A golden jubilee with a difference

December 11, 2016 12:18 am | Updated 12:18 am IST - Mumbai:

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The Holy Spirit Hospital, which started as an outpatient clinic in Andheri in the 1960s, is celebrating its golden jubilee next month. To mark the occasion, the hospital management has organised a three-day health awareness exhibition.

Actor John Abraham and choreographer Terence Lewis will add a dash of glamour to the celebrations and the exhibition, which, through banners and models, aims to make common people understand the services extended by the hospital.

Sister Sneha, Executive Director at Holy Spirit Hospital, said, “The golden jubilee year celebrations began with free medical check-ups organised across the city to reach out to the poor. This year we will also be sponsoring the education of 50 children from slum areas.”

The hospital’s history traces back to the mid-1960s when a group of four nuns from the Missionary Sisters Servants of Holy Spirit, Holland, travelled to India and set up a clinic in 1964. The outpatient clinic, which used to give medicines to patients under a tree then, later upgraded to a 65-bed hospital in 1967. It has now expanded to a 300-bed hospital along with multi-speciality and tertiary care sections.

Speaking to The Hindu, Sister Sneha said “In the beginning, we were receiving funds from our mother houses who were abroad. But soon, we were asked to take care of our own funding and run the hospital.”

“We used to stand on the road, outside churches in Bandra, Santa Cruz and Mahim with a begging bowl and a structured map of the hospital. Many people donated money, served treatments for free and helped us build the hospital,” said 79-year-old Sister Hermanelde who came from Germany to Mumbai in 1963.

Sister Hermanelde narrated a story about a colleague whose family used to send money every month. “It was the time when cement was not easily available in India. She asked her family not to send her money and instead send her cement worth that money. And this is how we received the first shipload of cement in 1965 for the foundation of the building’s ground floor and kitchen,” Sister Hermanelde recalled.

About the journey of the hospital from there on, she said, “The hospital was far away in the jungle and it was difficult to bring doctors and others here. But we requested BEST to help out and they provided bus services twice a day to the hospital. We needed electricity, so we built an electricity station which later got approval from Bombay Municipality Corporation.”

From treating patients with snake bites in the 60s to treating patients with cancer, kidney failures and cardiovascular diseases, the hospital has come a long way. “The cause of this hospital was to serve with love and to help the poor, and we are constantly working towards the same. Eighty per cent of our patients are underprivileged and we are providing them with the best treatment possible,” said Sister Sneha.

The writer is an intern at The Hindu

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