MEDICAL SERVICE VOL. 40 No. 5 NAY-JUNE-1983
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- MEDICAL SERVICE VOL. 40 No. 5 NAY-JUNE-1983
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relating public programmes to people's lives • know your blood pressure
and live longer • key-note address by dr j j billing at the first inter natibh^i
congress for the family of asia and australia • your baby is growing
vol 40
no 5
may - June 1983
medical
service
official house journal
of the catholic
hospital association of India
"the love of Christ
urges us" 2 cor 5 : 14
vol 40
editorial board
dr cm francis
dr ravi narayan
dr prem chandran john
dr daleep mukarji
mr augustin veliyath
fr george lobo sj
may - june 1983
contents
1
editorial
1
2
relating public programmes to people's lives
future, unicef
3
know your blood pressure and live longer
robert j macmurray
8
key-note address delivered by dr j j billing at
the first international congress for the family
of asia and australia
12
5
your baby is growing
17
6
chai news and notes
21
3
editor
no 5
4
fr john vattamattom svd
cover design
p m isaac bangalore
published by the catholic
hospital association of India
c b c i centre, goldakkhana
new delhi-110001
printed at kalpana printing
house new delhi-110016
"Articles and statements published in this journal
do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of
the catholic hospital association of india"
EDITORIAL
A mission with a vision
A Jewish Rabbi is said to have asked his disciples one day: "When can
you say that the night is over and the day has begun?" After thinking for
a while one of the disciples told: "If you can see an animal at a distance,
and if you cannot distinguish whether it is a dog or a goat, at that moment
the night can be said to have ended and the day has begun". The Rabbi
was not satisfied with that answer. Another disciple said: "If you see a tree
at a distance, and if you cannot distinguish whether it is fig tree or a badam
tree at that moment the night ends and the day begins". The Rabbi was
not satisfied with that answer either. Being disappointed a bit, the disciples
asked the Rabbi, "Then when can you say the night has gone and the day
has begun? Please tell us". The Rabbi said: "If you see a man and looking
in his eyes, if you can recognise him as your brother, at that moment the
night ends and the day begins. But if you cannot recognise him as your
brother, no matter what time is it, it will always be night".
Modern man with so much of scientific advancements to his credit tends
to be in darkness in the sense as expressed by the Rabbi. Nearly twenty
years ago Vatican Council expressed its. anxiety over the situation. The
situation has since been worsened. In the Documents "Church in the
Modern World" the Council Fathers expressed: "Never has the human race
enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources and economic power. Yet
a huge proportion of the world's citizens is still tormented by hunger and
poverty while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy. Never before
today has man been so keenly aware of freedom, yet at the same time, new
forms of social and psychological slavery make their appearance.
"Although the world of today has a very vivid sense of its unity and of
how one man depends on another in needful solidarity, it is most grievously
torn into opposing camps by conflicting forces. For political, social, econo
mic, racial and ideological disputes still continue bitterly, and with them the
peril of a war which would reduce everything to ashes. True, there is a
growing exchange of ideas, but the very words by which key concepts are
expressed take on quite different meanings in diverse ideological systems.
Finally, man painstakingly searches for a better world, without working with
equal zeal for the betterment of his own spirit" (n. 4).
It is necessary for us to evaluate and rethink from time to time about
our mission, our commitment, our various types of services. In spite of our
efficient services in the field of education, health, development, etc., let us
make sure mat we are not in the darkness.
SEMINAR-CUM-RETREAT ON
"HUMAN AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH THROUGH CLINICAL EXPERIENCE"
FOR SISTER-NURSES
Catholic Hospital Association of India is organising a series of short
training programme for health care personnel. Two of such courses will be
held at Amarjyothi, Capuchin Ashram, Kattappana, Idikki, in the months of
September and October, i.e. course number one :— from September 2nd to
9th, 1983 and course number two :— from September 30th to October 7th,
1983.
Course fee
: Rs. 75/- (subsidised)
Eligibility
: for sister nurses only
No. of seats
: 30 for each course
For course details and application forms please write to:
The Executive Director
Catholic Hospital Association of India
CBCI Centre, Goldakkhana
New Delhi 110 001.
Please note the CHANGE OF DATES FOR
40TH NATIONAL HOSPITAL CONVENTION & EXHIBITION
Theme
: "Respect Life"
Venue
: St. Pius X College (Diocesan Seminary)
Goregaon East, Bombay 400 063
Dates
November 6-10, 1983 (instead of Nov. 2-5, 1983
as announced earlier)
Await Details
— Executive Director, CHAI
:
READ FUTURE
A unicef publication
"Future" is a development quarterly published by UNICEF Regional
Office for South Central Asia, New Delhi, focusing attention particularly to
Children. A variety of Subjects has been analysed on its pages learning,
children at work, nutrition, health care, childhood disability, etc., constantly
and consistently emphasising on preventive aspect. Community responsibi
lity, etc.
Future has recently received a National Award for Excellence in Printing
and Designing from the President of India.
This quarterly will be useful for all those who are involved in health care
and peoples development, also for libraries.
For free sample copy and further details write to :
FL/7WF-UNICEF
UNICEF House 73, Lodi Estate
New Delhi 110 003 INDIA.
Relating Public Programmes to People's Lives
Experience in working with village women
Among the smaller and comparatively
prosperous states of India, Haryana has a
proven potential for economic progress. It
has also a number of ongoing governmentadministered programmes relevant to deve
lopment of the human resource. Imagina
tively worked, and given certain minimal
conditions, these could trigger, at the present
stage of the State's evolution, a process of
social change—involving the generality of
the people and sustained mainly by its own
momentum.
Some ideas on what it takes to relate
public programmes to people's lives emerged
from a 1980 study in a Haryana village, of
"the Role of Women in Post-harvest Food
Conservation".
Sponsored by the United Nations Univer
sity, this study (the report is yet unpublished)
provides the basis for the following article
by NANDITA SINDHU. She worked for the
project as researcher.
The village of Narayanpur in Central
Haryana is a mosaic of castes, social classes
and economic interests. To serve its 700
households the government has a number of
varied programmes in operation.
Lie of the Land
In the course of our study, which spanned
two months in 1980, the investigators
collected information also on aspects other
than women's role in post-harvest food
conservation. A seventh of the total number
of families constituted the sample. Long
hours of observation were punctuated by
interviews with village women and others.
A great deal of information on the work done
May-June 1983
by the women and girls thus became avai
lable. An analysis was made, by age and
sex, of the distribution of food and work
within the family. Caste-related variations
in work-patterns, the functioning of local
self-government (village panchayat) and the
working of governmental programmes were
looked into. An ethnographic study of
representative section of the village thus
came to be undertaken. Sketches of some
of the women in the sample were added in
order to enhance the human content of the
report.
These profiles revealed certain
features of rural life that often go undocu
mented, like the women's ways and styles
of adapting to the eco-cultural environment
and to their own particular life-situations.
A Social Profile
The findings of the study reinforce the
growing literature on the dominance of the
male, and the corresponding subservience of
the female. The society was bound by the
rules of the traditional patriarchy, and the
man remained the focus of his family. From
birth onward, the concept of male superiority
was perpetuated by both men and women,
generation after generation. Women were
actively involved in farm and household tasks
like harvesting, fetching fodder and water,
tending cattle and cooking food. They
seldom travelled outside the village and
when they did they were accompanied by a
male member of the family. Authority for
making the family's major decisions and
access to cash were not open to the women.
