Oxygen is
essential for all hospitals. Ours is no different. The logistics of procuring
oxgygen in Manali are overwhelming, and procuring it regularly is a formidable
challenge. Our hospital has fifty five beds, of which four are intensive care
beds with three ventilators. Ventilators are a sluice gate for oxygen, rapidly exhausting
cylinders. The nearest filling station for oxygen is in Mandi, three hours away
by road. In early 2004 we required two
cylinders a day. We are presently using twenty cylinders every three days. The
logistics of transporting empty cylinders down by truck, filling them and having them on hand for all
emergencies is an onerous task. At first we used to send our cylinders inside a
Sumo with the back seats removed to make space. That was not safe, since the
driver is in the same cab with the jostling cylinders. So we bought a pick up
truck. The truck marked “medical oxygen” used to make its pilgrimage every
third day down the mountain roads to the filling station. This was not without
danger. Once the truck had a narrow escape, collided en route with another
vehicle and spewed the oxygen cylinders all over the mountainside. Thankfully the
cylinders were empty and no one was injured.
One of our
employees, Mr. Ramdev, who had come to
our hospital as a destitute patient over fifteen years ago has been the chief
co ordinator of this exercise. Originally from Nepal, without any known support
or family, he wandered into our hospital as a patient. While admitted, he was
instrumental in catching a thief and was thereby inducted into the staff as a
watchman. The income he earned did not slake his search for a reason to exist,
and he turned to alcohol, which became a trap. He wandered down the road to
complete inebriation and faced the day when we had to confront him with
termination of service. Desperate, and with no human help at hand or family to
turn to, he asked us for help. We arranged to send him to a Christian rehabilitation
centre in Lucknow for six months.
He returned
a changed man. Returning to his job, he assumed complete responsibility for the
supply of oxygen, keeping tabs on the number of cylinders that were available
and ensuring that we always had filled cylinders at hand. We have never run out
of oxygen, thanks to his faithfulness. He established contact with one of his
close relatives in Nepal, and visited them immediately after the earthquake
there. He has become a support to his close ones in Nepal by taking them
blankets and money. He is now always nattily turned out, and has never looked
at alcohol again. He is acutely aware of the transformation God has brought
about in his life, not only by saving him from alcohol, but being instrumental
in providing help to his family.
Installing
an oxygen plant in Manali has been a year long project. This last week, the
plant is finally up and running. The plant produces oxygen by extracting all
other components from air. The pick up truck does not have to run that mountain
road much anymore, and will only need to go occasionally for back up cylinders. Later, we
can install our own filling station. This plant is now hissing and humming
happily in campus. It sends messages of its well-being periodically to the
phones of concerned personnel informing
them of any errors or blips in its function. Prominent among the list of those
who get messages is – you guessed it,
Ramdev, our living testimony that air does become breath.
We obtained
permission from Mr. Ramdev to share his story on the website to serve as a
source of encouragement to others.
