45,625 days and more of God’s faithfulness
Kachhwa Christian Hospital (KCH) is the oldest unit of the Emmanuel Hospital Association group of hospitals and may well be among the 4 oldest hospitals in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Shankar Ramachandran, the Managing Director, describes the 125 year anniversary celebrations.
God’s ways are mysterious, unfathomable to human minds. Who would have imagined Kachhwa, a small village then (1897) in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, would be chosen to fulfill His unique purpose for this region? Dr. Robert Ashton of London Missionary Society was God’s chosen instrument to establish the hospital here over 125 years ago.
The current financial year 2023-24 is the year we have chosen to celebrate the hospital’s Quasquicentennial.* In these 125 years the hospital has seen some bright periods, some dimly lit ones but never has God let the light to be fully snuffed out in spite of severe challenges.
Three organisations: London Missionary Society, Bible Churchmen’s Missionary Society (BCMS) and now Emmanuel Hospital Association have given oversight to the hospital.
Under BCMS, Dr. Neville Everard took the hospital to glorious heights, with 150 beds, a nursing school and many satellite clinics. KCH provided medical treatment for the poor and needy from far and wide.
But by the early 2000s it became almost impossible to keep the hospital running. By the providence of God, Dr Raju Abraham and Mrs Catherine Abraham came in 2002 to revive the work. It was a new birth with a new vision and a holistic approach.
Today the 25 bedded hospital caters to a population of over 160,000 people in Majhwa Block (Mirzapur District). Through our community health and development projects the poor and marginalised are touched and uplifted. And more importantly there is a vibrant community of those that are trying to walk in the light, growing in love and faith, which is a huge encouragement.
Commencing our 125 year celebrations – We began the celebrations on 18th July 2023. The District Magistrate/Collector (the administrative head of Mirzapur District) was the chief guest. Three projects were launched as part of the celebration:
Solar Power Plant: With rising energy prices, frequent power outages and our motive of going green, we wanted to install solar power. We were blessed through the generous donation of EMMS to install a 50 KW solar power plant. Now the entire hospital side is being run on solar and we hope the residential area can also go green soon.
Project ‘RIHAYI’ (‘deliverance’): Oral cancers are one of the most common forms of cancer in this region. A major reason is tobacco abuse in its many forms. Project ‘Rihayi’ is a tobacco cessation and preventive oncology project which seeks to address the 3 most preventable forms of cancer – oral, breast and cervical. Most of the poor are not able to access timely treatment, so the cancer moves to an advanced stage. We hope to do our best in early identification and treatment.
Physical Therapy Centre: Again the Lord enabled us to fulfil a much soughtafter service. Many of the poor silently suffer with aches and pains that could easily be addressed – particularly stroke patients and post-surgical ortho patients who cannot afford such treatment. Children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities are another target group whom we hope to serve.
Two additional celebrations:
• 51 TB patients were adopted for continued care and follow-up for 6 months. This is part of our existing Project Safal, with a vision of making our block TB free by 2025.
• We gifted sewing machines to three poor widows to enable them to become self-reliant. One is the wife of one of our palliative care patients who died recently.
This year as we celebrate God’s goodness, we are glad to be able to help the poor and marginalized and hope we can do more to impact our community. And as a team we are excited as we see God at work and look forward with hope to all that He has in store. It is His work and we co-labor with Christ our Lord.
Contact SAC for regular reports and information about various ways you can be practically involved.
Article by:
Shankar Ramachandran
Managing Director of
Kachhwa Christian Hospital
* This is a real word we recently discovered! It means the 125 years anniversary