The use of radio, television or any other
technological device became and remained
the prerogative mainly of the male.
3
There was a clear demarcation between
the tasks performed by men and those done
by women. The latter were assigned jobs
that were more arduous or monotonous and
those considered as not requiring technical
skill. All the same, they worked for as many
hours on the farm in addition to shouldering
the complete responsibility of running the
household. Women's role in reproduction
evokes a great deal of comment but their
part in production goes largely unrecognized.
The Indian census data tend to classify these
women as 'unemployed'.
The women interviewed
had little
knowledge about the development pro
grammes in their village. Their participation
in local self-government remained a formality.
There was the token representation of one
woman on the panchayat. The women had
no knowledge about their legal rights. Even
the programmes that were meant specially
for alleviating rural women's conditions were
generally not attended by them. Sometimes,
these programmes were used by the men for
their own ends, as in the case of the Credit
Cooperative.
Women were enrolled as
members and since it was a convention that
they would not be prosecuted in case of
non-payment, their husbands borrowed in
their names. Among the programmes, there
were only two that seemed relevant to them;
the Craft Centre to which young girls were
sent prior to their marriage and the Food for
Work scheme. The latter received some
response from the women of the scheduled
castes.
Public Programmes
Narayanpur has other services as well : a
Secondary School, Balwadi, Mahila Mandal,
Lab-to-land Extension Services and a Health
Centre.
Each of the services depended
either directly or indirectly on government
funds. A look at their working is instructive.
May-June 1983
The Secondary School suffered from the
general malaise of the educational system.
The teachers were not motivated enough and
the children's spontaneous enthusiasm for
the natural sciences, languages, and other
subjects gradually tended to wear away.
Children were scared off by the physical
punishment given by the male teachers. And
girls were rarely sent to the co-educational
school once they attained the age of
puberty.
The pre-school centre (Balwadi) at the
village was operated by a trained Balsevika
who belonged to a neighbouring township.
She was insufficiently involved in the activi
ties at the Balwadi and assigned most of the
work to the helper. She was broadly con
temptuous of the local people and eagerly
awaited her return on transfer to the city.
Also, the centre which was meant for the
poorer families was located in the higher
caste area, thus restricting access to the
children for whom it was intended. To
conclude that the Balwadi did not serve any
of its original objectives would be a fair
judgment.
The small Farmers' Development Agency
of the government was another ongoing
programme. It provided benefits like subsi
dy and credit for small farmers and landless
labourers. This agency also operated the
Craft Centre. Each of the girls who attended
the six month programme was given a
sewing machine free of cost. Under the com
munity development programme, a mahila
mandal, organised for the local women, was
run by the wife of an influential member of
the panchayat. This woman did not belong
to the local community and maintained a
social distance from the village people. The
few meetings that were organised by her,
were attended by a selected few.
Agricultural and veterinary experts from
the State Agricultural University regularly
5
visited the village. Often these services were
provided also to the more influential families.
A Sub-Health Centre was also located at
Narayanpur. This was operated by a nurse
who was expected to provide health and
family planning services for the people of
this and the neighbouring villages. Belonging
to a different community, she believed she
had little in common with the local people
whom she rarely visited. Most of her time
was spent either at the centre or at her
home. And the people preferred to consult
the local midwife (dai), chemist, or city
doctor for their ailments.
In summary, the government programmes
at Narayanpur had, by and large, failed to
have much of an impact on its people.
Generally, the objectives of the programmes
got obscured by the time they were made
available to the people. Discussions with
village level workers revealed their apathy
towards their work and disregard for the
people for whom they worked. Further,
most of the services failed to pass the sim
ple test of appropriateness and often the
community was provided with those benefits
that government officials thought necessary
for them. Unfortunately, these were seldom
in consonance with the needs of the
community as perceived by them.
Each programme needs to be reviewed in
the context of the people for whom it is
administered. The salient factors of rural life
I ike caste boundaries, economic disparities,
political dominance need to be recognized
and dealt with. As with the green revolu
tion which benefited the rich farmer, most of
the programmes intended for the betterment
of the poor were controlled by those who
wielded power. The village level workers
found it impossible to proceed with their
work, without getting an informal 'clearance'
from these powerful local families.
6
VILLAGE PORTRAITS
The economy of the village has reached a
certein level of progress. However, this
achievement has been the preserve primarily
of the land-owning families. Many of the
other households have sustained a level of
living through hard work and perseverance.
The profiles of some women stand out.
GINNI'. She is a Kumhar woman who
lost her husband a couple of years ago. She
has five young children to look after. She
assigns the responsibility of household work
to her eldest child, a 15—year old daughter.
She supervises a pottery industry on a
cottage scale, traditionally a man's job. For
this Ginni has hired a professional potter.
Related tasks like fetching clay on donkeys,
sun-diying the pots, baking them in the kiln,
selling them to villagers are entirely Ginni's
responsibility. She combines this work
with bartering her services at the local brick
kiln for daily wages. Her economic achiev
ements and business acumen are admirable.
All this has been done without the benefit of
literacy or the aid of any official or other
development programme.
BHISHNI: She belongs to the Jhimar
caste, a caste traditionally associated with
water-carrying and maintenance of wells.
The panchayat has given her the 'ownership'
of one of the best wells in the village as a
pension and insurance payment on her
husband's death. She lives with her son
(who works as a casual labourer), his wife
and children. Her main source of income
is from the collection of grain from the
women who use the well.
Early in the
morning she arrives at the well with a rope
and buckets. Every woman who takes
water from the well leaves a handful of whe
at. This amounts to a total of about 6 kg
of grain each day. Bhishni is also consulted
on problems of health for which her standard
Medical Service
treatment is massage sprinkled with conver
sation. The well is located at the entrance
to the village and the water from it is rated
good. Around the well, women gather
naturally and take a short respite from
household work.
DHARMO'. Belonging to a land-owning
caste, she is attractive and jovial. She has
six children. And the family has a land
holding of four acres. She has chosen to
run a business of her own, to add to the
family income. The
enterprise is run
independently, with household chores being
managed by her daughters. She buys grain,
cotton, and pulses at fairly low prices and
sells them at a profit. She also lends money
and has the reputation of a tough creditor.
She has an extraordinary memory for debtors'
names, the duration of the loan, and amoun
ts owed her—all this without the aid of any
formal education. Her husband maintains a
low profile and is inde.ed denigrated by
other men in the village as being subservient
to his wife.
The portraits of these women display at
high level of competence, developed agains
odds, and by a large work output in each
case. These cases do not conform to a
stereotype. It is not caste or land-owners
hip that is the sole determinant of the
living standards of a family. The women's
temperament, that of the husband and the
children, the kind of interactions within the
family and the village—all these decide her
life situation and the quality of life. There
is evidence of much more strength in the
character and ability of simple village women
than
is
usually
acknowledged. For
instance, using the information gathered dur
ing the study, Bhishni could be identified as
the 'key' person for conveying many messa
ges to the people.
May-June 1983
Lessons in Strategy
The rural programmes
operating in
Narayanpur were officially designed, practic
ally all of them. They tended to be compartm
ental with hardly any communication being
achieved between the organizers of the
different schemes.
