Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 23
THE Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research (CIHSR), or simply known as Referral Hospital, in Dimapur on Saturday observed its 6th Foundation Day-cum-Thanksgiving here at the institute’s gymnasium.
The years behind the formation of CIHSR in 2007 have been mired in trouble after another trouble. The plans to build a ‘Referral hospital” in Dimapur took shape in the early and mid-eighties when the state government, with the assistance of DoNER ministry, commence with the project, according to information available on the CIHSR website. “While most of the facilities were almost complete by the mid-nineties the project ran into rough weather due to cost-overruns, cost-escalation and paucity of funding. Before construction activities came to a grinding halt, major portions of the OPD maternity, casualty, treatment, ward and utilities blocks had been completed.
“While all these blocks were essentially stand-alone projects of multiple contractors not enough attention was paid towards the common shared infrastructure facilities like electricity, water, iron-removal, sewage, roads, boundary walls etc. and, housing for the staff was totally neglected.”
As a result, “due to sheer neglect there were repeated episodes of major thefts and acts of vandalism. Ten years later these buildings had been almost totally stripped of their electrical wiring, several hundreds of doors, windows, internal water pipelines, sanitary fixtures, false ceilings and air-conditioning ducting and pipes.
“Several of the remaining large window-panes were broken, wall & floor tiles had been methodically removed, several tons of reinforcement steel bars stolen, an installed transformer relocated while a patient-bed lift totally degenerated lying in a storage godown.”
Finally after a lapse of ten trouble-filled years, in January 2005, the state government went into a bilateral agreement with the Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) “to re-vitalize the Referral Hospital.”
“Later, in response to wide-spread requests, on 27 May 2005, the bilateral MoU was converted into a tripartite MoU with the Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore as the third stake-holder. It was clearly understood that while the EHA and CMC Vellore will never be able to contribute financially, they will readily provide expert guidance and advice during the revitalization, setting-up and maintenance of the facilities.”
The CIHSR, for years, has also been lobbying hard to establish the state’s first medical college within the Institute.
With a past as chequered and trouble-filled as theirs, the CIHSR family was on Saturday advised to take courage from their modest and hard history. One of the board members since the inception of CIHSR, and more famously knwon as the principal emeritus of Patkai Christian College, the Reverend, Tusiem A Shishak speaking as the chief guest said, “You have come a long way. I want you to remember that.”
He referred briefly to the initial years of trouble the Institute had been forced to go through. “This is the story of CISHR, for those who you who were not here in the beginning.”
Shishak said that the growth of CIHSR over the years was a testament to an exercise on faith. “This is what happens when people put their faith in god. It is indeed a wonderful thing,” he said while reflecting on the CISHR’s six years of progress.
“It’s always good to come here, especially when you are not feeling well,” he jested.
The Reverend also spoke on the need for the medical practitioners to understand that “healing involves much more than giving shots.” He said that “healing” should be a more inclusive procedure.
“Whether you are in the field of theology or medicine, we are always covered by the three principles of body, mind and spirit,” Shishak said while underscoring the need to administer “counseling and prayer” as part of the healing process.
Shishak also drew parallel between the purposes of those engaged in the field of medicine to that of theologians. “For us, we are here to serve. Just as Jesus Christ was here to serve,” he said.
The Director of CIHSR, Dr Abraham Joseph informed that the CIHSR had treated around fifty-seven thousand patients the previous year. Out of those, around five thousand three hundred patients were admitted to the hospital.
Almost three thousand surgeries were conducted, out of which 900 were major ones and the rest were minor surgeries, he infiremd.
