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2006 Update on Mungeli Hospital
Project
In India, over forty percent of the population is too poor to afford adequate nourishment on a regular basis. Attempts to transform India's economy into one that can fit into a global market economy, especially austerity measures required by international lenders, cause poorer people in the society to suffer, rather than benefit, from the changes.
There are on average 51 physicians for every 100,000 people in India. The U.N. considers India to have a moderate prevalence of HIV infection. The average life expectancy at birth is 63.9 years. Sixty-seven infants die before the age of one for every 1,000 live births and ninety-three die before the age of five for every 1,000 live births.
The Church of North India and the Church of South India, both united churches with roots in several Protestant traditions are our Global Ministries church partners. These institutions work with the marginalized in Indian society who are oppressed because of their caste membership, extreme poverty, or lack of education.
Mungeli is an interesting part of India, in newly formed state called Chattisgargh. The people are mainly farmers and it is the original rice bowl of India. The people are poor and most are living below the line of poverty out in the villages, trying to just exist. In this setting is the once famous mission hospital started 110 years ago. Dr. Victor Rambo and the Disciples of Christ initiated the work in this area.
Dr. Rambo gave his best to the people here, sensing their need especially in the field of cataract surgery. Dr. Rambo spent many years pioneering the concept of eye camps where people were screened and had surgery in the villages. This was a novel idea, as even today, villagers feel insecure to leave their surroundings and come out for just about anything, let alone for medical treatment.
The Mungeli Hospital has undergone a major renewal and expansion, thanks in great part to the leadership of Dr. Anil Henry, Global Ministries missionary who serves there as the medical director and surgeon.
Patients who have resources go to the city for treatment about an hour and a half away from Mungeli. The rest are at the mercy of local unqualified doctors in the villages or they consult local private practitioners who are there to treat minor diseases. Mungeli Hospital is the only surgical center in the area, even if a cesarean section is required. Patients at the Mungeli Hospital tend to be very late in their troubles, as they do not have enough money to pay. After they have tried every other alternative do they have enough courage to come to the hospital.
The things which the hospital is moving toward in the near future are: an incinerator (to dispose of hospital waste), laparoscopic and cystoscopic equipment, houses for staff, especially doctors, a dormitory for 20 nursing students who will come from a neighboring hospital (Tilda) in order to further their training.
The most urgent needs for this hospital are as follows:
Personnel: Doctors-The need for doctors is great as well as the need to build housing to keep doctors comfortable and happy. There are only two old houses and each residence houses two doctors.
Nurses: Although the partnership with the nursing school in Tilda is helpful, Mungeli is still very short of nurses. It is not uncommon for one nurse to tend to thirty to forty patients single handedly. Even though this is a large caseload, it is an improvement from last year when at times there was only one nurse for 60 inpatients.
Patient Services: In 2004 the number of outpatients has doubled. 21,814 patients went through the hospital. In 2005 there is an average of 68 patients per day.
X-Ray: In 2004 a new large 300MA x-ray machine was added to the x-ray department. There are now two machines and with the portable x-ray, the hospital is able to branch out to the ward and the operating rooms with x-ray support.
Eye Services: Mungeli has a rich heritage of providing eye services; however, additional assistance with eye services has been difficult to obtain in recent days. There continues to be a crowd of patients that line up each month for surgeries. The government has recently begun to subsidize all eye work through the World Health Organization.
Dental: Dr. Singh is leaving the dental department, due to a recent marriage and relocation out of country. Help is needed to fill her vacancy. The dental department is unique in Mungeli because it is the only department to help with basic dental work, dentures, and root canal treatments.
