Page 1-7: Christian Hospital Bissamcuttack    -    page 8-11: Tribal villages and school projects     -    page 12-14: Bissamcuttack village 

Bissamcuttack:

In february 2008 my wife and I had the privilege to visit Christian Hospital Bissamcuttack - CHB, where we stayed for nine days. It was soon clear to us, that things are well organized on CHB in difference to a lot of things in the Indian society, where things have a tendency to flow.

Bissamcuttack is a village with about 10.000 inhabitants in the Rayagada District of the Orissa state, which is the most poor part of India. The community in Bissamcuttack is mostly made up of ancient and yet vulnerable people. Some 62% of the population belong to the Kondh tribe, 16% are from the Dalit community from the bottom of the caste system, and the remaining 22% iare a mixture. 

The Hospital:

In 1954 the Danish missionary doctor Elizabeth Madsen founded a hospital in Bissamcuttack because of the great need for medical care in the region. Since the start the hospital has grown fast, and today it is by many counted as the best hospital in Orissa.

Dr. Padmashree Sahu is the medical superintendent and she is a gynecologist. From her to the first year nurse student you only meet very dedicated people. The CHB is their whole life. I have to underline one person in the whole staff. CHB has a Community-Health-Department.  The head of this department is an outstanding person - Dr. Johnny Oommen.  He has the visions and implements them; he contacts sponsors and raise money; he teaches nurse students; and he has a unique talent for talking with everyone including the patients - to explain to people and to get them to understand the problem. He is engaging people with his enthusiasm. When we arrived, I asked him, if he was second in command in the organization. He answered: "Iīm just the one, who is doing all the talking".

The Christian Hospital, Bissamcuttack today has 180 beds and around 200 patients. There are five operating theatres, and 2,500 surgeries a year and about 1200 deliveries.

The economy ia based on a Robin-Hood-principle, rich patients fees paying for the treatment of the poor. The hospital has a good reputation in surgery, attracting rich patients with money. If you donīt have any money, youīre treated anyhow. The alternative is the government hospitals, where everything is free - on paper. But if you have no money, you must wait, till the doctor is available - or accept very low standards in treatment.

On CHB you only get medical treatment. Things as personal hygiene and food are taken care of by relatives, who stay at the hospital with the patient. So on the hospital ground you meet a variegated and fascinating crowd of people. As the name says, the hospital is grounded on Christianity. They do not interfere in the religion of the patients. Treatment is given only because of humanity and charity.

Besides from the diseases you meet in western hospitals, the CHB has to deal with a various number of infectious and tropical diseases. The two most serious diseases are tuberculosis and malaria, where the latter come up with more than 20 new cases every day. In the area they even have the most serious form with meningitis. You could say itīs easy to prevent malaria by covering yourself with mosquitonets during the night, but itīs not done before you could say knife. Things take time.

 On the hospital ground there is also a nursing school, where around 100 nurse students are trained, and that is more than they needs. This provides CHB with the best nurses beyond it contributes to improve the economy. An English Medium School was built for children of the staff and those who can afford it. The local public school is utmost insufficient. In 2008 a  building for the new maternity department was started up dimensioned for 3000 deliveries a year. The reason is the high death-rate among children.

Every autumn a tropical medicine course is held for Danish doctors. It improves the knowledge in tropical medicine which nowadays is more needed in western countries with the increase in travel activity, and it contributes to the economy of CHB.

School projects in tribal villages:

The problem in the nineties was to get enough teachers to teach in the local kuvi language. The public system was and is very insufficient, so something had to be done to educate the tribal children. In 1998 some 16 tribal villages around Bissamcuttack had for a long time put pressure on CHB to build a school in the area. The project seemed utopia, but was brought to life by Johnny Oommen. The name of the school became The Mitra Residential School and it was placed in the  Kachapaju village. Mitra means friend. The dreams were health for all, education for all, economic security for all and social empowerment for all. It started with 20 students and expanded every year with another 20. Today it has a little less than 300. The students are picked out by lot and so that the sexes are equal represented from the thesis: Educate a male and you educate a person; educate a female and you educate and develop a whole family.

CHB now collaborate with about 50 tribal villages around Bissamcuttack and has started school projects in about 20. They educate teachers by training them 6 months to teach up to the 5īth grade. The village schools are sponsored by private persons. A new thing is playschools from 3 years, which prepare the children for school and enable the parents and grandparents to work instead.

Sponsoring: