Water Tank Inauguration

Today evening, we dedicated the water tank. Mr. Henry Devine, volunteer with Living Waters International, led us in the short dedication program. Snaps from the same. 

Once more, a million thanks to Living Waters and the Indian team led by Rev. Ben John of Banares . . . 

Starting off . . . 

Dr. Johnson with the opening prayer

Prabodh reading from Isaiah 44. Isaiah 44:3 is painted on top of the water tank

Mr. Henry Devine addressing the gathering . . . 

From another angle . . .

Getting ready to unveil the plaque

Unveiling the plaque . . . 

Dedicating in prayer . . .

The customary song . . .

And and of course . . . everybody loves a bite . . . we had fingermillet poori and chick peas . . .

Amazing Ways

The below snap looks quite simple. Dr. Howard Searle, the first Executive Director of Emmanuel Hospital Association (1972-77) giving a memento to Mr. Babbu, the senior foreman of the team who constructed the water tank in our hospital campus. 

It was quite later Dr. Howard told me the amazing story of how Living Waters started to help EHA Hospitals build water tanks in their campuses. 

Few years back, Dr. Howard was part of a tour party which was visiting the Holy Land. During the visit, there was a time of sharing among the team at Jerusalem, where Dr. Howard shared about the work of EHA in North India. After the time of sharing, another member of the tour team introduced himself to Howard and told him that he would like to facilitate better water supplies in the areas served by EHA. 

And thus began the great partnership where quite a many villages in and around many of the EHA hospitals got access to clean drinking water and quite a few campuses got a water tank . . . 

I'm amazed at how the Lord has used Dr. Howard to be a blessing for the organisation even after more than 35 years after he left India.

On top of the water tank . . . 

Visiting the borewell handpump in Kamdih village

Photo Post, 20 Jan, 2014

Miscellaneous snaps from NJH . . .

We had a 1 year old child come down in shock after becoming dehydrated from severe diarrhoea. We had to put in an intraosseous line. We found out that the line would flow if there was a bit extra pressure. The best way to attain that was to put the intravenous bottle as high as possible. The intervention worked well and the boy survived. Dr. Koshy from Baptist Hospital, Tezpur helped us over phone to put in the line. 

The harvest from the Ragi fields and SRI Rice fields are finally over. One of the farmers gifted us about 8 kilograms of the finger millet. The farmers who worked with us produced a total of 5 tonnes of paddy from about 4 acres and about one tonne of finger millet from about 5 acres. Of course, the yield can be more, but it was unbelievable when the farmers told us that they got about 1.5 tonnes of paddy more than what they usually got. Nobody remembers about previous finger millet productions as it's quite some time since anybody had done finger millet farming in this region. 

Pilatus enjoying the warmth of the library (doctor's duty room)

We've a traditional healer in Satbarwa village who's quite well known for his treatment of strokes. I know this guy and has heard that he treats his patients with an extract of garlic. Only recently, I saw the medicines that he prescribes for his patients. There was one branded preparation of Ashwagandha extracts, then one packet of unidentified medicines and a orangish fluid which was supposed to be injected once a week for 6 weeks. The total cost 1300 INR. This was brought to us by one patient with Bells's palsy. She came to us for a second opinion after seeing this traditional healer. She was a bit concerned about the orange colored potion which was to be given as an intramuscular injection.

Our almost completed water tank. It's about 75 feet tall. Last Sunday, I took a trip to the top. 

I took some snaps which I shall put up in a later post . . . The view from the top is awesome . . .

Thankful

The last Friday of every month, the staff at the hospital meets together for a whole day of prayer where we remember the blessings we had over the past month and put forward specific prayer requests. On 29th November we met, and had a wonderful time of sharing the blessing we enjoyed over 2013 and thanking the Lord for each of them. 

Apologies for the delay in sharing these with you all . . .

Please join us in thanking the Lord for each of the blessings. 

1. The hospital has been done well in 2013 in spite of major challenges. The absence of a surgeon was a major challenge as traditionally we are known as a surgical centre. We thank the Lord that the requirements in terms of finances and other requirements have been met so far especially in the light of a salary revision this year. 

2. Sampoorn Development India, one like-minded organisation has facilitated the construction of a water-tank in the campus. The Lord willing, the construction should be over very soon. 

3. The hospital has got an exclusive electricity connection to the campus and the electricity supply to the region has improved tremendously with us getting an average of 20-22 hours of electricity every day. 

4. There was a portion of land which was donated to us by one of our staff about 2 decades back. Unfortunately, few of the locals had been preventing us from taking occupation of the land. The Lord worked in the minds of these locals and has enabled us to take possession of the land. We could construct a boundary for this land and last week, the Maintenance Department started to cultivate on this land. 

5. Our Community Health Projects have been doing well so far. The impact made by the Climate Change Project, Community Based Rehabilitation Project is being slowly seen in the community. 

6. Our engagement with the government has increased over the last year. In the sphere of Tuberculosis Control, the Tuberculosis Unit caters to a population of over 750,000 population and the Global Fund Project increases awareness about the disease in the district. The UNICEF had requested us to oversee the mentoring of Labour Room facilities in Palamu and Latehar districts, thereby influencing Reproductive and Child Health in the region. Today, we were informed that we have been once more been authorized to disburse funds under the Janani Suraksha Yojana. This scheme was discontinued about 2 years back saying that we did not qualify as we did not have the requisite facilities in terms of personnel. 

7. We live in a region with tremendous amount of social unrest. We estimate that our hospital vehicles travels an average of 300 kilometers every day. We thank the Lord for safety and protection from accidents. 

8. We had some amazing stories of miraculous healing over the last year. We thank the Lord for each of these patients. Many of these patients had come to us as a last resort. 

9. There have been few constructions in the hospital. We thank the Lord for the funds that has enabled us to do these constructions. Please remember the burns unit, critical care unit, the sarai etc.  for which we need more funds. 

10. We thank the Lord for the new staff who joined in 2013. Dr. Roshine Mary Koshy (Medicine Consultant), Dr. Grace Mary George (Medical Officer), Dr. Aroma Tirkey (Dentist), Ms. Meghala Ramasamy, Mr. Jonathan Hongsha (IT Manager), Ms. Sheron Mathew (Physiotherapist), Mr. Asherush (Pharmacist) and Mrs. Tavitha, Ms. Priyanka, Ms. Premadini (Staff Nurses). 

These are the first ten items of thanks and praise which came. There were many more . . . 

Water Tank, Progress

The progress of the water tank construction . . . in pictures . . .

Do continue to remember the construction in your prayers . . .

Water Tank - Groundbreaking . . .

Snaps from the groundbreaking ceremony of the construction of the water tank . . .

The site . . .

Few of the staff and students who've assembled for the prayer and groundbreaking ceremony

Mr. Jayakumar, our Regional Director turning the first sod . . .

And then the bull-dozer took over . . .

This is the final result . . . Took only 4 hours to finish .. .. ..

Now they'll put a scaffolding of steel into this, raise up beams for the water tank and pour mortar into the beams . . .

Please pray that the work will finish soon . .. ...