HAIDAKHAN HOSPITAL, HAIDAKHAN, NAINITAL
Report for the period January to December 2006.
(by Lalit)

The rather small, but effective, hospital at the main ashram. in Haidakhan has begun to pick up very well in the number of patients now visiting the Hospital. This has been made possible by the appointment of a full-time hands-on physician Dr. Rajesth Tripathi at the centre.

While the unit has been in operation for several years and the two full-time Para-medical staffers held it together through sheer grit and commitment, the coming on board of a  full-time doctor has changed the very texture of the small organization. Now it is manned by the doctor and his one support staffer Sri Raghwendra Sing, and the patient graph has gone up from 3,001 in the year 2003 to more than 9,000 by the end of the year 2006. Also, the continuous supply of good quality and sufficient quantity of medicines has helped. The patient gender ratio has the males in a slightly larger quantity (45% female to 54% male.). Patients come in from around 40 surrounding villages, quite often walking several miles to reach the hospital. The most commonly observed illnesses relate to viral infections, with digestive disorders and orthopedic problems coming in a close second and third in that order.

It has now been decided that doctors from the Charitable Hospital in Chilianaula should make need-based visits to Haidakhan. The dental doctor has already begun to make regular once-a-month visits and perhaps sees more patients during the two or three day period than during two to three weeks at the base unit.

Given the large turnout of patients, it is being felt that a pathology laboratory would go a long way in serving the needs of the people. However, this should be an independent laboratory unit with its own full-time technician, unrelated to the pathology services being porvided at Chilianaula. The optometrist from Chilianaula has also visited and identified cataract cases. The Charitable Hospital ambulance was sent across to ferry these patients to Chilianaula for the eye surgeries. The other need-based service would be to render eye-testing and provision for numbered spectacles and this is now being looked into.

Haidakhan is at the core of an economically and socially challenged environment, lacking basic medical amenities for miles around. With a committed doctor and support staffer now on board, it has begun to offer a ray of hope to these needy people. It is hoped that assistance from the Charitable Hospital and its staff, will inspire other sources (particularly our own Samaj members) to come forward to help, cooperate and collaborate.

                                                                                                                                       © Haidakhandi Samaj 2007