Each
programme is
operated in isolation whereas the activities
would lend themselves excellently to be inte
grated. To give an example, health centre in
Narayanpur was situated in the same building
as the Balwadi, but the health worker did not
concern herself with either health or hygiene
of the children, or sanitation, at the Balwadi.
No programme was immune from the
influences of the power structure in the
village. For instance, in Narayanpur, the
mahila mandal which was 'captured' by the
local panchayat member's family was not
functioning. In the given social context one
way of reactivating the mahila mandal would
be to give the influential families something
of a ritual role to perform. Without actually
alienating the sympathies, their support for
the activity, centered on women from the
relatively poorer groups, could be enlisted.
It would serve little purpose to pretend that
the caste factor did not exist.
Those who planned development schemes
were removed from the people by distances
of many kinds and did not seem to know the
local situation sufficiently. As it happened,
prepacked programmes were superimposed
on the fabric of rural life without attention to
specific ecological factors, caste structures
or cultural practices. As a result, each of
them tended to be inappropriate in relation
to people's lives.
The pattern of training that supported
existing programmes was not such as to
emphasise the active and durable involve
ment of the people. It needed to be retailored
.
Contd. on page 15
7
Know Your Blood Pressure and Live Longer
The fact that you don't feel you are hypertensive does'nt prove you are not.
— by Robert J MacMurray, MD
It could have been called "high blood
pressure day." That Monday morning every
one of my patients had the disease.
My first patient, a middle-aged, mildmannered man, was typical. Accompanied
by a domineering wife, he was silent while
she did the talking. "I finally got him down
for an examination," she said. "But he still
insists there's nothing wrong with him."
I reached for the blood pressure cuff. I
try to do this in an offhand manner, but he
still tensed a bit. "Let's check your blood
pressure."
His wife released one of those "hah"
type laughs. "Blood pressure! That's one
thing he hasn't got. Nothing excites him".
His blood pressure was 175 systolic and
112 diastolic, commonly called 175 over
112. Definitely high, and dangerous if untrreated.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is
the most pervasive cardiovascular disease,
the main cause of death among adults in
most modern societies. Thirtyfive million
Americans are known to be hypertensive,
and an additional 25 million are considered
to be borderline.
Elevated blood pressure is the most im
portant factor in half a millon cases of stroke
recorded each year, resulting in 175,000
deaths. Hypertension is also a very signifi
cant factor in 1,250,000 annual heart attacks
occurring in the United States alone. It is
estimated that the disease costs the country
8
8 billion dollars annually in medical care ex
penditures, lost productivity, and lost wages.
Just what is high blood pressure? It is the
force or tension of the blood against the
walls of the arteries. Systolic pressure, the
upper reading, refers to the pressure when
the heart is contracting and therefore pump
ing. Diastolic pressure, the lower reading,
refers to the pressure when the heart is rest
ing.
My first patient was of that type of
people who outwardly show no emotion but
inwardly are racing their engines. The dece
ptive condition reminds one of a floating
duck that seemingly is moving without effort
yet whose feet are paddling "a mile a
minute."
When the placid, unemotional individual
has a heart attack, shocked friends say, "Oh
no, not him! Not jolly, easy-going Jim."
Stress, however, is only one factor that
contributes to hypertension. There are some
people who do not have much stress who
nevertheless do have high blood pressure
problems.
As is my custom, I took more than three
blood pressure readings of my patient. I do
this because of patient anxiety and stress. The
sight of medical instruments, the examination
table, even the white-coated doctor, can
contribute to a feeling of apprehension. One
of my patients calls it "doctor's office hyper
tension." He has one of those home blood
pressure kits. The readings he obtains in the
relaxing environment of his home are consis
Medical Service
tently ten units less than those obtained in
my office.
Because of anxiety, then, I take the three
readings at different times. To help relieve
anxiety, I engage in small talk. If the patient
is sports minded, I might mention something
about baseball or football. I have even tried
jokes. There is nothing like laughter to reduce
stress
How successful have my jokes and oneliners been? At one time I cracked a joke
that brought my patient's blood pressure to
normal. I wish I could remember that joke!
One patient supplied his own humour.
When I inflated the cuff on his left arm, he
said, "Doctor I usually take 32 pounds in the
left tyre."
As I expected, with lessened anxiety on
the part of my patient, the pressure on the
third reading was lower—165 over 102. Still
high. At this point 1 told him he had high
blood pressure, but that it could be reduced
with treatment.
The treatment, I told him, could be as
simple as drastically reducing his salt intake.
His wife let out another one of those "hah"
laughs. "When he eats, the salt shaker never
leaves his hand!"
My announcement took him by surprise.
"I can't believe it! I never get headaches or
feel dizzy."
I explained to my patient that headaches
or dizziness could be those of hypertension,
but they were also signals of many other
ailments. Actually high blood pressure rarely
shows symptoms. That is why it is called
the silent killer. It is an enemy that can
lead to heart attack, stroke and kidney
failure.
May-June 1983
This symptomless condition is one of the
reasons only 20 to 50 per cent of patients
stay on prescribed medication. "Why should
I stay on drugs when I feel fine?"
Yet, if high blood pressure is controlled,
the chances of controlling heart attack, stroke
and kidney failure are the same as for a
person without high blood pressure.
We are constantly learning more about
hypertension. For example, no longer is the
diastolic, or low reading considered the more
important. My second patient was guilty of
this misapprehension. When I told him his
blood pressure was 190 systolic and 85 dias
tolic, he sighed with relief. "Thank God," he
said. "I understand the -diastolic figure is
the important one, and mine's below ninety."
I shook my head and told him a recent
study made with 3,000 hypertensive patients
revealed that the systolic pressure reading
was most important. This is an about-face
from the former belief.
There has been a change, too, on when
to treat high blood pressure. At one time a
systolic of 160 and a diastolic of 105 were
considered serious enough to institute treat
ment. Now physicians are recommending
that patients be concerned with readings of
140 over 90, and control measures are reco
mmended.
What are the rewards of lower blood
pressure? For one thing, the chances of gett
ing stroke and heart and kidney diseases are
markedly reduced. If, for example, your blood
pressure is 90 over 50, be glad. You have
the potential to live a long life. Only in rare
cases is low blood pressure a disease.
There is an economic award, too, in hav
ing low blood pressure. Life insurance
companies lower premiums for people hav
ing it.
9
Do guidelines exist to indicate whether
an individual is a candidate for high blood
pressure? There are several. Family history
is one. A mother, father, or both, can pass
a tendency toward hypertension on to child
ren. Also, being overweight places a strain
on the cardiovascular system and can raise
blood pressure. And, as most of us know,
emotional stress, worry, and anger raise
blood pressure.
It does not surprise us that smoking can
raise blood pressure. It may be surprising
that black people have a high incidence of
hypertension—one in every four over the age
of 18. High blood pressure is the single
biggest killer of blacks in the United States.
Pregnancy can be a factor in hyperten
sion. And women who use oral contracep
tive (the pill) suffer a two-and-one-halftimes greater danger of developing the
disease than women who do not use it.
Age can be a factor in hypertension. As
the years progress, fatty deposits accumulate
in the arteries, a condition termed atherosc
lerosis. Under these circumstances the heart
must pump harder to make up for the clog
ged arteries. The result: hypertension. The
ingestion of salt through the years can be a
factor in hypertension among the elderly.
It should be emphasized that age does
not automatically mean high blood pressure.
On the other hand, even children are not
immune from it. It is estimated that some
15 per cent of children have the disease.
