Mission hospitals
PHILIP UMMAN
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To be relevant in the present era, they need to modernise without losing sight of their original objectives
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PURA (Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas) is a vision that has been outlined by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. In this respect we will look at the role of mission hospitals in providing such services. Many of the early missionary workers who came to India in the pre-independence period realised the importance of providing educational and health services for the Indian masses.
They were responsible for establishing schools and hospitals in small towns of India. These played a very significant role in the progress of the communities around them. However after independence, the western missionaries left after handing over these establishments to Indian churches. While the educational sector has flourished since, mission hospitals have slid down.
Money making ventures
The newly established medical colleges run by the church in different parts of the country, especially in the south, cannot be considered mission hospitals as they are primarily money making ventures under the guise of minority institutions.
Why have mission hospitals been losing their standing in the community? The reasons are many. In the early days, doctors joining these hospitals were a dedicated lot. But in the present day society, which places a high premium on material achievements, it is difficult to attract young qualified doctors with the paltry pay paid in mission hospitals.
Mission hospitals have also failed to produce a second rung of leadership to take the place of doctors past their prime. Also with the assets of these hospitals passing into the management control of the local churches, they have been exposed to politics. The people on the hospital committees have usually been not medical personnel and are least aware of the rapid changes happening in the field. No investments have been made on new equipment or infrastructure.
Apart from doctors, a hospital needs good and dedicated nursing, paramedical and non-medical staff. In the present day, most people look at their work as just another job and are least interested in making a difference. There has thus been a watering down of standards of all the departments in mission hospitals. Many of the non-medical staff are least qualified and have got their jobs through the good offices of those in the church hierarchy.
Thus even if a doctor is interested in making a difference the general laid back attitude of others soon dampens his zeal.
More and more hospitals are now being set up on a corporate model and these provide all the facilities and in many cases better than mission hospitals. The people are willing to pay more if they are assured of receiving all the facilities under one roof. Thus mission hospitals are not the only resort that people have nowadays in a health emergency.
However by their very nature corporate hospitals are set up only in middle level towns and cities and access to these for the vast majority of the rural poor is limited. The government run health clinics and rural hospitals have failed to meet the expectations of the people. Mission hospitals thus have a very important role to play even in the present day. However, to be relevant in the present era, the mission hospitals need to modernise without losing sight of their original objectives.
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