Humanity Hospital

No more excuse, please! I heard this before in one of the guest lecture at IITkgp. The lady, the central character sells vegetables in Sealdah, Kolkata market. Had temendous will and perseverence and of course purity of thought, life. That helped her to collect one rupee a day from other sellers of the market for the dream hospital. The following is from page 2 of Kolkata edition of Times of India.
---------------------------
MOTHER COURAGE
She sold vegetables and her son grew up at a home for destitute children. But Subhashini Mistry still went on to set up a hospital that treats thousands of patients for free. They just call her Ma — a woman with a mighty heart. Prithvijit Mitra reports
Subhashini Mistry treads gently on the lawn, searching for weeds and undergrowth that she deftly plucks out from under the cycas trees. Bending low, she caresses the petals and waters the potted plants. But every once in a while, she instinctively turns around to take a proud look at a three-storey building overlooking a little patch of green that’s come up in the middle of nowhere. That building is, first, a miracle. A testimony to the 72-year-old widow’s grit, determination and impossible altruism; it’s also a hospital. The name, Humanity Hospital, couldn’t have been more apt. Because healthcare is for free here, along with lots of love and affection. The hospital at Hanspukur, on the southern fringes of Kolkata, was set up 13 years ago by Subhashini and her doctor son Ajoy to ensure that no one in their largely impoverished village went unattended or uncared for. They have found 20 doctors who work for free. “If you hear her story, you too won’t have the heart to ask for pay for work done at the hospital,’’ said a doctor. “This is service like I have never seen before.’’ Subhashini’s story is a staggering account of what human will can achieve, of indomitable spirit, of a rise, phoenix like. It was in 1971, after her husband died — poor, ill, and without any money for treatment — that she vowed no one in her village would end up that way. But the dream was easier dreamt than brought to fruition. “The eldest of my children was seven and the youngest just a year-and-a-half when my husband died,’’ Subhashini said. “We didn’t have money for the doctor’s fees and he died without treatment. That day, I pledged no other woman in my village would go through what I did.” But the journey she embarked on was riddled with hardships and obstacles. She started by collecting vegetables from neighbours and selling them at a local market for a small margin. She saved from whatever little she earned. Her neighbours laughed at her and relatives felt she was out of her mind. “Two of my sons worked in a tea stall. We survived on boiled rice for years. I couldn’t even send them to school,” Subhashini recalled. “I knew my children had to go to school and at least one had to be a doctor, or else my dream would never come true. So, I decided to turn into a proper vegetable vendor, without depending on my neighbours.” Ajoy, the third son, looked the most likely candidate to help fulfil her dream. He was a brilliant student even as he grew up in a children’s home. “My mother could not afford to send me to school. But she wanted us to study seriously, which we did. I was initially not keen on taking up medicine. In fact, I studied chemistry because I felt that was my subject,” said Ajoy, now 47. It left Subhashini disheartened, but she willed herself to fight on — even without a doctor in the family. By then, though, both mother and son had saved up enough to buy a piece of land at Hanspukur. Slowly, neighbours, now beginning to admire her tenacity, contributed generously. “The land for Humanity Hospital was purchased in 1992, and construction began three years later. When the hospital was inaugurated in 1996, it was just a single-storey structure, barely 3,000 sq ft in area. But it came as a ray of hope for people in the Hanspukur-Bankrahat area,” Ajoy said. Ajoy changed track, too, and in 1990, after clearing the joint entrance examination, enrolled at Calcutta Medical College Hospital. He graduated a year before the foundation stone for Humanity Hospital was laid. With 35 beds and 13 departments — including general medicine, gynaecology, paediatrics, eye, surgery, immunology and cardiology — the hospital stands as the lone symbol of optimism in a neglected terrain where treatment was considered a luxury. It caters to more than 10,000 people, and patients travel from farflung villages like Shakharipota, Mahishgot, Kalmikhali, Kakdweep, Kalagacchia, Diamond Harbour, parts of East Midnapore and even Bangladesh. Nobody is refused treatment. And no money is ever asked for. Subhashini and Ajoy spend more than 16 hours at the hospital every day. She struts about the hospital like a protective mother hen, visiting each bed, holding hands and talking to patients. “For us, this is our world. The patients are like my own children,” Subhashini said. Ajoy, on his part, never regrets having chosen to dedicate his life for the cause of the poor. “I don’t know when I started sharing my mother’s vision. But it was pretty early in life,” he said. But there is no end in sight to the struggle that started in 1971. It’s a daily battle to keep the hospital running. Donors and sponsors have lent a helping hand. LIC Golden Jubilee Foundation, for instance, funded the construction of the second floor recently, but it’s never enough. Ajoy said, “At present, we need Rs 64,000 a month to run the hospital. If we have to augment the facilities, we would require Rs 3 lakh. We need more donors and perhaps some patients who can afford to pay basic charges.” On his mother’s suggestion, Ajoy helped 100 villagers get medical insurance, but this number is just a drop in the ocean. “We need more such schemes to make Humanity a bigger institution. But it will always cater to the poor and the neglected. Whatever the cost.’’ No one will doubt Subhashini or her son on this.