6/25/2009 9:39:00 AM Norfolk doctor builds hospital in India
COURTESY PHOTONorfolk urologist Dr. Natu Patel (second from right) and his wife, Sudha (second from left), light candles at a dedication ceremony for the hospital they built in their hometown of Jotana, India.
Small brick homes line the muddy paths, which monsoon rains often wash away. Inside, mothers care for their ill children who are plagued by deadly bouts of diarrhea and dehydration. Dangerous parasite-laden mosquitoes breed in the stagnant water.
This is the reality of rural India, and it was once part of everyday life for Norfolk urologist Dr. Natu Patel.
An estimated 300 million rural villagers live under the global poverty line in what Patel described as "early American prairie life." Some Indian villages have no running water, no schools and no medical clinics.
It's a stark contrast to the wealth and prosperity seen in urban India, a hub for technological advances and accessible medical care. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners flock there each year for cost-effective operations - those that some of the rural villagers will never have access to.
However, there's hope for Jotana, a small town nestled in midwestern India. The 8,000 villagers there still stomach the daily trials of rural Indian life - high infant mortality, ill children and dangerously unsanitary living conditions.
But Patel, a Jotana native, is working - both with his medical expertise and his pocketbook - to bring relief to his hometown.
"We do whatever we can to support in every way," Patel said of the community improvement committee he's part of, "with our ideas and our financial help and whatever other way we can make it work."
Patel and his wife of 40 years, Sudha, returned to Norfolk in June after being the featured guests at a celebration in India to dedicate the general hospital the Patels had built in Jotana.
The modest facility will replace the village's meager clinic that "does not satisfy community needs," according to Patel, who completed medical school in India, trained at Columbia University in New York City and worked at the University of Iowa and Creighton University before settling in Norfolk in 1980.
Several small villages dot the vast landscape surrounding Jotana, Patel said, but none has in-patient medical care. For serious illnesses, some residents seek help in the sprawling cities - where, Patel said, care is considerably better - but not everyone can do so, and most residents don't when battling less life-threatening conditions.
Patel's 20-bed hospital, which bears his name, will provide X-rays, ultrasounds, laboratory tests and minor surgeries at a minimal cost when it's complete. The hospital already is open, but equipment is still trickling in. Care is subsidized, and patients are expected to pay only what they can, which may be absolutely nothing.
"(The facility) can have the capacity to see, treat and diagnose (patients)," Patel said.
Beds pepper the hospital's two main wards, one for men and the other for women. Other spaces, Patel said, are reserved for surgeries, births, outpatients, the pharmacy, a nurses' station and for specialists who will visit from the cities weekly or biweekly.
Patel said he hopes the birthing area will encourage pregnant mothers to deliver their newborns safely at the hospital rather than in their homes, thus slashing the community's high rates of infant and maternal death. There are 63 instances of infant mortality per 1,000 births in rural India, compared to the United States' seven.
Through his foundation, Patel has funneled about $250,000 into Jotana.
More than a decade ago, he paid to build a community hall, which, to date, has hosted hundreds of villagers' weddings.
Crews recently broke ground for his industrial technology institute that will train 25 to 50 students to become electricians, computer specialists and diesel mechanics, Patel said. Years ago, he established a computer course at a local school.
And for now, it's largely up to Patel to financially operate his hospital.
"I want to make sure the hospital named after me can keep running," he said. Eventually, he hopes, the Indian government will chip in.
Patel will provide his own medical services whenever he visits his hometown, he said. He'd like two of his three children - one of who is an eye doctor and another who is in his second year of medical school - to eventually do some work at the hospital, too.
Their mission will be not only to provide medical care, but also to develop an understanding of modern medicine and eliminate superstition within Jotana.
Rural India residents sometimes assume diseases can either eradicate themselves or be cured within the home, Patel said. But much of the younger generation, as education has improved, knows better.
"They're thinking of that," he added, "but financially the means just aren't there" to thwart many of the diseases in the thousands of small villages.
Except, thanks to the Patels, in Jotana.
Reader Comments
Posted: Friday, June 26, 2009
Article comment by:
Lynn Matthies
We don't often see what happens in the background. Just like Johnny Carson never forgot his roots by helping our medical community, Dr. Patel didn't forget where he came from. I'm proud to know you.
Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009
Article comment by:
Beth Guenther
Thank you to Dr. Patel and other individuals who have helped to make this hospital a reality through their own time, dedication, and money. India will definitely benefit through Dr.Patels awesome generosity.
I too agree that the goverment of India should chip in to help these people.
