What does Lady Willingdon Hospital do?
Manali
Lady Willingdon Hospital (also known as Manali Mission Hospital) is a charity hospital based in the hill station of Manali, which lies near the northern end of the Kullu Valley. The Kullu Valley belongs to the Himalayan Mountains of Himachal Pradesh (a north-west Indian state bordering Kashmir). The average daily wage for a labourer in Manali is little more than $4 a day. Furthermore, Manali is home to a large population of Tibetan and Nepalese refugees, as well as people who have fled the troubled Kashmir region.
Kullu Valley
Health care in India is not free – there is no provision of care for the poor, nor a nationalised insurance scheme. Government hospitals often find themselves lacking basic amenities, limiting the health care they can deliver. Without the Lady Willingdon Hospital, the nearest medical care would be 4 to 48 hours away (depending on start point). Patients making such a journey may be subsequently be denied treatment due to the cost – a cost which, by our standards, is usually negligible. This is the gap that Lady Willingdon Hospital fills, providing health care to all, regardless of their ability to pay. The hospital serves the many poor people of Kullu Valley, as well as remote villages of the surrounding regions.
The Beginnings
Lady Willingdon Hospital was established in 1935 as a Christian mission hospital. Starting as a single-room dispensary, it could only provide basic care. Threatened with closure in 1955, two Swiss missionaries took on the work, but could run it only as a dispensary. In 1961, after a visit, Prime Minister Pandit Nehru told the Bishop that if the hospital could not be run properly, then he would take it over as a government hospital. As a result, Dr. Ram Singh came from Christian Medical College, Ludhiana.
By the mid-sixties, the patient load had risen to 17,000 outpatients with 150 inpatients. Emergency surgery was also being carried out – mainly Caesarean sections and suturing of wounds.
An 11-month period without a doctor in 1979 preceded the arrival of Drs. Laji and Sheila Varghese. They have worked tirelessly at the hospital since, assisted periodically by other doctors who have stayed for varying lengths of time. There are several other staff, most of whom were trained on the job by Drs Laji and Sheila.
In the 1980s, even though the outpatient number remained constant at about 20,000 patients, over 1,000 patients were admitted using 25 beds. Surgery was largely responsible for this expansion. Knowledge of the hospital had spread, and patients were coming from as far away as Zanskar, Lahaul and Spiti, Pnagi, Mandi, as well as throughout the Kullu Valley district.
The current situation
The Lady Willingdon Hospital currently has 50 beds, and is staffed by two consultants and approximately five junior doctors. This modest staff provides 24 hour care primary and secondary level medical care accessible to all. The hospital serves the Kullu Valley and many of the poorer patients from distant villages, while also running a number of rural clinics. These clinics range between 100km and 200km in distance from Manali, and are either manned by health workers trained by the hospital, or are visited on a rotational basis by the hospital doctors. The hospital sees 36,000 outpatients per year, admits nearly 3,000 patients to the 50 beds available and performs 600 major surgeries.
About the Manali Medical Aid Project
- What does Lady Willingdon Hospital do?
- So why does the Hospital need help?
- How does the Manali Medical Aid Project provide this help?
- Who runs the Manali Medical Aid Project?
- How can I support the project?
- Where can I get more information?
