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Our ISV Partner Andrew* shares stories and reflections on his work at a rural community hospital in South Asia.
Medical care in any setting provides many opportunities to show love and compassion. This is particularly the case when poverty and deprivation are present. The community hospital where we serve does an important and compassionate work for our local area, including two mountainous and remote regions accessible only by sturdy jeeps on dirt roads. I take great pleasure in living and working here. ‘There is something about being involved with people during their times of greatest need which offers joy, even during times of sadness and difficulty.’
Hope, healing and heartbreak
I was recently called by one of the junior doctors to the maternity ward, to see a previously healthy 2 day old baby who had stopped breathing. The nurse-doctor team had already moved the infant to a warm resuscitation area, got CPR underway, and established intravenous access. Still, it was a full 15 minutes before he began breathing again by himself. We were pleased that he had survived, but I did fear the worst. Over the next 24 hours I noted that the infant was making barely perceptible fitting movements. I encouraged the father to take him to a specialist hospital. However he declined, remarking ‘I have faith in this place’. His faith did nothing to relieve the pressure on us, but with full consent, we continued to care for their baby on the ward. Wonderfully, quite against the odds, the little boy started to improve, and over the next fortnight we were able to completely withdraw his medication. He began feeding with vigour and 3 weeks after his birth he was discharged home, looking very well indeed. Sadly, many stories do not end as we would hope. One day earlier this year a mum gave birth to a slightly premature girl whilst making the 3 hour journey by jeep to the hospital. The infant girl was initially ok, but on day 2 she began to deteriorate. We spent 90 minutes resuscitating her to no avail. It’s difficult to see anything but sadness in this. There is no doubt that in a well-resourced setting this little girl would have survived.
Answered prayers: Sumaya’s story
One morning, on my day off, I joined a field visit to a church a couple of hours drive away. A group of local pastors were gathering for their monthly meeting, and the hospital’s community team was encouraging them to reach out to local people with disabilities. We got chatting with the lady who was hosting us, and she told us of her 8-year-old granddaughter, Samaya.* Samaya had been born premature and ‘wasn’t in good health’ – but her mum believed that she should rely on faith and trust God to heal her rather than bring her to hospital.
I had brought some basic medical equipment with me, so I arranged to meet the girl and examine her. It was clear that Samaya’s oxygen saturations were desperately low at 74%, and her heart was beating abnormally fast. Several indicators pointed to her having a congenital heart disease. I was able to suggest to her mother that her prayers for healing were perhaps being answered by our visit to her village, and offered her transport to a heart hospital in the capital city, where free treatment was available for patients with her daughter’s condition. God’s grace was at work in a wonderful way as she agreed to visit our hospital to arrange this.
Faith in conversation
Also at this gathering was a young pastor who is passionate about the need for disciple making. He has started a small Bible school in the local area and is running one-month free courses on disciple making. It was a real privilege to chat with him and encourage one another. There is freedom in this country, as there is in the UK, to share one’s faith, despite significant anti-conversion laws. I love having the opportunity to discuss the things of God with local friends and colleagues. I believe that if God has sent me somewhere, I can expect to meet people whom He is calling. And so, there are opportunities to explain the ‘hope that I have’ to those around me, and I delight in seeing His Word begin to take root. Likewise, I take great joy in being able to meet with fellow brothers and sisters – to encourage them and to be encouraged. This, I believe, reveals the motivation to keep on keeping on. I am abundantly blessed. What a joy to share this blessing with others, that they too may be blessed.
*Names changed for security and safeguarding reasons
This article is taken from GO Magazine Issue 3, Autumn 2024, ‘Healthcare’
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