For this reason, all childern over 5 years of
age should receive a blood pressure check.
If I have painted a somewhat grim picture
for people afflicted with high blood pressure,
I want to brighten it immediately. There is
an excellent possibility that medication need
not be required. I state this because we
doctors see people every day with blood
pressure in the range of 160 over 100, who
stop salt ingestion and within months reduce
their pressures to normal 140 over 86.
Medical Service
It is my custom to reduce the risk factors
before prescribing medication. Here are the
goals I ask my patients to achieve:
Reduce weight. The correlation between
high blood pressure and obesity has been
consistently demonstrated.
Stop smoking. Nicotine is the main ogre
responsible for elevated blood pressures.
Smokers also have the increased risk of
stroke and heart attack.
Reduce salt intake. The percentage of
hypertensives in a given area varies directly
with their salt intake. How effective is the
reduction of salt ingestion? Consider the
Alaska Eskimo with a salt ingestion of less
than four grams per day and no hypertension.
Now consider the people of northern Japan,
with a daily average salt intake of more
than twenty grams. And forty per cent of
the population there has hypertension!
Monitor ora! contraceptives. Women on
the pill exhibit a sligt rise in blood pressure.
But only five per cent develop hypertension.
These five per cent should employ other
methods of contraception.
Reduce stress. It is well known that blood
pressures vary in relation to the emotional
stress. What can be done? Relaxation
techniques help many hypertensives to
reduce blood pressures.
Exercise. Avoid the sedentary life style.
Exercise is the best therapy in the world. It
can prevent more diseases, cure more prob
lems, and tranquillize environmental stress
better than any drug. Exercise will not only
reduce blood pressure, but it will also incre
ase muscle tone, improve lung capacity,
increase heart efficiency, and combat consti
pation, among other benefits.
Any one of the above—preferably all—
can save you from a lifelong commitment to
medication and best of all can prolong your
life.
Courtesy : Herald of Health
11
Key-note Address delivered by Dr. J J Billing at the First
International Congress for the Family of Asia and
Australia held at Madras
from January 26 — February 1, 1983
For more than twenty years we have
been assailed with gloomy forebodings about
population growth and the environment.
Demographers, economists, sociologists and
statisticians have warned us that mankind is
about to be overwhelmed by the tragedy of
multitudes dying of starvation, and that the
situation is virtually irretrievable except
perhaps by a massive reduction in birth rates
by whatever means are available. On the
other hand, there are many demographers,
economists, sociologists and statisticians
with equally impressive qualifications who
tell us that these assertions are totally false.
What is the ordinary man to conclude ?
Perhaps we have here another situation
where the application of commonsense leads
us to saner conclusions than the overweening
pronouncements of the experts. There is
evidence in recent and past history and
pertinent facts observable by ordinary men
and women which can help to give us a
balanced judgement.
Let us look at two propositions :
1. The world we inhabit can ultimately
sustain only a finite number of people. This
truth is self-evident, even though it is some
times profounded as if it were a new
discovery, or as if one needed a university
degree to perceive it. It leads on to the
questions of how many people that may be,
and how much that estimate would be
altered by developments in agriculture, pis
ciculture and veterinary science, and even
by the widespread application of technology
already available.
12
2. The vitality of a country comes pri
marily from its young people, and if there
are to be young people there must be babies.
This truth is also self-evident, although it
has tended to b?come obscure in recent
years because the evil influence of sexual
permissiveness, particularly
in western
society, has created at first in a subtle man
ner but now more overtly an antagonism
towards the child, perhaps the greatest
perversion of conscience in society today.
We recognise, but leave aside for the mo
ment, the fact that much of the malnutrition
and poverty which exist in the world would
be quickly overcome if there were a more
equitable distribution of resources. This is
not our brief just now, although we need to
remember that measures being proposed as
solutions by powerful individuals in affluent
countries, not merely proposed but even
imposed on those nations in which poverty
is a serious problem, can often be seen to
reflect an intention to preserve their own
superior economic status.
However, this
facile solution of promoting propaganda in
favour of birthcontrol, sterilisation and
abortion has already boomeranged (as we
would say in Australia). One can con
fidently predict, and there are already signs
of it, that before the close of this century
those same affluent countries will be
reminding their citizens that they must
populate or perish.
In his essay, "Should we heed the pro
phets of doom ?", Julian Simon, Professor
of Economics and Business Administration
Medical Service
at the University of Illinois, and author of
"The Ultimate Recourse" allows these pro
phets of doom to condemn themselves by
their own utterances. In 1968, Paul Ehrlich
in his book, "The Population Bomb", wrote :
"In the 1970's...... hundreds of millions of
people are going to starve to death". He
also predicted that famine would kill 65
million Americans between 1980 and 1989.
He spoke of "the collapse of civilisation as
we know it" and "catastrophic famines,
plague and probably thermonuclear war".
Then in one gigantic intellectual (though not
necessarily intelligent) leap he guarantees a
solution in contraception, sterilisation and
abortion.
Such utterances have had considerable
influence on the modern mind, even so as
to create a fashionable opinion in their
favour. One is reminded of the statement
Hilaire Belloc who said that "the modem
mind" is so called in order to distinguish it
from the mind.
As Simon points out, and other econ
omists such as our Australian Colin Clark
also, it is population pressure which both
promotes development and enables it to
occur. A country which needs to develop
its natural resources and improve the welfare
of its people certainly needs a substantial
birth rate to achieve these objectives. In
the 1600's England was alarmed about the
possibility of a shortage of wood fuel; this
led to the development of coal supplies.
In the 1800‘s there was anxiety about an
approaching coal crisis, and this led to the
development of oil as a more desirable
fuel. So now England exports both coal and
oil ?
There are of course many people in the
world in need of assistance to regulate
their fertility. We all know that this is so. We
would not be here, this magnificent Con
gress would never have been organised.
May-June 1983
if there were not so many people
already determined to help these couples
in need, determined moreover to offer
them a real solution in place of these
so-called solutions which have proved
not only unable to solve the problem but
also to have caused much harm. The solu
tion that we propose, which in years gone by
was dismissed by the sceptics as impossible,
will prove to be the only one that is
possible.
The focus of our concern is the family,
that organic unit composed essentially of
father, mother and children, whose status
is determined by the basic elements of
human biology. In a wider but still neces
sary relationship it comprises grandparents,
grandchildren, aunts, uncles — a kinship
group of members linked by ties of blood,
marriage and adoption. It is structured to
bear and rear children and to care for the
young, the sick and the old, among other
human needs.
The family is therefore the fundamental
unit on which society is established. As
Confucius said, "If there is harmony in the
home there is order in the nation and
peace in the world". Solidarity with the
community especially its helpless and
oppressed members, is the crucial element
of the family mission. It is the role of the
family to defend the dignity of each indivi
dual human person, to mediate between the
individual and those forces which threaten
his freedom and other fundamental human
rights, whether those oppressive forces be
governments, business enterprises, workers'
guilds and unions, or any associations
which concentrate within the hands of a
small minority the exercise of power, there
by rendering that same minority susceptible
to the corruption which power so often
produces.
13
The family needs to be educated in order
to see its role as the agent of history, lest
it become its victim. The home is the
primary school of education for maturity,
designed to equip the growing children for
their role as responsible citizens, working
to build a better nation and a better world.
