SHREE BABA HAIDAKHAN CHARITABLE & RESEARCH HOSPITAL, CHILIANAULA

A natural outcome of the emphasis on karma yoga was Babaji’s forceful and potent philosophy of social welfare. Man had to serve man to raise his physical and intellectual levels. Slowly Baba began to disseminate the importance of caring for man’s mental and physical well being if he was to grow spiritually, and narrowed in, as a start, on the populace of the Kumaon region – a region so dear to him.     

Genesis of the Charitable Hospital

It was at Chilyanaula that Babaji began to envisage and talk with a few select devotees about the need to begin a small charitable medical unit to serve the poor and the impoverished from the local and surrounding areas.  Moved by the low socio-economic conditions of the Kumaon people, Babaji wanted to establish a comprehensive health care centre built for them. This concept of charity began to take material shape soon after Babaji departed his mortal frame in early 1984. Babaji had stressed, “…find your duties in this world and perform them with love, dedicating everything to God. Karma yoga -- selfless service to mankind -- is the highest form of worship in these troubled times. It helps to purify and protect mankind.” 

Prevailing socio-economic conditions in the Kumaon region.

A large segment of the population in Kumaon lives in low socio-economic conditions, with an extremely  poor level of health awareness. This segment is under-nourished with poor living conditions, resulting in protein calorie malnutrition, anemia and many other connected diseases. The poor economic conditions lead to an obvious migration of the adult male population to the cities in search of a living. A typical resident family would consist of women, children and the elderly. When medical help is required, these people are less likely to have either the family support or the means to seek assistance.  The local transport system, even though on the upswing, is still far from ideal, thereby resulting in precious time being lost when medical facilities are sought. A delay in diagnosis naturally results in high rates of morbidity and mortality, even for simple diseases. According to a national health information report, the Kumaon people have a higher than average ratio of diarrhea, duodenal ulcers, malnutrition, thyroid problems, tuberculosis, gall bladder stones, giardiasis, burns and lung malignancies, orthopedic injuries, dental caries, and cataract.        

Objectives of the hospital:

To honor Babaji’s wish, the international family of his devotees decided to get together and build a hospital on the land already specified by Babaji – adjoining the ashram at Chilyanaula. The main objective of the Shree Baba Haidakhan Charitable and Research Hospital (as it was to be called) was to provide adequate medical facilities for the people of the Kumaon region through an integrated program of health education, immunization, early diagnosis and hospital treatment. The purpose was to bring advanced medical science to these people to improve both their quality and length of life.

Present set-up:

 A completely non-profit venture, the hospital offers only day-care facilities. The present set-up comprises:

1. General medical treatment:  A full-time qualified and appropriately selected general physician is on board from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day – Monday through Saturday.  He examines and medicates patients suffering from a number of physical problems – to name only a few, viral fevers, congested lung infections, thyroid complaints, abdominal infections, skin infections, pediatric problems, ear-nose-throat affections, jaundice, and even minor cases of depression.  When the hospital reopened in 2004 after a brief closure, the initial patient count was anywhere between 5 to 10 patients on a given day. A year and a half later at the end of 2005, the count has gone up to 50. Given the charitable nature of the hospital, a number of military and governmental units have begun to bring in their young recruits for formal medical check-ups.  Local schools are also being encouraged to bring in students for regular medical check-ups.
    
2. Dentistry:    This unit reopened only around six months back and is now quickly picking up. The full-time dental surgeon is already on board attending patients with different tooth disease elements, and is proving that this is a much-in-demand unit. Teeth are of poor quality in this  region fairly unaware of good dental hygiene, and a good dental surgeon is an absolute necessity.
    

3. Eye-care:   This is one of the more meaningful and significant units in the hospital.  A reputed hospital in the Indian capital city of Delhi has been lending the hospital its renowned and experienced eye department team over a period of several years to carry out free of cost eye camps for the removal of cataracts and general eye check-ups. The doctors were enthusiastic, experienced and committed. The camps became so popular that people began to rely upon them for constant support.  Seeing the colossal need for constant eye-care in the region, it was decided to provide the patients continuous on-going eye care and operative facilities. Things quickly fell into place.  The charity aspect among the devotees being uppermost, a brand new PHACO cataract operating machine was recently gifted to the hospital.  As was expected, this set in a new revolution among the locals. An expensive machine, unavailable except at the most select sites in the country, offering surgical services at the most minimal rates was nothing short of a miracle. Because of the remoteness of this hill village, a full time eye-surgeon has yet to come on board, but the excellent team from the hospital in Delhi has stepped in once again to offer its services until the need lasts.  The first lot of operations has already taken place, and the hospital is all set for subsequent events.  Momentarily, surgeries are held once a month on given dates, and the Delhi doctors are on hand to do the needful. The hospital is also introducing the insertion of imported and folded lens which will come at a slightly higher price.  The basic surgery is presently costing a mere 14 dollars (Indian rupees 700). On the heels of the PHACO machine, came two other generous donations from individual devotees to the eye department -  brand new laser machine to cut the post-operative film which often clouds the eye, and an auto-refractometer with kerato meter for precise and accurate reading of power for specifically numbered spectacles.
    

4. Other Facilities:

   • fully operative pathology tests laboratory with a qualified laboratory technician

   • A general x-ray machine with a qualified operator

   • An ECG machine with a qualified operator

   • A medicine dispensary which provides medicines at fifty percent of the printed price. Extremely poor patients are provided medicines free of cost.

Registration

 The hospital charges a nominal registration fee (Indian rupees ten) for a validity of two months for each new incumbent. There is no consultation fee by the in-house doctors.

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