handed over the reigns to Drs. Bryan and Helen Thompson in 1955, and they like Dr. Edmunds were hugely admired and loved and gave their entire working lives to serving the people of this area. Drs. Bryan and Helen Thompson retired from St Luke’s in 1 989 but a quarter century later, not a day passes without a patient mentioning ‘Thompson Sahib’ with pride and gratitude. Both the Edmunds and Thompson families made a big sacrifice having to be separated from their children for education, but those ‘children’ still follow what is happening here in St Luke’s Hospital with prayerful and practical support. In February this year, Dr. Elizabeth Edmunds ( Dr. Edmund’s daughter – also a medical doctor, now in her 80’s travelled up from her home in the south of England to Glasgow to discuss with a small group of us the possibility of revivi ng St Luke’s. Dr. Barnabas Murmu, the present Medical Superintendent had served here faithfully, working alongside the Thompsons as a young man, and taking over the leadership when they left in 1989. But, in recent years, as is the case in so many of the old mission hospitals, it had become impossible to recruit either nursing or medical staff, and the hospital gradually ground to a halt, closing its doors even to outpatients on 5 th March 2014. The meeting in February was held in the home of Dr. Kirsteen Dutton (nee Thompson their youngest daughter.) Kirsteen is also a doctor, an ophthalmologist, born in St Luke’s, and having spent her formative years here in India, considers St Luke’s her se cond home. Kirsteen and Elisabeth renewed contact and friendship in 1994, when Kirsteen was working In Purulyia Leprosy Mission, and Elisabeth in KSN Hospital Sarenga.

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Page 1: St. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand · PDF fileSt. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand First newsletter from Shubhro and Elisabeth at St Luke’s Hospital Hiranpur

St. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand

First newsletter from Shubhro and Elisabeth at St Luke’s Hospital Hiranpur.

On 9th August we left Scotland for a new venture here in India – to revive medical and nursing services in a small village in the state of Jharkhand (formerly Bihar).

The village is Hiranpur, and St Luke’s Hospital lies in a lovely situation surrounded by hills. The Church Missionary Society (Church of England) established St Luke’s Hospital here in 1929.

First – a little bit of history……………

Dr. H. C. Edmunds – St Luke’s original Medical Superintendent served here from 1929 to 1959 and was greatly loved and highly respected by everyone.

He handed over the reigns to Drs. Bryan and Helen Thompson in 1955, and they like Dr. Edmunds were hugely admired and loved and gave their entire working lives to serving the people of this area. Drs. Bryan and Helen Thompson retired from St Luke’s in 1989 – but a quarter century later, not a day passes without a patient mentioning ‘Thompson Sahib’ with pride and gratitude.

Both the Edmunds and Thompson families made a big sacrifice – having to be separated from their children for education, but those ‘children’ still follow what is happening here in St Luke’s Hospital with prayerful and practical support.

In February this year, Dr. Elizabeth Edmunds ( Dr. Edmund’s daughter – also a medical doctor, now in her 80’s travelled up from her home in the south of England to Glasgow to discuss with a small group of us the possibility of reviving St Luke’s.

Dr. Barnabas Murmu, the present Medical Superintendent had served here faithfully, working alongside the Thompsons as a young man, and taking over the leadership when they left in 1989. But, in recent years, as is the case in so many of the old mission hospitals, it had become impossible to recruit either nursing or medical staff, and the hospital gradually ground to a halt, closing its doors even to outpatients on 5th March 2014.

The meeting in February was held in the home of Dr. Kirsteen Dutton (nee Thompson – their youngest daughter.) Kirsteen is also a doctor, an ophthalmologist, born in St Luke’s, and having spent her formative years here in India, considers St Luke’s her second home. Kirsteen and Elisabeth renewed contact and friendship in 1994, when Kirsteen was working In Purulyia Leprosy Mission, and Elisabeth in KSN Hospital Sarenga.

Page 2: St. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand · PDF fileSt. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand First newsletter from Shubhro and Elisabeth at St Luke’s Hospital Hiranpur

St Luke’s has 170 beds, but with the potential for 250, and the predominant need is for maternal, child and eye services. But to run the hospital, we need resources, both human and financial. Initially, to get services up and running Shubhro budgeted for around £3000 per month, so we set about fundraising, in the hope we could get 300 people to agree to donate £10 per month.

Eventually, with funding, St Luke’s will be able to function fully again on a no profit, no loss basis.

