Methodist Hospital, Pratap Sagar
Half way down the road from Patna to Varanasi amongst the farms and forests of rural Bihar, lies a tiny village whose size is inversely proportional to the reputation of the hospital that it possesses. True, most of you wouldn’t have heard of it. But it’s precisely the reason I am eager to post this narrative.
Half way down the road from Patna to Varanasi amongst the farms and forests of rural Bihar, lies a tiny village whose size is inversely proportional to the reputation of the hospital that it possesses. True, most of you wouldn’t have heard of it. But it’s precisely the reason I am eager to post this narrative.
The hospital was founded in 1952 by Dr. K.W. Langer, a
German missionary sent by the New York Methodist Board. The hospital was first
set up near the railway station of Buxar and owing to the rising incidence of
tuberculosis in the region, it became the primary focus of the hospital to
treat those affected. However, this was also the reason the locals revolted
against the location of the hospital in the heart of the city, given the stigma the disease was and has continued to be associated with. An agreement was made
with the Maharaja of Buxar (who still resides in the palace today) and land was
given on lease for an indefinite period.
This brings us to Pratap Sagar, still as rural as I imagine
it was in those days. The campus itself encircles a lake which are home to many
fish (and snakes), and only recently got its own electrical power grid which
also powers the neighbouring villages. Close to the entrance are a couple of petty shops
and the path from there lead to farms and jungle area.
The hospital started officially functioning on 20th
December 1958. Interestingly enough all supplies were sent by cargo planes
which encircled the campus thrice and dropped items like milk, butter, peanut
butter, soap, and medicines at a near-by air strip. The locals and patients
alike enjoyed all these items for free.
In 1974 Dr. Silas Singh of CMC Vellore MBBS batch of 1952,
MS Ortho from CMC Ludhiana became director of the hospital. He introduced many
revolutionary surgeries during this time; which included leprosy reconstruction
surgery which was an added bonus to the undampened treatment of TB which was as
rampant as it is now.
His son Dr. R.K Singh (current director) was eager to go
abroad to continue his studies. However, after working a couple of years at the
hospital he decided he never wanted to leave. “I fell in love with the place” He
said, and he took it as his calling to carry on his father’s work in this place
of need.
The functioning of the hospital is rather unique. We get
around 200- 300 patients a day, a maximum of 350 on some Mondays. Majority of
our patients come from far off remote places. Interestingly, apart from UP and
Bihar, we also get patients from Jharkhand, Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab,
sometimes even as far as Karnataka and Vellore! We believe it’s a result of
word of mouth.
We charge Rs. 100/- for registration which grants the
patient unlimited consultations for a year. A new patient is worked up by a
doctor, and sent for tests which with our recent partnership with Lal Path labs
takes 2-3 hours after which a diagnosis is made and the patient is sent home
with a months-worth of medications, barring any other awaited reports. Some
diagnoses take longer as they are discussed and deliberated upon by all the
doctors. Though we are primarily a chest hospital at the moment, our moto is to
help and guide any patient who comes to us, so that even if we can’t manage
them, we can diagnose and tell the patient where to go rather than waste more
money on surrounding quacks.
We get a wide variety of patients. Every day in the OPD I
see a majority of TB and obstructive airway diseases, but also cancers, ILDs,
Empyemas, Heart failures, Connective tissue disorders, etc. We pride ourselves
on being one of the few centers in our region that enforces evidence-based
medicine. To uphold this, we have two OTs with adequately installed
laparoscopic equipment, and a bronchoscopy suite where bronchoscopies are
routinely done to acquire an accurate diagnosis. We recently diagnosed a case
of Mounier- Kuhn syndrome which was a relief to the patient. In fact, many
patients come us having been misdiagnosed by so many others. We also insist on
sending a sensitivity for all our TB patients as mono/ poly resistance is
rapidly growing.
Our ward has around 15- 20 beds. As we do not have a
ventilator, serious cases are referred to Patna. Our main emergencies however
come around summer/ monsoon seasons where cases of snake bites pour into the
casualty. Our hospital is the only place in a 3-4hr radius which has anti snake
venom, which we can attribute to one of the many failings of government
hospitals in the area.
The vision of Dr. R.K Singh is that the hospital is
converted into a medical college and he believes this dream could be realized
in a couple of years.
I’ve learned a lot over here, about life as well as
medicine. I’ve learnt that people are willing to go miles for proper treatment,
that mental health is grossly neglected in rural India, that in a large sea of
doctors that practice business instead of medicine there are still places of
solace.
There’s something about this place, firstly that brings patients here and then enables them to trust us to lead them to the right treatment. Whatever it is, I’ve worked here for 18 months, and I can be sure that there isn’t a place like it elsewhere!
(Photo credits: Manu Mathew Kurien)
