February 1990, the foundation stone of the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT) was laid. Speaking on the occasion, Swami Rama said, “I pray to the divinity in you. I am only a humble server. I have nothing of my own within me. By the grace of my Gurudev, based on whatever I have got, I want to serve all of you. I just want to say this much—that you allow me to do my service. I understand the word seva in a simple way—to have joy. The pleasure/joy that you have in this, you don’t have it in anything else. Tulsidas has said it in a very simple language, ‘It is not sufficient to work for others O brother, what is necessary to be is to serve others in love.’ With the help of the grace of God and all of you, I want to make this hi-tech hospital India’s best hospital. And this I am not talking out of arrogance, it will be done only because of the grace of God, of Gurudev and support of all of you.
“I have the means, I have the team, I have traveled within and outside the country, am getting architects to also serve. By the end of March mobile vans will be going in the mountains, in the villages. Now, I have not been able to prepare the team which I need—the way I am able to do abroad—of foot doctors, to walk and serve the people in the villages. I have seen that our doctors have become money minded because it is coming down as a sort of tradition, don’t know from where it has entered our blood. The way there are about ½ billion fake operations every year, there must be at least 3 billion in our country. It is not necessary. So it is necessary to have preventive medicine from time to time, this is my prayer.”
Thus in March began the mobile vans, i.e ambulance with a doctor and a pharmacist, going to rural areas of Dehradun, Pauri and Tehri. A post card would be posted to the village heads two weeks in advance on the route to be taken. Swamiji’s volunteer doctors would go on this with a pharmacist and medicines. On their return after a short gap, the next route would be taken. Today 30 years down the line, modern hi-tech vans with complete diagnostics and a complete health team offers its services in various outreach areas of Uttarakhand and surrounding areas.
Swamiji’s medical city was set up as a center for comprehensive, regionwide health care and social development programs incorporating medical care, education and research over three phases. The following were enabled: 500-bedded referral hospital with modern diagnostic and treatment facilities offering inpatient/outpatient services and emergency services; nursing college with hostel facilities, medical college, technician program (for lab and radiology), library; Ayurveda and homeopathy clinics; residential facilities for staff and various other campus services.
Simultaneously, the rural activities were strengthened through a primary health care grant for five years with support of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Pauri, Tehri and Dehradun districts. The project was a self-reliant, participatory, community-based primary health care program, including preventive health promotion activities. A devastating earthquake midway during the project paved the way for relief and reconstruction to be a part of the Trust since then. With men migrating out, focus was on women and children being served through health services, be it “Innovative Family Planning Program” in select blocks of Tehri district (through USAID) or reproductive health through Gov’t. of India programs or funding through grants by Bill and Melinda Gates (through Management Science of Health). Also, within a decade, we were able to reach across Uttarkahand and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal. Large scale community-led water programs were also started in the early 90s. If the first decade went in serving women and children, the next decade went into serving the adolescents, and the focus this decade has been on the differently abled. All along, the integrated model of health, water and sanitation, education and livelihood continues to be used to serve the rural masses.
Ms. B. Maithili, Director, Rural Development Institute