But, to do this effectively, there needs to be proper governance, with a Governing Body, and Hospital Service Rules, so that discipline and accountability be maintained. St Luke’s has financial liabilities, which need to be dealt with prior to re-opening the hospital and running it under a transparent constitution.

For all this to even get off the ground, we need to build up a team - not just medical and nursing, but administrative, legal, and financial.

Our first priority is to the patients we serve, and at present our small team can only offer outpatient services. It may take years to establish a full team around us, and the same time to rebuild the infrastructure to deal with patients, but we have a strong sense of God’s leading and desire that this old hospital should once again become the thriving institution it once was.

We are very privileged to be working alongside, two retired Auxiliary Nurse Midwives – Sister Susanna Tudu and Sister Jyoti Baha – between them they have given over one hundred years of service here, and nursed not just the parents, but the grandparents of the patients we see in the clinic from day to day.

The present hospital staff consist of Dr. Barnabas Murmu, Shubhro and Elisabeth, Sister Susanna and Sister Jyoti, and James Hembrom a radiographer– also retired. Then we have a younger Nursing Aid Kamalini, Kalidasi, our cleaner, and two maintenance/multipurpose workers Bhairon and Lal Mohammed. We also have two night guards Michael and Biswanath who patrol the entire hospital campus in the night. Peter Paul helps with patient registration and is an ‘all-rounder’ acting as the teams ‘eyes’ and ‘ears’ and generally being aware of what’s going on.

In our first three months we have seen over 1450 new patients and around 700 returns – the clinic runs 6 days a week. We try to have a half day on Saturday, but often we are still there at 3pm. Sunday the clinic remains closed. Initially we saw patients on the verandah, but now we have moved into a ward, with more privacy, and shelter from the elements. There is still no water or electricity connection for the hospital, so we see patients by torchlight for the last 1-2 hours each day.

A story which illustrates the dire poverty of people here, and their helplessness in tragic circumstances…..a teenage girl Sarala (name changed) was brought from her home a mile away in a rope bed carried on poles to the St Luke’s OPD - she was clearly very sick, rousable but not fully conscious, deathly pale with a soaring fever, and pus pouring out of her. She had delivered her first baby at home under the care of a village dai (untrained local ‘’midwife’’). At delivery her baby son did not cry, and seemed to have breathing difficulty, was never able to suck and after a few hours started having convulsions which carried on until he died three days later. Sarala lost a lot of blood at delivery (according to her Mum) and from her third postnatal day she was running a high fever. It was not

Page 3: St. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand · PDF fileSt. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand First newsletter from Shubhro and Elisabeth at St Luke’s Hospital Hiranpur

until she became sleepy and not easily rousable that her family decided to bring her to St Luke’s Hospital (SLH) - the closest to her home.

With this story and a very brief examination it was clear Sarala was in septic shock and needed hospitalisation, intravenous antibiotics and a blood transfusion. Explaining the seriousness of the situation to the family, and the fact that Sarala could die without the correct treatment, they got money together and organised an auto (three wheeler vehicle) to take Sarala to the nearest government hospital about 15 miles away. The most tragic part of this story is that Sarala was booked to deliver her baby in this same government hospital. Because the family fall below the poverty line they are given free treatment in the government hospital, and free transport to and from the hospital. But the free ambulance transport can only happen twice, and during her pregnancy at 7 months and then again at eight months Sarala had episodes of false labour pain, so she had used up her two free ambulance transports to the hospital, and when it came to her true labour the family had no financial means to get her to the government hospital 15 miles away. Had she been delivered there, she would most likely be now at home with her baby son.

This elderly gentleman could only manage to come to St Luke’s OPD, because his slightly less elderly friend offered to take him on his bicycle. It was during the rainy season – you can see the umbrella hooked over the handlebars, but neither of these men had shoes. It was painfully difficult for the old man to walk down the steps with the aid of his stick, and having got to the bottom of the steps and handed his stick to his friend, you can see in his face his anxious determination to get himself seated. Once on, he is contemplating the long painful journey home with the possibility of further heavy rain en route.

And …..finally they are off.

Page 4: St. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand · PDF fileSt. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand First newsletter from Shubhro and Elisabeth at St Luke’s Hospital Hiranpur

We can vouch for just how difficult it is to balance seated on the back of the bike – it is almost easier for the person in front pushing the bike, though this is also a challenge with somebody sitting behind.