We must help people in government to
see that by wise decisions they can help to
form society in such a way that family life
is enabled to grow healthy and strong. This
will be accomplished if the natural goodness
of the generality of people is recognised.
Then people will not be alienated by oppres
sive laws which would coerce them into
submission, but rather encouraged, by
respect for their freedom and dignity, to
become active, indispensable collaborators of
those who both lead and serve them. The
whole fabric of civilisation
ultimately
depends upon the existence of a moral
consensus, more fundamental than enforcea
ble law; it requires what has been called
"obedience to the unenforceable".
An an extension for our love for the
family we have come to Madras from many
different countries and cultures. There
extends from the biological family, from that
fundamental nuclear family of husband, wife
and children, a message of love and life
which has inspired us to affirm our faith in
the universal brotherhood of man, with
expressions of goodwill to all.
The Regulation of Fertility
It is an unfortunate fact that many of
those who share our compassion for the
couple in need of help to regulate their
fertility, have been deceived by the fallacy
that this regulation can be achieved only by
methods which either distort the sexual act
itself or attack life at its source, or even
worse, would destroy life after it has
begun — in other words by programmes of
contraception, sterilisation and abortion.
14
There exists in the biological order
natural phenomena which can teach a woman
to recognise days of infertility and days of
possible fertility. It is a 'biological fact that
women are infertile most of the time.
that an act of coitus on most days in the
menstrual cycle cannot possibly cause
conception.
The proposal that we take advantage of
what nature herself has provided has the
following advantages :
1.
The necessary knowledge is easy to
acquire2.
2.
The knowledge can be applied not
only to space pregnancies but also
to help many couples who have been
anxious to have chilren but so far are
unable to do so.
3.
The application of the knowledge
does not involve druge, appliances
of surgical procedures and is therefore
completely harmless.
4.
When the guidelines for the avoid
ance of pregnancy are followed, the
success achieved is comparable with
any other method of avoiding pre
gnancy,
including
contraceptive
medication and sterilising operations3.
5.
The application of the knowledge in
order to solve the problem
of
fertility regulation develops com
munication and cooperation between
the husband and wife, and so
strengthens the marriage.
The programmes of contraception, steril
isation and abortion have proved unable to
solve the problems of fertility regulation in
those 'countries which have the greatest
need, for a variety of reasons. They, were
usually introduced with a fanfare to
publicity and optimism but were found to
grind to a stop after not so many years,
Medical Service
particularly because of the physical harm
they caused including their irreversibility
which those with antilife sentiments mista
kenly thought an advantage. The important
statistic in the assessment of these methods
is the prevalence of their usage, a figure
obtained from a combination of both the
acceptability of the method in the first
instance and the willingness of the couples
to continue in its use. These methods are
now finding little more than a 10% preval
ence in any community, a truly hopeless
figure.
Now there is frantic research
into newer methods of the same ilk, in fact
almost totally directed into the development
of easier methods of procuring abortion, of
which it can be said that no civilised nation
will continue indefinitely natural the social
evil of abortion. It is also plain for the
ordinary man and woman to see that all of
these newer techniques, are directed to the
efficient production of a very serious
biological disturbance within the human
body, usually the body of the woman, and
that it is impossible to do this without the
concurrent production of serious bodily
harm.
We are going on in the course of the
next few days to study the Ovulation Method,
a method which has been verified not only
by field experience but also by painstaking
scientific research which began in 1963 and
is still continuing. The guidelines of the
Ovulation Method for the achievement or
(Contd. from p. 7)
to suit the environment
participation.
and
to
attract
The picture that emerges from the Narayanpur study is hopeful though not satisfying.
Though the distribution of resources remains
patently skewed, the mean economic
standard was good relative to the other
May-June 1983
the avoidance of pregnancy are correct, and
the verification of those guidelines which
was first carried out in Melbourne has been
confirmed by scientific workers in other
parts of Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom
and the United States of America. The rules
for the achievement or the avoidance of
pregnancy cannot be altered without disturb
ing the effectiveness of the method.
The modification of teaching methods is
of course a different matter altogether.
Educational programmes must be organised
and adapted to local needs, so that we can
achieve our objective of brininging this
knowledge to every woman of reproductive
age on earth.
Everyone is delighted that His Emin
ence Cardinal James Knox, President of the
Pontifical Council for the Family in Rome, is
here with us. He spent many years in India
and holds the people of India in deep affec
tion and respect. Many years ago he made
the prediction, in the face of the permissive
morality which has corrupted western
society, that the people of Asia will provide
leadership and a voice of sanity in the world,
in regard to the development of mature
attitudes towards sexuality and conjugal
love. The organisation of this Congress in
Madras is perhaps a sign that his prediction
will prove to be correct. Let us therefore
apply ourselves to our tasks with energy
and enthusiasm. We have much to learn
from each other.
states of India, The major weakness was,
however, in the quality of and access to
services for human and social development.
Narayanpur seems to have reached a stage
of development when it could provide a
living laboratory to try out alternative strate
gies to relate programmes integrally to
people.
- Courtesy : Future, Unicef
15
Your Baby is Growing
— by Abha Ahuja
You, mothers must be observing the fast
growth of your baby. You must be very
keen in knowing various ways for facilitating
your baby's rapid growth. Here are some of
the suggestinos regarding general care, feed
ing, illness and its treatments.
General Care of Your Baby
It includes all aspects of cleanliness,
feeding, general health, immunisation and
care during illness. Follow these regularly
to keep your child healthy and happy.
1. Take your children to the primary
health centre for immunisation. All necessary
vaccines should be given to the child at
desired schedule.
2. Keep a rough record of child's weight
and show to the doctor when you visit the
clinic with your child.
3. Breast feed your child until eighteen
months or two years. There is no substitute
for breast milk.
4. Start giving porridge when your child
is four months old.
5. Give protective food
These are fruits and vegetables.
every day.
10.
food.
Wash hands before you touch child's
11. Keep flies away from food.
all food articles covered.
Keep
12. Do not let your baby to eat dust
and dirt.
13. Make Glucose-salt solution or salt'
and sugar water for your baby while suffer
ing from diarrhoea.
14. Do not put too many clothes on
your baby when suffering from fever.
15. Put a mosquito net over the baby's
bed to prevent malaria.
16. Give bath often to prevent skin and
eye diseases.
17. Clean your baby's eyes and ears
every day.
18. Prevent vitamin 'A' deficiency—give
them plenty of orange and yellow fruits and
vegetables.
19. Make a child's home safe and com
fortable. Do not keep things which you
feel would harm the child.
Feeding Your Baby
6.
Do not stop feeding even while sick.
7. Keep yourself aware of symptoms of
cough or diarrhoea.
8. Use latrines to prevent diarrhoea and
worm infections. Avoid using outside areas
and road sides for toilet and wash.
9.
Boil the child's drinking water.
May-June 1983
For the maintenance of good health pro
per food and nutrition is essential. You
should insist more on good nutritious diet for
your baby because it is essential for normal
rapid growth. Follow these:
1.
Breast feed your baby at least until
eighteen months. If possible a mother should
breast feed until child weighs about 10 kg.
17
A poor mother cannot make a safe bottle
feed and she cannot buy enough milk. A
badly made bottle feed contains many micro
organisms that a child gets diarrhoea. It has
so little milk that baby becomes malnouris
hed. So breast milk should be given at least
until 2 years.
to keep warm. Child burns more energy food
to heat it's body and make fever. So child
becomes thin and malnourished. Protein and
energy foods should be given to him. If baby
is too young, mother must breast feed extra
often.
