Demise of Ms. Champa Rani

We are devastated by the tragic demise of Ms. Champa Rani, our pharmacist for the past nineteen years. She passed away on the 14th of December with a dissecting aortic aneurysm that dissected her coronaries. Please do keep the family in prayer.

Jubilee a grand success

The Platinum jubilee marking 75 years of service of the Lady Willingdon Hospital Manali was a mega event and a huge success. Thanks to the tireless work of our dedicated staff, all went absolutely flawlessly, including a very well choreographed one hour long cultural program. The retired and current staff who had worked more than twenty years were honoured by the MLA Shri Gobind Thakur. The SDM and BMO Naggar block spoke at the function, praising the work we have done and have been doing here.

See the pictures on facebook page manalihospital.

 

PCNL done in Manali

Dr. Tara Chand Sharma performed two PCNLs in manali succesfully. Patients are doing well. We  hope to offer this soon here, which will be a boon to the patients.

Whipples surgery done in Manali

A fifty year old had come with obstructive jaundice and ct had showed a 4 cm mass in the head of the pancreas that looked unresectable. She was planned for a hepaticojejunostomy or diversion. On table her lesion was mobile, so it was decided to resect it. A Whipples pylorus sparing duodenectomy was done and she stood the procedure well and was discharged on the 9th postoperative day. Her resection margins were clear. This is the first time a Whipples procedure has been successfully done here.

Rare eye procedure done in Manali

Dr. Sandeep performed over twenty surgeries during the camp in Manali, including a Hummelshiem procedure, a rare and difficult operation done for strabismus. Over two hundred patients were seen.

Ent camp huge success

Dr. George Ani and Dr. Vibhor saw five hundred patients and operated on twenty, juggling the opd and long hours of operating on the twenty four hour sundial of time amazingly. Thanks to both and thanks to the team. The paucity of available options has led to a huge burden of ent disease here, with little resolution till some one is able to help.

September plans

We are planning a CME on Gastroenterology on 25th of September here in Manali. This will be part of the Jubilee celebrations for the year. Dr. Keith Hine, Gastroenterologist from UK and Prof Navneent Chaudhary, HOD dept of Surgery CMC Ludhiana will be the faculty speakers.

ENT camp with Dr. George Ani will kick off on 27th September till 2nd October.

EYE camp with Dr. Sandeep will kick off on 2nd October.

Nursing conference huge success

The Jubilee nursing conference was a huge success with fifty nine delegates and very educative sessions and a hands on CPR session in which all participants got involved.

Thanks to all the hardworking teams that pulled it off!

Portable ventilator arrives

Our portable ventilator is finally here! We have a Drager Carina which is a very good ventilator, for our ambulance. Now we are fully set up to transport critical patients to tertiary care centres. Thanks to our friends and donors!

Eye camp

Dr. Sandeep Anand is here performing eye surgery. He hopes to come intermittently to provide this service. Mr. Ram was a labourer from UP who came here to work in the apple orchards. Unfortunately he was nearly blind with bilateral cataract. It is a bit difficult to conceive of how one can work in an orchard when one is nearly blind. However, he was operated on one eye last time and today he undergoes another surgery on the other eye to restore his vision. We were able to give him concession and his orchard owner came forward to help. Thanks every one, thanks Dr. Sandeep.

Nose avulsion

A driver crashed his car into a shop, and took his nose off. It was put back together with difficulty.

 

 

Senior obstetrician to join

Dr. Saroj Chaudhary, a senior Obstetrician will be joining us on the 2nd of August. This is a huge answer to prayer.

Surgical work

There has been an increase in the surgical work here of late, with many more patients coming in for surgery. Last week we had a lady for total thyroidectomy, a twenty year old for an  abdominoperineal excision and a middle aged lady for a sigmoid colectomy. This is very demanding on one surgeon. Any surgeons around who might be interested?

CT Scan?

A  mountain trekker came to us with history of losing consciousness at high altitude. She was deeply unconscious, and we needed to put her on a ventilator, beside anti cerebral edema measures. However her clinical behaviour and pattern of unconsciousness were not fitting into HACE. She was transferred by ventilated ambulance to a tertiary centre where she turned out to have an intracerebral bleed.

A ct scan here would help many patients like this. Acute trauma and head injury, elective imaging for surgery all do require scanning, the nearest one being sixty kilometers away.

