Western Rajasthan is one of the least privileged areas of India. Much of it is desert; rainfall and water are in short supply and the majority of the population lives in rural areas. Many are tribal or indigenous people, largely uneducated and illiterate, and unaware of the importance of personal and social hygiene, basic immunization and other precautionary health measures that elsewhere are taken for granted. Often too poor to afford prevention or cure, their lives are frequently plagued by health problems that could be resolved at a relatively low cost. In any event, medicine and healthcare practitioners are in short supply. For example, a 1992 survey disclosed a population to doctor ratio of 8,473:1 and in Sirohi District there are just four hospitals, with a total of 457 beds, for about 700,000 people. The result of this is that the area's villagers and tribal people will either walk several miles across country for totally unsatisfactory treatment and care or, more often, leave ailments and injuries untreated.

Fortunately, this traumatic situation began to change in 1990 with the establishment of the J. Wattumal Memorial Global Hospital & Research Centre at the initiation of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. Designed to provide high quality, modern, holistic healthcare services in a tranquil, rural environment, the Hospital is managed and run by a charitable trust established and supported by members of the Brahma Kumaris, who also provide about a third of the personnel as well as catering and medicine.

The out-patient section, commissioned in 1991, consists of fifteen clinics, including cardiology, E.N.T., general medicine, gynaecology, oncology, opthalmology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, psychiatry and surgery. Diagnostic units are dedicated to pathology, radiology and imaging while other clinics offer physiotherapy, magnetotherapy, homeopathy and ayurveda as complimentary therapies. The services are administered by a team of over forty fully qualified doctors and nurses, most of whom reside within the Hospital premises and are therefore well placed to provide prompt attention as and when required.

The in-patient section consists of 70 beds spaciously laid out in three wards with operating theatre, four resident doctors on 24-hours-a-day call and a supporting team of assistants and nurses. An additional wing, with a further 50 beds, is being developed and is expected to be operational by mid-1998. Fully self-contained, the Hospital has its own central sterilization supply department and boiler plants as well as laundry facilities.

The Hospital seeks to treat all those in need, regardless of whether or not they are able to pay for their treatment, and those less well off are offered free or subsidised care. As word of the available facilities spreads within the district, the number of patients is steadily increasing. In the out-patient department, where all consultations are completely free of charge, the number of patients jumped from 66,399 in 1995 to 89,895 in 1997. In the wards, the number of patients rose from 1,247 in 1996 to 1,825 in 1997 and the Hospital has been able to extend its coverage of poorer people with free treatment being extended to 65% of all in-patients in 1996 and 75% of all in-patients in 1997.

The Hospital also runs a Village Outreach Programme which brings regular healthcare service right into village huts. A roving team of qualified medical staff makes twice-weekly visits to selected villages giving consultations and check-ups, instruction on hygiene and primary healthcare, and providing modern treatment, medicine and dietary supplements. When full in-patient treatment is necessary, villagers are transported to the Hospital where thirty beds are reserved exclusively for those unable to pay for the treatment they require. The Village Outreach Programme covers 90 villages in the Abu Road area, comprising about 90,000 people of whom 54,000 are tribals. Funds made available to date have enabled the Programme to adopt five of these villages for comprehensive patient coverage; these are Uplagarh, Nichalagarh, Salgaon, Utteraj and Oriya. In 1997, an average of 1,000 patients were seen each month in the course of these field visits. The primary focus has been on four areas of particular concern, namely Tuberculosis, Mother and Child Care, Skin diseases and Tumour detection. As funds become available, the Programme can be extended to Uplakhejda and Nichlakhejda where there is a high incidence of mortality and malnutrition. GHRC has now also planned a complete project on tuberculosis and malnutrition, two closely linked scourges afflicting this under-developed region.

As a base for further outreach work, a rural Healthcare Centre was established at Talheti, near Abu Road, in 1994. An Eye Wing was added in 1997 and the World Bank has recently helped sponsor a cataract surgery project there. Although a relatively new dimension of the Hospital's work, the Eye Wing is now poised to bring significant benefits to the quality of life of many villagers.

Meanwhile, work is well underway on three extra operating theatres and an intensive care unit at the Hospital while a cancer treatment research unit is also being planned.

2002 - World TB Day celebration A TB awareness rally in Chandela village, Rajasthan, India,was organized by the Village Outreach team, Global Hospital and Research Centre, Mt Abu. The rally was led by cured TB patients. After the rally many villagers in the crowd suffering from chronic cough came forward to register their name for screening.