2. Start giving porridge (Dalia and
khicheri) at fourth month. Breast milk alone
is enough for a child for the first four
months. Fourth month is the best time for
a child to start eating other foods. Rice,
maize, millet, wheat are good staples for
preparing porridge. Year old child should
eat all the foods that family eat. But they
must be soft or well prepared and cooked.
If you follow the rules for feeding young
baby, you may not require to give medicines
to your child. But in case you require to
give drugs to your children during illness,
following are some of the hints for you.
3. Add protein foods to porridge. Even
porridge made from a good staple do not
contain enough protein for a young fast
growing child. Mother must add some protein
food to it. Legumes are good cheap protein
foods. Peas, beans, soyabeans, or ground
nuts are good. Milk, eggs, meat or liver are
very good protein food, but these are expen
sive.
4. Give protective foods to children over
four months old. These are fruits and vege
table which contain minerals and vitamins.
Mother should give their children yellow or
orange fruits and vegetable. Carrots, papaya,
pumpkins, dark green leaves are good foods
to be given to a child every day.
5. Sick children need feeding—A child's
body is made of protein. These proteins are
slowly being destroyed all the time. If child
eats enough protein food, then only can
repair its body and have enough protein for
growing but if child is suffering out of fever
its body protein is broken down faster than
normal. So child needs more protein to repair
its body while sick. Energy food is also
important. A child's body burns energy food
May-June 1983
Giving Drugs to Your Baby
1. A standard teaspoonful is 5 ml. The
doses of solid drugs are measured in grams
(gm) or milligrams (mg.) A teaspoon holds
about 5 ml of fluid or about 5 gm of most
powders. There are about 20 drops of water
in a ml.
2. You must be knowing that dose
depends on weight of a child. An elder child
needs more of a drug than a younger. The
dose of a drug depends on a ch'ld's weight
and age. Sometimes it is written on bottles
in milligrams a child needs each day for every
kilogram of body weight.
3. Give the right drug in the right dose
at the right time intervals. For example a
child is to be given four doses each day,
first dose early in the morning, second about
mid-day, third dose in the afternoon and the
fourth late at night.
4. Learn the ways of giving’ drugs.
Always shake the bottle before giving drugs.
Ch£ck the size of a tablet and the strength
of a mixture. Some mixtures are made in
two strengths, one for adults and grown up
children and another for babies and young
children. An adult mixture can be very
dangerous to babies.
5. Do not give too many drugs at the
same time. If a child vomits a drug, give
19
another dose, because if child is seriously ill
it is very important.
6. Do not give any medicine to your
baby without the doctor's prescription. If you
have confusion regarding doses and timings
ask your doctor again without hesitation. Do
not give any drug unless you are very sure of
it.
7. Keep all solid drugs in dark bottles or
in tins, because light may harm some of
them.
8. Keep their labels at ^proper place. Put
labels on them if not written with the name
of the drug and the size of the tablets. Even
you can write number of doses to be given
in a day. Always read labels before use.
Never use unlabelled drugs.
9. Keep liquid oral drugs, tablets, pow
ders and pills separately from ointments,
lotions or paints which are for external use
only.
10. Keep all the medicines in a closed
cupboard away from children's reach. Do
not keep other germicides and insecticides
in the same cupboard. Store them at sepa
rate place. Throw away all unnecessary
expired drugs from your cupboard.
Courtesy : Home Science
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CHAI
NEWS
NOTES
Dr. Mahler Appointed for Third Term
as WHO Director-General
Dr. Halfdan T. Mahler was on Thursday
appointed by the 36th World Health
Assembly meeting in Geneva for a third
five-year term as Director-General of the
World Health Organisation (WHO). In
accepting the appointment, Dr. Mahler said,
"I want to thank you very very warmly for
the trust you evidently have in me by asking
me to continue in the driver's seat for a few
morejyears. I hope you will forgive me if I
take the liberty of turning the tables and, ins
tead of you explaining your vote, I explain it
for you for a change. I interpret your vote as
confidence in the strategy for health for all,
on which we have worked so hard together,
and of confidence in your secretariat which
has worked so hard to support you in setting
up that strategy and setting it in motion. So
1 shall be devoting all my energies over the
next few years to maintaining and even
trying to increase the momentum of that
strategy and to ensuring that your secreta
riat continues to deserve your confidence".
Referring to WHO, "Your Organization",
Dr. Mahler said he did not think any other
International Organisation had succeeded in
reaching unanimous agreement on a world
wide policy with such profound implications
for the people who inhabit this planet, and
on a specific strategy for putting that policy
into practice. "At the same time", he said,
"I have no illusions about the difficulties
you have to face in pursuing your strategies
for Health for All, whatever the level of
social and economic development of your
country. Quite apart from internal obstacles,
the world political and economic climate
hangs over us all like an ever present sword
May-June 1983
of Damocles. Yet, we have been singularly
successful until now in guiding our Organiza
tion between the mine fields of international
political and economic turmoil. I consider
it essential that we continue to follow that
route. The route to Health for All that we
have mapped out together is amply wide to
make it unnecessary to trespass on others'
territories. All of us in the. United Nations
system have our special roles to play in the
economic and social fields, and of course
the United Nations General Assembly and
Security Council in their political fields. If
we allow ourselves to be lured astray into
fields beyond our constitutional competence,
I am afraid we will find ourselves in these
very mine fields that we have been trying
to avoid in the interest first and foremost of
the health of the deprived people in the third
world".
The Director-General felt sure that no one
wanted to lose the tremendous prestige
WHO has gained as an organization of
Member States cooperating with one another
for the health of people everywhere without
distinction of race, religion, political, belief,
economic or social condition, as the WHO
Constitution clearly •demands. "So I plead
with you", he said, "to keep the objective
of the Organization, and the target of Health
for All that you adopted to reach that
objective, f plead with you to keep them
in the forefront of your minds now and in
the future whenever you decide on your
agenda and throughout the course of your
debates".
COURTESY :
WHO
21
MALAYSIAN HEALTH MINISTER
ELECTED PRESIDENT OF 36TH WORLD
HEALTH ASSEMBLY
celebrated by all colourfully and with gaiety.
The following is the summary of the reports
received from various institutions.
WHO Director-General Calls for
'Collective Policies'
Sacred Heart Leprosy Centre, Kumbakonam, Thanjavur Dist: The staff of the
Leprosy Centre expressed their grateful
thanks for having got an opportunity to cele
brate and participate in the function. The
theme "Respect Life" was dealt with in its
various aspects and the speakers stressed on
Respect Life and on improving the standard
of life of the people. A few quotations were
read by authors of repute giving guidelines
for leading happy and peaceful lives. Scrip
tures were also read and examples were
given from the Holy Bible. It was emphasised
that leprosy patients who come to the hospi
tal have to be treated and heard compassio
nately as they have been physically, mentally
and socially affected. Love and affection
will give the patients a healing touch in
addition to the treatment. One speaker
said that test tube babies were produced,
but it is only God that gives life to these
babies. The years of childhood are impressio
nable years when moral values are inrgained
in them and take deep routes.