We would be dependant on donations for such a venture. The capital expenditure involved would not allow us to recover the cost with the numbers of scans we will do. We cannot enter the scenario commonly practiced of giving “kickbacks” to doctors perscribing it.  And that is where we are now.

Rev. C.B. Samuels message

Here is a summary of the Sunday message: it is a bit cryptic, rather like morse code. You will need to expand it yourself.

Loving God is a command we have to choose to do it. We cant define it the way we want.

Three components to love

• Devotional component

We have to love God. Love demands presence.

• Transformational component

We have to change. We have to choose Loving God or Loving the world/money

• Missional component

Be Missional in all you do. Desire to communicate.

There are many ways to love God but one way to love God that is to love your neighbour. If you do not love your neighbour you are a liar. Loving people is not a suggestion. He said that if you don’t love all the work you do will be dismantled.

Philippians 2. Having the same mind there is no unity. Be Complete by being likeminded. Have this mind. 1Peter 4:1/ 1Cor :2 / the mind of Christ Leadership. You do not have the mind of Christ. We hide under excuses not to love. That it is not my style, or not our culture, etc. This is not a culture problem. This is a spiritual problem.

Four componenents. from Philippians 2:

• Dont cling to the image. Chapter 3. People love their own status. You have created an image which you love. If any one touches that image finished. Unless you hate that image you cannot love.
• Made himself nothing,vulnerable. Made himself nothing. We act from our security. Hard to love people who tell you the truth. We have to empty yourself. difficult to love when we protect ourself.
• Relocate ourselves. What you have to give. You come in from power. You dont want to be at the disposal of others. We are stuck to our status. Are you a servant?
• What they ask you to is painful to do. They will sit on your head. The fear is that others will give you your agenda. The reason we do not love is because we have not died to ourselves.

Lag valley camp

The Lag valley though near Kullu is tucked away between the mountains, a fact that has rendered the people less able to access health care. We conducted a camp in Shalang village school, where two hundred patients came to access free medical, dental, eye and phsyiotherapy check ups and receive free medicines.

The silence of snowfall

Anything that falls from the sky usually has a sound associated with it, be it rain, hail, or a tree crashing to the ground. However, snow, real snow, light and crisp when it falls is enveloped in a veil of silence. That is amazing. A reminder of the many blessings that we take for granted everyday that shower on us silently from above.

More snow

Snow has arrived, and a whole bunch of it. Three feet on the ground and the forecast says there is more to come. There has been no electricity for the past two days.

Winter carnival 2010

The rain has been constant for the past twenty four hours. However, this did not dampen the spirit and enthusiasm of the local folks, who turned out ic large number with umbrellas to watch the winter carnival procession. For the first time, Lady Willingdon Hospital took part, with a float depicting the growth of the hospital and commemorating the 75 years of service to the community. Well done team!

 

Republic day 2010

There will be a flag hoisting for the Republic day 2010. The first group of staff have returned refreshed from their annual vacation and the next group is geared to leave tomorrow.

Ambulance service

In the whole of Himachal State there is no ventilated ambulance for the transfer of intubated patients for tertiary care. We have been calling the ambulances from CMC Ludhiana and Fortiss, eight to nine hours away by road. These services charge a huge sum for this facility. Even transferring a patient for CT scan to Kullu becomes a feat if the patient is unstable. We hope to enter a new dimension of patient care by initiating an equipped ambulance service for the local people at an affordable cost within the reach of the average person. We have taken this step in faith, and hope that funding for this will come. We do have some funds with which we have ordered the ambulance. The entire service should be operational by March end. Donations may be made out to "Lady Willingdon Hospital" Manali. Contact person is Dr. Philip Alexander, Lady Willingdon Hospital, Manali, HP INDIA 175131 at philalex1@gmail.com, 91-9816033110.Please call or email if you are interested in supporting this project.

Thankfulness

Praise flows to you O Lord

As the rivers hurry to the seas

Continual, perpetual gurgling motion

Tumbling thrilling rock and greisen

Swelling flood and icy floe

White laced rapids and eddies go

At this sodden passage

Earth sidelined applauds

The rushing echo of its spray

May the measured mileage of all my days

Be to you eternal praise

Let it snow!

Snow or rather a smattering of it, has finally arrived in Manali. It has been cold enough here, but the initial snow was wet and heavy. We do hope it will be a good season this year.