Unfunctioned TLM Hospital In Poladpur, Can Expand the Township
SHAILESH V. PALKAR.(Accreditation Holder Free Lance Reporter)
Poladpur- Near Mubai to Goa national highway-17 FitzGerald i.e. Aambenali Ghat starts from town Poaldpur. Beginning of the Ambenali Ghat there is The Leprosy Mission Hospital of India in this town. Which has just stopped the work of treatment on lepers. The property of this TLM Hospital is now under doubt of to be sold or handover for non lepers worship. The land for agriculture which was useful to create earning for lepers was sold as the real estate to the land dealer. So it makes doubtful conditions against The Leprosy Mission Hospital of India.
The Leprosy Mission Hospital of India in Poladpur was Maharogi Aashram i.e. lepers camp before superintended by the Foreign Missions Committee of the Church of Scotland and financed by The Mission to Lepers. This was how the foundation of the Leprosy Ashram at Poladpur was laid by one man, Haripant Kelkar, a convert to Christianity, a Brahmin by birth.
In March 1895, Rev. W. E. Wilkie Brown, of the United Free Church of Scotland, passed through Poladpur on his way to language school at Mahableshwar. This is what he saw:
“Half a dozen low bamboo and leaf huts with straw thatching under the shady trees told you nothing till you came nearer, and there, seated on the ground, were a dozen or more poor broken men with the unmistakable signs of leprosy. Then I heard how Haripant [Kelkar], over and above his work as an evangelist, had found them here, for it was a good place for begging. It is at a point on the North and South Konkan road, where the road breaks off that climbs the Mahableshwar range and continues to the Deccan. This road is always thronged with bullock-carts carrying provisions and produce, salt, rice, coconuts, dried fish, pottery and much else to the hinterland. The poor lepers found it a good place and sat by the wayside begging.
“Taking compassion on them, Haripant had these simple shelters made for them. He had no financial help for this effort of his, nothing beyond his faith and his love for the poor outcasts. The shopkeepers and grain merchants of Poladpur, approving this effort to keep the lepers from wandering through the town, were ready to help. Indeed, it was Haripant, the converted Brahmin, who became a beggar for their sakes, and from the gifts he received made them the daily allowance for their needs. He himself had a room just across the road from the leper huts, so near that only the width of a road lay between.
“It was all done so quietly and unostentatiously. Every evening he gathered them for worship and taught them the hymns he loved as well as those of his own composition. It was a piece of work that he had added over and above his school and evangelistic work in that place. He was building better than he knew.”
(Source: A. Donald Miller, An Inn Called Welcome, The Mission to Lepers, London, 1965) In 1895 the Rev. W. E. Wilkie Brown, passed through Poladpur en route to Mahableshwar. [Haripant] Kelkar offered him hospitality and took him to see the lepers he had housed. Brown was impressed, and the Mission for Lepers was subsequently informed of Kelkar’s endeavors and provided finances. As a result, the Home grew in size and permanency. At the start of the twentieth century, patients built a small church, which was superseded by a more permanent structure built in 1912. Although [Haripant] Kelkar was moved away by his Mission, the leprosy work continued, superintended by the Foreign Missions Committee of the Church of Scotland and financed by The Mission to Lepers. In the mid 1940s around 180 patients were resident. In 1943 Dr. Victor Das joined the staff as resident physician, and he was to be a pivotal figure in improving life at the asylum in future decades. During his residency the new church was constructed (In memory of Rev. Donald Mitchell and Haripant Kelkar) and dedicated in 1954. And the news hospital block was completed in 1959.
(Source: D. A. Miller, Two Pioneers at Poladpur: And What Followed, The Mission to Lepers, London, 1960)
TLM’s work started in India in 1874 and it remains a key area for the Mission with over 50% of resources being channeled there. Around 70% of all leprosy patients worldwide are in India. TLM also fulfills the role of ILEP (International Leprosy Federation) coordinator in India.
In the recent past, TLM's work has moved away from providing purely medical based care for people affected by leprosy to a more holistic, integrated approach that encompasses healthcare, education, rehabilitation and training.
