It has been
quite a long time since I’ve blogged. After I had left for holiday in May,
things have been very busy. With a baby on the way, things have been pleasantly
hectic. There was hardly any time after hospital work and chores at home.
Then, there
was the doubt about continuing on at NJH. To a certain extent the Lord has been
leading us to stay on. However, we need more clarity on how we can be the salt and
light of this place.
I’m
thankful for all of you who have been remembering us in your prayers.
Meanwhile, there
have been quite a few new developments in the hospital.
The biggest
news is the arrival of Mrs. Easwari and Mr. Georgekutty. Mrs. Easwari completed
her MSc Nursing in Pediatric Nursing from the Christian Medical College,
Vellore and has immense experience in the EHA units at Utraula, Robertsganj,
Lalitpur and Fatehpur. Mr. Georgekutty brings with him experience of having
worked in Community Health Projects in Utraula, Lalitpur and Fatehpur. They are
blessed with 3 daughters – Ashrita, Arpita and Anugraha.
Infrastructure
wise, we got the outpatient department partially air-conditioned. We had been
praying and requesting for funds. The Lord enabled us to purchase couple of
second hand air-conditioners. The lower temperatures inside the outpatient
cubicles have been a real blessing. The total costs of ensuring pleasant climes inside hospital areas including the Acute Care Unit and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit along with the Out Patient Department came to about 50,000 INR.
Our
critical care work has been quite hectic. We had put up requests for funds. We
were blessed to have one friend who helped us to buy a full-fledged
ventilator.
Then, there
was a need for syringe pumps and monitors in all the beds. 6 beds with only 3
monitors were always a challenge. Then, we had only one syringe pump. We had to
shift the monitors around and there was always the chance of damage to the
machine.
We had to go in for the purchase of monitors and syringe pumps on our
own (approximately 350,000 INR). We thank the Lord for the purchases.
Now, what we need urgently is a centralised oxygen supply (approximately 300,000 INR).
Of course,
the patients who have been blessed have been many. We’ve had a huge number of
snake bite patients who have been coming to us over the last couple of months.
There have
been quite a lot of developments in Community Health.
More about snake bites and CH work in the
next post.