And the little 8 year old girl below also managed to get to the OPD with her parents on a bicycle. When I saw them arriving, I wondered why they needed so many blankets on the back of the bike, until I saw the blankets ‘moving’ and noticed a little foot underneath. This little girl is in acute kidney failure, but we do not know why. The most likely cause is a preceding infection, since she had been apparently well until a few weeks previously. You can see her eyelids and tummy are swollen up with fluid, and if you look carefully you can also see

some brown marks on her tummy. These are healing ‘’burn marks’’ – burning the skin on the outside is a traditional ‘’treatment’’ for any ailment which is going on in the inside, so this little one has been subjected to the ‘’burning treatment’’. Apart from all the fluid that swells her tummy and cause discomfort, being in kidney failure is exhausting, and having to contemplate travelling by bicycle only

increases her suffering – but she and her parents were desperate for a cure.

Here she is with her Dad, preparing to go home – she will put her arms around her Mum, who will be sitting on the saddle, and her Dad will peddle them both - a really difficult balancing act for all three.

When we worked in Sarenga KSN Hospital in the early 1990’s occasionally patients were brought in on rope beds. But as the roads improved, and the people’s means improved it became a rare sight, and has not been seen in Sarenga for the past decade. But in SLH there are still many families who have no form of transport….and this is their only option. Here, the majority come to OPD walking, but occasionally by bicycle motorcycle or rarely by car.

In early October, a surgeon, Dr. R K Chadhuri - from Pakur Government Hospital ‘phoned Shubhro to offer his services at SLH for two half days a week. We were delighted, but knew we could not afford him, but Dr.Chaudhuri said he wanted to give his services on a voluntary basis as we were. And so he

joined us from 7th October. And it has been a real joy to work alongside him on Wednesdays and Fridays, for we know we can ask patients who need a surgical consultation to return to OPD when there is a qualified surgeon there. Only a few days after he joined there was an accident in SLH, where a man fell from the roof and broke his leg. At least that was our diagnosis…..but Shubhro was able to ‘phone Dr. Chaudhuri, who gave advice and then came to help

Page 5: St. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand · PDF fileSt. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand First newsletter from Shubhro and Elisabeth at St Luke’s Hospital Hiranpur

organise the patients management. Had Dr. Chaudhuri not been around we would have had to refer this patient to another hospital.

SLH has a working X-ray facility, and James our radiographer (back row extreme left in photo page 2) is more than capable of doing the X-ray. But there is neither electricity nor a working generator - both SLH generators had important components stolen during the time the hospital was closed – and the generator room roof and wall were broken so it was easy to enter and steal anything desired. There is now only one facility in Hiranpur where simple X-rays can be done, so having got the X-ray, which did indeed confirm a fracture, Dr. Chaudhuri came to set it. But he and Shubhro had to go round the 29 medicine shops in Hiranpur in order to get the last remaining five plaster of Paris (POP) rolls. Dr.Chaudhuri told us that over 40 years ago, as a little boy, he broke his arm. At that time, St Luke’s Hospital was the only hospital in a 70 mile radius where he was able, not only to get an X-Ray, but also have his broken arm set in POP.

Our patient, (who was only visiting Hiranpur – and wanted to get back to his family) needed to be able to get around, board a train to get back home, but for this he needed crutches. But………..there were none available, even in Pakur. So Shubhro set about showing Munshi how to design a pair of crutches from bamboo poles, and our patient is still three weeks later comfortably getting around on his bamboo crutches which are light and strong. The following few photographs show the process of making the crutches

Shubhro has set up a website where you can see what is going on at St. Luke’s Hospital. You may log on to the website at:-

www.slhhiranpur.wordpress.com

On opening the website, at the extreme top right hand corner of the home page, click on ‘’recent news’’, and here all the newsletters will be imported.

Prayers answered.

Give thanks for :-

Retired nursing and paramedical staff - sincere, kind to patients and very keen to see the hospital work again and flourish. They are very unselfish, willing to work without salary for the benefit of the patients. They are so content with little in the way of worldly possessions. They don’t know where their next meal will come from but trust it will, and meanwhile fill their stomachs with puffed rice (like rice crispies) - you can get a large sack of this for 10 pence.

