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December/January Newsletter from KSN Hospital Sarenga
Dear Everyone,
First let us wish you all a very happy and blessed 2012.
As the year drew to a close we had much to be thankful for and we acknowledge God’s faithfulness
to us.
Boundary wall completed – not quite as quickly as Nehemiah
completed the Jerusalem walls, but close – finished by the
beginning of November. This was only a dream a year ago, but
came to fruition because of the generosity of the Methodist
Missionary Society, and particularly we thank Steve Pearce
(Asia Secretary – MMS) who was paramount in releasing a
number of endowment funds bequeathed to Sarenga Mission
Hospital.
Permission to take a fresh batch of GNM nursing
students. West Bengal Nursing Council stipulated
there should be purified water for students (has
been provided), and that there should be
library/computer facilities for the students (has
been provided) Our existing 3rd Year GNM
students have just sat their final exams, so it was
a real joy to welcome a fresh batch of 1st years in
September, after a two year gap.
Water Mission International’s perseverance to bring us a water purification unit.
It was Dr. Mike Sabback who in conjunction with WMI worked
tirelessly to bring purified drinking water to KSN. It sounds simple,
but there were a lot of hurdles, and had it not been for the
perseverance of Joe Wilson, Director Water Mission International,
and for the generosity of our friends in Sea Coast Mission…Those
that deserve thanks for the WMI, LWTS system include: Seacoast
Church Hope Epidemic, Branchville SC Christian Church, Water
Missions International, and 3 private donors who wish to remain
unnamed. It was a miracle that this system could be procured,
shipped and installed after so many obstacles but it had to be the
hand of God that made it all happen! We wish to sincerely thank all
those who worked so hard, gave financially, travelled here to see the
installation, gave of their time and energy and above all never gave up praying, believing in an
amazing God who can move ‘’Indian mountains’’
Visitors from Scotland, England, New Zealand and USA and India who have put up with us and
encouraged us.
The continual stream of emails, cards, letters and ‘phonecalls from friends and family which have
spurred us on, and kept us reminded of the One whom we are serving.
For ‘’time out’’ from the hospital, to stand back and reflect on what we are doing and where we
are going next.
Much of this has been unplanned
travel by road and rail , for
hospital work, but these times
have been a blessing for both of
us, and also for the KSN staff, who
gain the confidence to carry on in
our absence. For mobile ‘phones,
(which even work on trains !!!) – so we can be in communication and
able to discuss difficulties and advise on management from a distance.
Making Christmas cake – the Indian way.
Christmas cake as we know it is a relatively new thing in India, and all the big superstores have
jumped on the bandwagon of selling fruit cake, marketed as ‘’Christmas’’ cake from November
onwards. But to make ‘’homemade’’ cake is not that simple………..the majority of homes do not have
ovens. Everyone goes to the nearest bakers, carrying all the ingredients, booking their slot in the
queue for the mixing, baking in a massive kiln, amidst the hubbub and excitement of festivities. Let
the photos tell their own story…………
Some of our patients stories
Sarala was married at the age of 12, and was investigated for ‘’infertility’’ at the age of 15, was
given medicine to help her have a baby, and delivered a little boy when she was 16, but he only lived
for four days. Then she had a five month miscarriage, so in desperation went back to the doctors for
the medicine to ‘’make her have a baby’’ So, she presented to us, without any antenatal care with
eclampsia. Although only 18 years old, Sarala looked twice her age, was severely anaemic and
poorly nourished with signs of several vitamin deficiencies, and various skin infestations. Sarala
herself was unconscious, but her family assured me she still had two months to go. We treated her
convulsions and high blood pressure, and Elisabeth was fairly convinced there were two babies Since
we do not have a scan machine, it was Shubhro who had the bright idea of doing an x-ray, and there
we found two heads. We had given Sarala steroid injections soon after she was admitted, and the
injections to treat her convulsions had brought her back to consciousness, so we explained there
were two babies, but they were too small to survive, yet they needed to be delivered or Sarala
herself may start having convulsions again Elisabeth’s plan was to give medicine to start her labour,
but after 24 hours, it had not worked. So on the second morning after Sarala was admitted,Elisabeth
prayed for a sign – any sign of deterioration in Sarala’s condition, which would help her come to a
decision to push forward with delivery. About three hours later, one of the student nurses came
running into the antenatal clinic, so out of breath she could not speak…..saying ‘’she can’t see, she
can’t see’’Elisabeth eventually clicked……it was Sarala who could not see, and so she cycled straight
back to the maternity ward to find lots of relatives crying, and Sarala’s blood pressure again
dangerously high. We only have two blood pressure medicines available here , and only in capsule
form, so if the patient is unconscious, we have to prick the capsule, and put three drops of the
medicine under the patients tongue. Once, when Elisabeth was working in London St Thomas’s
Hospital a patient with eclampsia lost her sight for 24 hours till after her baby was delivered. In
Sarala’s case the loss of sight was more transient,
but it was the sign, and so we got her delivered
by Caesarean within a couple of hours. She had
two sons – identical 1.1 and 1.2 kg in weight.