Malaysia's Minister of Health, Tan Sri
Chong Hon Nyan, was elected on Tuesday,
3rd May, 1983, President of the Thirty-sixth
World Health Assembly, the governing
authority of the World Health Organisation
(WHO). He succeeds Mr. Mamadou Diop,
Minister of Health, Senegal, outgoing
President. The new President has served in
national posts since 1957. Prior to his
present position, he was Deputy Minister
of Finance in 1974-76, and Minister without
Portfolio, 1976-78. He was born in Kuala
Lumpur in 1924 and received his M.A. degree
from Cambridge in 1955. Among decora
tions he holds is one awarded in 1973, which
confers upon him the Honorific title, "Tan
Sri".
Address of WHO Director-General
In his address to delegates Dr. Halfdan
Mahler, WHO Director-General, called upon
countries to "adhere to our collective
policies" and requested them to provide their
support to others in an enlightened manner
and cooperate among themselves.
HOSPITAL SUNDAY
CELEBRATIONS, 1983
The Catholic Health Care Institutions all
over India celebrated Hospital Sunday as
usual on the 3rd Sunday of March, i.e. 20th
March, 1983. Great importance is attached
to this celebration of Hospital Sunday by all
Catholic Hospitals, Dispensaries and Health
Centres and this was also emphasised by
CHAI in its earlier circulars and issues of
Medical Service. According to the reports
received from all over India the day was
May-June 1983
St Joseph's Hospital, Pondicherry. The
theme 'Respect Life' and its relevance was
was presented to the people in a touching
play, for which preparations had been made
long in advance. More than 200 invitees
gathered in the hospital premises. Mass was
said at 5.30 p.m. The greatness of human
life with convincing quotations from Maha
tma Gandhi and from the Encyclical of the
Holy Father Pope Paul VI was highlighted by
the Vicar General Most Rev. Fr. Solomon. He
stressed that conjugal love and responsible
parenthood are the true concepts of the
married life. Abortion was condemned in
the strongest terms as a crime against God
and human nature. The play "She is an
unique creature" began on time. The central
23
Sacred Heart Leprosy Centre Sakkottai
idea of the play was that a young lady, a
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Tindivanam, S.A.
rape victim becomes pregnant, and the
Dist. One of the wards of the hospital was
parents want her to get aborted. A lady transformed into a beautiful Chapel and the
Dispensary Varandah was converted into a
Dr. explains the facts, the dangers and the
cruelty of killing a life, with the help of
Dining Hall for the poor. The theme sugges
slides. She also explains the methods of ted by CHAI 'Respect Life' was instilled and
abortion and the manner in which the foetus
kept alive in all the hospital activities of the
struggles for life and dies. The mother of day. The highlight of the day was the Holy
the girl, who had an abortion earlier realises
Mass celebrated by Fr. Benjamine from the
with a pang in her heart, that she had killed Catholic Centre, Tindivanam. In his Homily,
her own child, a poor innocent, defenceless
Fr. stressed the fact that life is precious from
creature by abortion. The girl decides to
the moment of conception, and it is of the
keep the pregnancy and the mother supports same value whether born or unborn, young
or old, and harm done to any of these was *
her. With the help of a social worker the
equally wrong. People brought forward their
remaining doubts, whether to retain or abort
sick and little ones and Father conducted a
that pregnancy got cleared. And thus a life,
the tender life of a child, is preserved even special blessings ceremony for them before
though it was not conceived in love. The
the Holy Communion. After the Holy Mass,
young mother was also given her proper
lunch was served for about 100 poor people
place in the society. When the slides on
from the neighbouring villages. To capture
abortion were being shown, one could hear
the attention of the people a mini concert
sympathetic impressions and voices of horror.
was organised and displayed by the hospital
ft appeared that the play had struck home
employees. Before the film was shown, a
the idea it wanted to convey.
Dr. Sr. had explained with the help of chart
May-June 1983
25
St. Joseph's Hospital, Pondicherry
the development of the baby in the womb
and how people try to destroy the little lives
by various means used in the hospital and by
the quacks. She stressed on the moral
implications of abortion saying that abortion
is a murder and one who does it has to bear
the guilt and shame all through life. The
cooperation and attention of the people was
remarkable. The function ended with a film
show on nutrition and child care. Before
the people dispersed, sweets were distributed
to all.
St Joseph's Hospital Tindivanam
May-June 1983
27
St Joseph's Hospital Tindivanam
Cluny Convent, Kaveripak, N.A. Dist:
The day was started with a very meaningful
liturgical celebration with appropriate read
ings, hymns and prayers were especially
chosen for the occasion. Nearly 200 mothers
participated from 8 villages in the class
which was conducted by Dr. John lype from
Vellore. After the class, slides on abortion
were shown. Each one went home very
happy not only because of the refreshments
they were served but because of the current
notion they were able to get by attending
this class.
Nirmala Rani Health Centre, Cluny
Convent Devikapuram : It was decided to
look at the theme as Respect for Life around
for the vulnerable age group of under five.
The mortality rate is rather high in this age
group in rural areas and an Immunization
Camp at the Health Centre was conducted
with the help of the Dist. Health Officer and
his team of health workers. Mothers of the
seven surrounding villages were motivated to
bring their children under five for measles
vaccination. The compound was packed
28
with eager and anxious mothers and yelling
children all lined up and 50 children were
vaccinated, but what appealed most to the
children was the biscuits that were distribu
ted. Another camp was held in the market
square of the village and hence another 500
children were covered.
Social Action Dispensary, Sacred Heart
Seminary, Poonamallee, Madras : The
calebrations ■ were spread over a few days.
Every morning was started with reading
of the Bible, prayers, hymns and instruc
tions to all the people assembled. The
instructions were generally given by a
zealous catechist. Sweets and other eatables
were distributed to the children. The theme
'Respect Life' was well explained by the
catechist and the Sister Nurses.
Leonard Hospital, Batlagundu, Madurai
Dist : The hospital team decided to
make extra effort to spread the mess
age of Respect Life and do everything
in their power to fight against abortion. The
points sent by CHAI were translated into the
Medical Service
local lanugage and displayed in the hospital
as well as in the village programme. A talk
on abortion on a casette was played back
to the people in the hospital and there was
a very instructive discussion between a
patient and a priest regarding certain practical
cases in abortion, where morality of the act
was brougt out very clearly by the priest. It
was a really enlightening talk for the public,
especially the commentary given by the
priest. A short prayer was the culmination
of the programme.
St Marys General Hospital, Salem Dist.
Tamil Nadu'. One of the most fascinating
celebrations that has emerged out of the
Hospital this year is Hospital Sunday, made
possible by the dynamic management of the
administrators, under the able guidance of
Rev. Mother Superior. To start with all
assembled in front of the OPD to make an
Act of Faith and take an oath of devotion
and dedication to Respect for Life. The Chief
Medical Officer said that they were lame
without having access to the patients in
times of need and suffering, blind without
opening their eyes to their anguish and
agony, not being able to extend their helping
hands which were withered and bereft of
circulation towards the sick. Thus they were
impotent and powerless to show respect to
life that is entrusted to their care and atten
tion.
The celebration assumed a special signifi
cance because it signalled a plunge into hectic
items of sports, with participants of various
descriptions in the bright and warm sun.
A Solemn Mass was conducted for all the
participants by Rev. Fr. Gabriel. In his
message he dwelt on the theme Respect for
Life, emphasising all the time how the mem
bers of the medical profession should have
compassion and mercy on the patients entru
sted to them.
