It was 2011. We had just successfully conducted years of adolescent girls program through 891 anganwadi centers in three hill districts of Uttarakhand. I had signed up to conduct my first Silence retreat for others at Sadhana Mandir ashram by the Ganges. The opening session was to be at 5pm. That afternoon, received a frantic call from one of the government supervisors from the above mentioned program. Her pregnant sister was critical and could we help? We immediately connected with the Head of the Obstretics Department, who within a short notice, got his entire team along with OT ready and was there in emergency too. But sadly she passed away even as she reached HIHT. She had post partum hemorrhage (PPH) and was delayed by the nursing home in being sent earlier on. From the time it came to our attention, we had left no stone unturned but there was nothing we could do. I remember the anguish, the cry sent out to my Teacher, in terms of the moment before where we couldn’t save a life, not because of any of our fault, but because of the process of delay in terms of reaching a referral center.
Cut to 2022 Last month we lost one of our promising young teacher, again to PPH. I again remember the anguish on hearing that news. Speaking to her husband day before, left with a month old child, he said, ‘We just can’t comprehend what went wrong when. And further she had a normal delivery.’ We have assured him to provide all necessary support for the child’s growth.
In 2011 it was from the same head of the Department that I heard of cosmetic gyneacology. Today premier institutes close by offer MCH Cosmetic Gyneacology. Tomorrow, we might also be in a position to offer the same. That is the high end. But at the other end of the spectrum is the one needing primary care at village level with facilitation to tertiary care if needs be. This was the vision of the Founder – he put in place the entire spectrum, us for the village level, teaching institutes for churning out professionals, tertiary care for those needing specialized care. If each does theirs well, the joy of servicing will indeed be complete.