Sarala and the babies all did well, going home
after three weeks with the twins now 1.4 and
1.45 kg. Elisabeth went to take a photo on that
day, and when Sarala was asked which is
number one, she pointed to the baby her mother
was holding, but her Mum said ‘’no –you have
number one…this is number two’’…the problem
was their ID tags had fallen off, so this may be an
ongoing source of much family discussion !!!!
Jyotsna’s story
Several years after her marriage Jyotsna had a daughter whom she named Krishna – Krishna is now
19 years old, and is married with a little girl of her own. Jyotsna had been trying to have another
child since Krishna was 2 years old but it never happened. After Krishna’s marriage she forgot about
having children herself, and when one day she noticed her tummy was getting big it never crossed
her mind she was pregnant. She went to see a doctor who told her she had a
cancer with ‘fluid’ in her tummy, and he referred her to a hospital for an
operation. Fortunately at the hospital they did a scan first …….. and found a
baby. Jyotsna and her husband were taken aback, but over the moon….she a
grandmother expecting another baby. Everything seemed to go fine until
around 8 months when Jyotsna had pain and bleeding, and a scan found the
afterbirth to be low, but also coming away from the wall of the womb, so
putting the baby’s life at risk. We gave her injections to mature the baby’s lungs and kept an eye on
the baby’s heart rate round the clock. The afterbirth was on the front wall of the womb, so the baby
had to be delivered through it with quite a bit of bleeding as a consequence. The baby, a little boy
was still two months premature, and had a fairly stormy first couple of weeks, but once he learned
to suck properly, he made good progress, and grandmother and baby discharged home well and
happy.
A new lease of life
We told you in our August/September newsletter about the significant numbers of elderly ladies
who have problems with ‘prolapse’, be it uterus, bladder or bowel. This condition can be managed
medically using simple ‘ring pessaries’ and we were able to get a good supply of these rings from
Kolkata in October. But in some women, even putting in a double ring does not hold everything
inside, and the only option then is surgery. This is not a life threatening problem, but still causes a lot
of misery, and the surgery is expensive, and out of the reach of the majority of village folk. A number
of friends from the UK have given generous donations,
so we have used some of this
money to perform several
such operations on people
who would otherwise not be
able to have surgery. This
eighty plus year old lady, who
has thirteen living children,
(one son and daughter-in-law
in the photo with her) had a
vaginal hysterectomy and anterior and posterior repair operation. One
month later……….and looks 10 years younger !!!
‘’I was blind, but now I can see’’
A team of dedicated eye surgeons regularly come to KSN to do eye camps, and those of you who get
our newsletter have read of this in past letters. The Government of India are nowadays subsidising
cataract surgery so that all patients have intraocular lens fitted at the time of surgery, and do not
have to wear the thick glasses they used to. And it provides a new lease of life for many elderly folk –
there is never a dearth of patients for these camps – 73 operated on 30th January.
Waiting outside the theatre……………………………and inside, BP and other checks before surgery
But we have another story regarding getting back sight, this time for an 18 year old girl. Jyoti was
in her first pregnancy, only married less than a year. As often the case, she had received her
antenatal care outside, and looking at her hand held card, there had been no complications, and her
last blood pressure reading three weeks previously had been normal. But in the early hours of the
day she came to us, she had been woken by a severe headache. Her mother had given her a glass of
water, which she had promptly vomited back, and then she had a convulsion. The family were
frightened by this, and immediately made plans to get the ambulance to get her to hospital. This
took some time, and on the journey Jyoti suddenly could not see. You can imagine how terrified she
was on admission – these young girls are naturally frightened having their first baby – it is usually the
first time they have seen the inside of a hospital, so even a frightening experience when everything
is going normally. But if you suddenly lose your eyesight,…….. This is now
the third time Elisabeth has seen eclampsia present with sudden loss of
sight, and on the other two occasions it was reversible, following
magnesium sulphate. But no amount of reassurance could allay Jyoti’s fear
that she would never see again. She had her first dose of magnesium
sulphate, and then 4 hours later a second dose, but she was still blind – I
then went off to the clinic, and once it was finished returned straight to
see Jyoti – she was sitting up in the bed with a huge smile on her face, and
greeted me ‘’I can see, I can see – bless you’’ and Elisabeth responded ‘’
Bless God, that He has provided us with this special medicine, for it was
that which has brought your eyesight back. And Jyoti went on to have a son, both of them returning
home a week or so later.
Anita visits us from New Zealand
Anita came to India in her early 20’s and worked
there for the best part of 2 years with an
organisation called YWAM – Youth With A Mission.
Elisabeth met up with Anita briefly in December
1993, and they have kept in contact infrequently but
regularly by airmail and latterly email. So when Anita decided she wanted to visit India again after 17
years, she was keen to come to Sarenga also. It was a real joy to have Anita with us – amazingly she
could remember quite a bit of Bengali, so our student nurses were quick to make friends with her.