TLM runs 18 hospitals in India which provide general medical services as well as specialist leprosy care and referral services. Our hospitals are located all around India at; Barabanki, Belgaum, Champa, Chandkhuri, Dayapuram, Faizabad, Kolkata, Kothara, Miraj, Muzaffarpur, Naini, Poladpur, Purulia, Ramachandrapuram, Saldoha, Salur, Shahadra and Vadathorasalur.
TLM Hospitals provide a wide range of services from specialist leprosy treatment and care to reconstructive surgery for hands, feet and eyes. Through provision of medical and surgical care for non-leprosy patients, the hospitals help break down the stigma between leprosy and general patients. Based in areas of great poverty and rural deprivation, TLM hospitals are often the only health care providers in the accessible area.
Prevention of Impairment and Disability
Working alongside the government at Primary Health Care (PHC) level, TLM teams provide training in Prevention of Impairment and Disability (POID) to PHC staff. This enables early detection and treatment of patients diagnosed with leprosy. Those who need specialist surgery to prevent future impairments are also identified. Through Prevention of Disability and self-care training, patients are equipped to manage the physical effects of leprosy once they are back in their communities. Rubber soled footwear is given to patients with anaesthetic feet – last year 10,711 pairs of shoes were distributed.
Advocacy and Awareness
Leprosy is curable. Despite this, people with the visible physical, social and economic effects of leprosy are often rejected by their families and communities. The Diana Princes of Wales Health Education Media Centre at Noida holds national leprosy awareness rallies to promote positive messages about leprosy treatment among the general public, amongst other initiatives. Health education in schools, exhibitions, posters and pamphlets about leprosy also help to educate the general public.
Ex-leprosy patient and community-based groups mobilize villagers and community leaders to take responsibility and initiative. One such group is the Wellesley Bailey Society (WBS) – formed of some 60 ex-leprosy patients from Vadathorasalur hospital in Tamil Nadu. Each self-help group of 20 former patients has a different focus, relevant to the skills of the members. Skills include breeding chickens for sale, making specialist sandals and running the local village phone booth. The WBS also has a micro-credit system, making loans to other patients and non-members. Representatives from the group meet the local District Administrator to negotiate benefits for Society members. They now have a voice and respect in their community.
Increased awareness about leprosy, coupled with socio-economic rehabilitation initiatives go hand-in-hand with advocacy work in India. Economic independence reduces stigma.
Community Based Rehabilitation
Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) projects enable rehabilitation, equal opportunities and social integration for people with disabilities. CBR work is integral to many TLM India projects and involves the combined efforts of disabled people alongside their families, communities and appropriate government services.
Loans are offered to former patients to support their livelihood activities or start up new businesses. Each year, over 450 new patients and their families are rehabilitated through hospitals and Vocational Training Centres.
Through the Catch Them Young programme, children of leprosy affected families are encouraged to carry on their formal education with scholarships and educational materials. In 2004, more than 750 new students were helped under the CTY scheme.
In July 2010 The Leprosy Mission Hospital of India in Poladpur handover the patients of Leprosy to The Leprosy Mission Hospital of India in Miraj. In Poladpur The Leprosy Mission Hospital of India has ready infrastructure like OPD room, General ward, 7 Staff Quarters, School building, Church, 2 Old lepers residents, Hill side Staff buildings, Air conditioned buildings, power generator, Operation theater, Gardens and trees shadow on all premises of 22 acres. Poladpur Grampanchayat has not charged Residential or health taxes to The Leprosy Mission Hospital of India from the beginning of it for the work of human worship. Inspite of this Grampanchayat served street light facility & road cleaning from the beginning of The Leprosy Mission Hospital.
Now Poladpur Grampanchayat is facing to the limited boundaries of the town. There is no chance for expansion of the town. If this Hospital is now accepting the new vision of Multipurpose Utility centre, the land under the TLM should return for the expansion of this town, which was donated by the people of this town for Haripant Kelkar’s worship to Lepers or mankind.