An illustration of how they go that extra mile - literally…..one day an old man was asked to go and get a 5ml size syringe - his wife needed an injection - he came back with 8 x 2ml syringe. Again wrote prescription saying to please give money back for the eight 2ml syringes and let him buy one 5ml syringe. This time he returned with no syringe. So one of the nurses took pity on him and walked the mile to the bazar and back to buy the syringe, so his wife could get the injection she required.

Bishop Philip Marandih who persuaded the Bhagalpur Diocese Trust Association (BDTA) and the Diocesan Executive committee to go ahead with the Amended Constitution to make a Society of St Luke’s Hiranpur.

Page 6: St. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand · PDF fileSt. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand First newsletter from Shubhro and Elisabeth at St Luke’s Hospital Hiranpur

Salaries - Through the generosity of our friends and family in the UK, SLH staff have received August, September and October and November salaries for first time in two years, and with a 10% increment.

Again, with foreign financial support, all the Staff have uniforms - had not been supplied since 2006. These are small things, but encourage and motivate them, and give them pride in their hospital once more.

Building project - we are presently making the building where the generators will be housed, secure. We are hoping to have the generator up and running by December so that we do not have to work by torchlight from late afternoon onwards.

For the 1450 new patients who have come to us since August, and are spreading the word that there is 'new life' at St Luke's Hospital.

Dr. R K Chaudhuri - a surgeon from Pakur Government Hospital, who is working two half days a week at St Luke’s Hospital on a voluntary basis. Already many of our patients are now able to get a surgical consultation at St. Luke’s and several have gone on to surgery done by Dr.Chaudhuri himself.

Munshi - Munshi loves working outside in the garden, but he agreed to work in our home and garden from the day we arrived here. He has a permanent smile and works very hard, in spite of going without food the first day we were at OPD. He even had a smile on his face after having to clean up so so many cupboards, broken by termites, filled with rat droppings, and chewed up paper and cloth by the invading vermin. Everything has been bleached and phenyl treated and finally carbolic acid treated. With the need for gallons of water to clean, and having to bring every bucket some distance you can imagine how exhausting these first few weeks were for Munshi. We could not have managed without him.

Vedka - it became clear that Munshi, in spite of his willingness was struggling to maintain such a large home and garden, so one day we asked if he knew of anyone who could help him…..and so it was he found Vedka – and between them they manage everything perfectly.

Lal Mohammed - For the first two months Shubhro and I were living on moori (puffed rice) and a sort of lentil stew, because we could not find anyone willing to cook for us. Initially we had no gas either, so cooking ourselves was out of the question. Then we got a single gas ring and Elisabeth made some ‘campfire’ type meals by candlelight. Shubhro lost nearly a stone in weight. It was Jyothi and Susanna who had the idea one day of asking Lal Mohammed – one of our maintenance staff if he would cook for us just an hour six days a week…..and he agreed, and we are now having a good nourishing hot meal every day.

Prayer requests :-

Needs - people, people, people who have a true sense of calling and vocation.

Young nursing aids and at least one doctor to join us in a full time capacity.

In time, we need to get the right local youngsters to train both in laboratory work, and pharmacy.

In order to get reliable electric supply, we need both the generators repaired and the distribution system revamped. That will cost about Rs. 50,000/- (£500/-).

In order to keep St Luke’s Foreign Bank Account active, we required to submit an Audited report for both years 2013-14 and 2014-15. The deadline for submission was September 2015. Pray that we will still be able to operate that account, or find an alternative way to receive foreign donations.

The amended constitution has been passed by BDTA, but now requires submission on the proper application form with covering letter signed by Bishop Marandih confirming BDTA has agreed to the amendment. Pray this amended constitution may go ahead smoothly, so that the new Governing Body can meet and start the ball rolling for registration of the hospital.

That patients will accept the slow re-development of the hospital services and be patient with us as we try to develop one small thing every month to make their lives easier.

And this comes with our gratitude to all of you who encourage us daily, help out in practical ways, and above all pray - we could not do this without you.

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And it only remains for us to wish you all a very happy and blessed Christmas, and to thank you so very, very much for your continued interest and prayers without which the past year would have been very hard – instead we have a hope and a future, and are excited as we move forward into another new year. And may you also be richly blessed in the coming new year.

With our love

Shubhro and Elisabeth

Page 8: St. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand · PDF fileSt. Luke’s Hospital. Hiranpur. Pakur. Jharkhand First newsletter from Shubhro and Elisabeth at St Luke’s Hospital Hiranpur