Anita’s Mum had knitted lots of wee baby clothes, and being
December, and with our usual run of tiny premature babies,
these were really appreciated. The wee one pictured to the
right here originally had this oversize pink hat before Anita
produced the perfectly sized white one knitted by her Mum.
And one of Anita’s good friends had donated lots of baby
clothes also which were gratefully received by some of the
new Mums – like this one pictured here who was
unexpectedly blessed with twins (diagnosed when she came
in labour!) after 10 years of infertility. Anita also spent time
in the wards, sitting by patient’s bedsides, befriending
patients and their families and praying for them, and we very
much valued her prayers – some of which were instantly
answered.
It’s not fun for any child to be in hospital, but Anita
made even this experience good for
the children, occupying them with
various balloon tricks.
The run up to Christmas was unusually
hectic in the hospital, and Anita helped in
lots of little ways – she wrapped up all our
Christmas presents, and so beautifully too.
Fire regulations
Some of you may have heard in the international news of a terrible fire in a private hospital in
Kolkata, where nearly one hundred patients lost their lives. The majority of the patients were
recovering from cold surgery, and could have been rescued, had their relatives been allowed to go
and take them from the hospital. There is a big enquiry in process, but the Government of India have
produced new fire regulations for all hospitals, which are going to be expensive to introduce –
94,000 rupees. As you can imagine from the photos KSN Hospital is all one ground level, and much of
it open to the elements, so such fire regulations are not really necessary, but regulations will have to
be followed. Shubhro and our administrative superintendent are working on this together.
Resuscitation equipment donated by Ayrshire Maternity and Neonatal Unit, Fullarton Church
Ayrshire, and friends from Department of Genetics St Mary’s Hospital Manchester.
It was in our August newsletter that we told you of the emergency ‘’skills and drills’’ course that we
participated in Madhya Pradesh – a state in central India where maternal and child mortality is even
higher than here. In response to that letter Ayrshire Maternity and Neonatal Unit adopted us as their
Christmas charity and pledged money towards buying resuscitation training models. Fullarton
Church in Ayrshire added to these funds, but what made it ultimately possible was an extremely
generous cheque from the Genetics Department at St Marys Hospital Manchester together with
several very generous individuals who clubbed together and made it possible for us to buy
resuscitation teaching models and two mother and baby models for teaching about normal labour
and labour complications. Our first hands on ‘’skills and drills’’ session did not happen till the
beginning of February, so photos will come in the February/March newsletter.
Gateway to Nepal
It is a prerequisite for Elisabeth’s Indian visa that she leaves the country
every six months for it to remain valid. In 2009 and 2010 this was taken
care of by trips to Bangladesh to teach on the Life Savings Skills Course,
but on the 2011 course we were not
needed, so we made a brief trip to
Nepal, staying for 17 hours only, just
across the river from Raxaul in India.
There is an EHA Hospital in Raxaul,
Duncan Hospital, and we stayed there briefly, and were touched
by their welcome and friendship.
7.30 AM – patients queuing up for OPD Raxaul
Capping Ceremony 1st Year GNM Students
Jeanne Sabback, Dr. Mike’s wife was the chief guest at the Ist Year GNM
Nursing Students ‘’Capping’’ ceremony in January. She gave an encouraging
but challenging message entitled ‘’Compassionate Nursing’’. Our 1st year
student nurses are spending time chatting with patients, listening and
interacting more – so thank you Jeanne – they have clearly taken to heart
what you were saying.
Dr. Kuheli’s 1st
Caesarean baby Dr.Kuheli did her first Caesarean section
from start to finish in early December, and has subsequently done a
further five, under Elisabeth’s supervision. It was not until Elisabeth
had been through two years of training that she was permitted to do
Caesarean from start to finish, so Kuheli should feel very proud of this
achievement.
Installation of WTS – KSN Hospital gets the very first safe drinking water in Bankura District
The water purification unit arrived safely one evening late in January amidst great excitement. This is
a ‘’first’’ in the whole of Bankura District. Ned and Barbara Simmonds, who had never installed such
a system in their lives, followed the written instructions they had been provided with, and with
prayer support from around the globe they successfully set up the unit in 24 hours. We now have
purified drinking water available to all inpatient and outpatient areas, but also to our operating
theatre for scrubbing. We are so grateful to all the donors in the USA and Scotland who gave
sacrificially to make this possible. One very good friend from Scotland, who wishes to remain
anonymous gave a donation which covered the building of a small brick ‘house’ for the water plant,
and all the water pipes, basins, taps and their installation costs. Such generosity always generates
curiosity and many folk have come to the hospital to ‘’see the new water plant’’ and ‘’get a health
check up while they are here’’.
Seacoast mission team with the local team installing the living water in purpose built brick home
And this comes with our love and heartfelt thanks to all our friends and
family ...... Shubhro and Elisabeth