Annual Report of Christian Hospital Mungeli 2008-2009

This past year has been one with lots of excitement at Christian Hospital in Mungeli including the building of relationships, new programs, and some challenges as well.  Some of the endeavors are the planning of the new school building, the new cancer therapy center, and the possibility of beginning an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife Course.  Meanwhile, the number of patients treated continues to rise each year. 

Out-patient Services:  The numbers of outpatients just keep going up.  It may be linked to the continual growth in the Indian population but there may be other factors involved as well.

Hospital staff members have increased their skill with the gastroscope and are now using it more with outpatients.  The scope has also been of great use in working with cases of tracheal stenosis and even pulling out a foreign body.  The hope is to get a bronchoscope which will make the task even easier.

In-Patient Services:  Christian Hospital is an 80 bed facility which has 83.2 percent bed occupancy.  It has been a relatively busy year with numbers of inpatients going up as well.   

The average hospital stay of a patient is 7.27 days.  This is primarily due to two factors: 

  1.         Patients come from villages which are difficult to reach and so they want all the work done and sutures removed before they leave. 

  2.         The cost for staying in hospital is relatively much cheaper than in other cities or the western world. 

This year included a move into one of the newly renovated wards and the inauguration of the new surgical ICU/Recovery room, Delivery Room, and ER.  There are now a total of 16 ICU beds, eight in the medical ICU, seven in the surgical ICU, and an isolation bed/treatment room which has already been used to save a very sick tetanus patient.   

The ICU facilities are highly used so as soon as the surgical ICU was built, renovations began in the medical ICU which had been heavily overused for the past four years.   All these areas are now air-conditioned and with the help of monitors for each bed, ventilators, and also a syringe pump, the hospital is getting closer to managing the more difficult patients.   

The new nursery which has eight beds is a great service as there is nothing like it anywhere around.

Surgery:

The surgical department keeps growing as new procedures are offered.   This year, they were able to get a lithotripter and scope to look at and break stones up in the ureter.   This is in addition to the C-arm that the hospital already had so they can now help patients with a stone in the urethra, bladder, or the ureter with ease and most patients are discharged the next day. 

The C-arm is also helpful in orthopedics.  Now, rather than having to open up a large area to put in a plate and screws, they can use interlocking nails into the leg and thigh instead.

Deliveries:

Mungeli Hospital conducted 536 deliveries last year, although about 60 percent of them were caesarean sections.  Even though the numbers of deliveries have risen each year, most patients are not coming early enough for a safe normal delivery.

The government has just launched a program and has chosen Mungeli Hospital to be a part of the program.  Now if the mother delivers there, she is compensated by the government.  The hope is that this will motivate them to come early enough to have a normal delivery with most costs covered. 

Laboratory Services:

The lab was busy as usual and the hospital has started a blood bank which is recognized and licensed by the government.  The hospital has worked very hard to start the blood bank and now the surgical services are safer with the support of blood banking services.  The community has been very supportive including giving blood at regular intervals.

Dental Services:  The dental department does a whole range of work and, with the help of a Dental Assistant, they have been able to expand their services.  A special session was held at the school teaching children about the importance of brushing their teeth and handed out toothbrushes.  These sessions were appreciated by the children and their parents.

Physiotherapy Department:  This is a new endeavor this year.   The department is well equipped.  They are daily getting patients who come and get help.   It is also a great help for the ortho patients that who have had operations to get back to normal function.

Religious life in Mungeli:  Morning prayers time is when the staff has a chance to be together and interact.  Visitors are welcomed and some of them have helped lead chapel.  As a routine, the head of the school leads chapel on Wednesday morning and the local pastor comes to share on Saturdays.   The rest of the days various staffperesons take turns.

Infrastructure:

The hospital is self sufficient and keeps growing and expanding services to meet the needs.  In the past year, the hospital has secured new equipment including an autoclave, water pumps, three new computers, monitors, and ventilators, ureterorenoscope, lithotripter, ambulance, bus, jeep, and physiotherapy equipment.  They have also completed the blood bank building, the second ICU, delivery room, ER, nursery and one ward, and overhauled the work shop and got the electrical cables all redone. 

The building is an ongoing project and there is much work left to do to refurbish the wards.  In the next year, a work crew of about 25 people plans to finish the additional two floors on the guest house, which will provide fourteen rooms to house 28 unmarried staff for the school or hospital and a second floor of an existing staff house which will house two staff families.

Plans for the Future:

The most immediate plan for the future is the inauguration of the conference room/library.   This is almost completed and will provide a place to have meetings and workshops and will also have computers that will be connected to the internet.

In coming years, plans include:

• Building a cancer center which would house a cobalt machine.  Plans have already been approved by the government.    
• The new school designed for a thousand children.  There are already 400 students even before the building begins.  The drawings are also almost completed and the plan is to build it in the space between the existing buildings so classes are not affected during construction.
• A new water tower to serve the buildings which continues to be built higher and higher.  This will house six 10,000 liter tanks.  The plan is to use four of the tanks for fresh water and two for recycled water.  Recycled water will be used for the gardens. 
• Mungeli is planning a nursing training beginning next year.  They will then look at the need for building a nursing hostel. 

Staff Matters:

Staffing is always an issue because finding doctors is difficult and is made more challenging because people are not willing to come to a remote region where they will need to work very hard.

However, new leadership has been found for the school and to take over as nursing superintendent.  It is difficult to get leaders to come out to Mungeli and new leadership was needed to help the school and the nursing program move forward as the former leadership is ready to move on. 

Rambo Memorial English Medium School:

The school is a great challenge but has been running about four years.  It has grown tremendously from 80 students to about 400 students.  There are now three school buses that travel about 130km (78 miles) a day bringing about 70 to 100 children in each bus.   

Costs at the school have remained low which makes it more affordable for the village children.  This is the goal of the school:  to provide an education in English to little children at the least possible cost but trying to provide the best facilities.