May-June 1983
The participants were served a sumptuous
lunch. Then, after tea and snacks, a debate
was held on Respect for Life (Abortion) in
the Out-Patient's Department. Dr. Dominic
acted as moderator and brought out relevant
points whenever it was necessary.
The Chairman in his concluding remarks
said that family planning could be adopted
to stabilise the population explosion with
methods approved by religious bodies by
envisaging a change of the attitude of the
people and motivating them to abstinence
and rythm methods without resorting to
embryonic murder in inculcating the concept
of abortion which is detrimental to the
health of the women.
Rev. Mother Superior gave away the
prices to the successful competitors and the
celebration concluded with the singing of
Papal Anthem.
Nirmala Hospital, Suryapet, Dist. Nalgonda, A.P.: For the first time in the history
of Nirmala Hospital, Hospital Sunday was
celebrated in spite of inclement weather on
that day. Young and old, literate and illite
rate were enthusiastic and took part in the
celebrations and many of them bagged
prizes.
Free medical check up and treatment
were given in a remote village to 283 people.
Free medical check-up was also given to
patients in Vangamarthy and Addagudur
villages. The hospital day collection was
sent for medical relief work in Assam. The
celebration commenced with the Holy Mass
at 8.30 a.m. The Mass was especially
offered for the patients. VIPs of the Suryapet
Muncipality were invited to a meeting which
started at 5 p.m. Rev. Sr. Xavier, Superin
tendent, gave a report of the hospital service
since 1966. Several speeches were made.
Rev. Fr. Francis, Assistant Parish Priest,
29
Nirmala Hospital Suryapet, A. P.
spoke on Respect for Life. Meeting was
fol lowed by variety entertainments which
made everyone happy.
St. Phiiominas Dispensary, Naigonda
Dist., A.P-: The celebrations started with
hymns and readings from the Holy Bible.
Many lactating mothers and pregnant
women participated. The gravity of abortion
and the consequences thereof were clearly
explained to the people. The people were
very happy with the prayer meeting and
most of them expressed that such meetings
be held more often.
St. Joseph's Hospital, Guntur, A.P. : The
celebrations were held after prior discussion
with the members of the staff of the Hospi
tal. To have some variety, a discussion and
May-June 1983
conference was conducted for the staff by
experts about the quality and work of human
life. Pamphlets and programmes were made
on the theme and distributed early. The
Hospital compound was decorated with flags
and the Holy Mass which started in it at
5.30 p.m. was a source of inspiration and
joy for all. The Homily by Rev. P. Arogayam
highlighted the day. Hundreds of people
joined in the campus irrespective of colour,
caste or creed and were amazed on hearing
the talk on Respect Life which brought out
many truths unknown to them before. The
Holy Mass concluded with prayer for all the
faithful and blessing of the sick. After the
Mass a social movie was shown in the
hospital premises.
31
St. Joseph's Hospital, Guntur, A. P.
St. Joseph's Hospital, Visakhapatnam,
A.P. : Rev. Fr. K.E. Zacharias, Vicar General
of the Diocese, celebrated the Holy Mass.
The Sisters, Nurses and patients participated
In his Homily Father spoke about duty
towards the patients and how to continue
God's healing mission in our service in the
hospital or anywhere. This was followed by
a meeting and cultural programme. During
the meeting several Fathers spoke on
Respect for Human Life, which was greatly
appreciated by Doctors, Sisters, Nurses and
all those who were present.
ments. A few educational films and a part
of 'Jesus the Liberator' were screened for
the patients and staff in the Hospital premi
ses.
St. Martha's Hospital, Bangalore'. It
began with the Eucharistic Celebration. The
theme "Respect Life" was integrated into
the liturgy. The main speaker spoke very
touchingly and laid emphasis on the respon
sibility of the medical and nursing staff to
protect life. The exhibition stall in the
Nurses' Hostel displayed literature on abor
tion, planned parenthood, etc. There was a
panel discussion on the theme and this was
followed by a film show on "Abortion—a
woman's decision". A collection of Rupees
1,000/- was made towards the medical relief
fund of CHAI.
Holy Cross Hospital, Kotiyam, QuHon,
Kerala’ A meeting was held at 3.30 p.m.
in the auditorium of the Nursing School.
Rev. Fr. George Mathew presided over the
meeting and spoke on the theme "Respect
Life" in the Biblical context. Some Doctors
M & R.F. Hospital, Mysore District:
of the Hospital also spoke on the same
theme. The entire staff and students of the' The celebrations was inaugurated in the
Hospital and Nursing were present. Later morning by Rev. Fr. L. Santiago the Parish
the students presented variety entertain Priest. A colourful function was held in the
32
Medical Service
St. Martha's Hospital Bangalore
evening with a good stage. Distinguished
guests, MLA of the place, the Municipal
President, the BDO, and several other
dignitaries were present. There was a gather
ing of more than 500 people, of which 50
per cent were non-Christians. The non
Christians weie very much touched by the
prayer service, which was followed by a
report of the work on the value of life. The
chief guests in their reply appreciated the
work of the hospital and promised their
support and co-operation.
Fatima Hospital, Mau, Azamgarh Dist.
U.P. The celebration was started with Holy
Mass in the OPD hall early in the morning
followed by distribution of sweets amongst
the patients. A scientific seminar was held
later in the morning, which was largely
attended by the doctors from the neigh
bouring districts.
Dr.
Speakers for the first session were
S. Mitra, Dr. B.N. Kapur and Dr.
May-June 1983
Bhattacharjee. This was followed by an
open panel discussion on 'Shock'. The
participants were Dr. B.N. Kapur, Dr. Awasthy,
Dr. S. Mitra, Dr. Bhattacharjee (Moderator),
Dr. J. Prasad, CMO (Chairman).
The second session started in the after
noon and the speakers were Dr. (Sr) Jude,
Dr. Awasthy and Dr. Bhattacharjee.
Later all the participants were asked to
give their suggestions and opinions about
the seminars held and most of them were
of the view that they were well organised
and they wanted such seminars to be held
regularly.
Pushpa Mission Hospital, Ujjain : The
Hospital Day was celebrated under the
auspices of the Hospital in a village
Panchenpura, near Ujjain. Rev. Fr. Albert
Lucas was the Chief Guest who enlightened
the audience by an inspiring speech on
"Respect for Human Life".
He clearly
explained the three aspects of harm, i.e.,
spiritual, physical and mental that was
33
inflicted on a human person. After this
there was a talk by a nurse on the import
ance of Natural Family Planning. The cele
bration ended with a slide-show that
enlightened further the participants on the
value of human life.
St. Farncis Dispensary, Gopalpura, M.P.
Hospital Sunday was celebrated accord
ing to the following programmes : (1) Bhajan
Singing by Fr. Christy and Team, (ii) Reading
from Word of God on healing, (iii) Bhajan.
(iv) Talk on — Respect of Human Life by
Fr. Mathew, (v) Blessing of the Sick, (vi)
Bhajan. (vii) Talk on Gen. Hygiene — Sr.
Ancilla. (viii) Small Items, (ix) Multi Vitamin
by Sr. Lidia,
(x) Free distribution of
medicines.
Tape recorders and loud speakers were
arranged for popular music and all those
who were present greatly appreciated the
programme.
St. Francis Hospital, Ajmer : The
theme ''Respect Life" was brought out
very vividly.
The
celebration began
with the Liturgical Services and Fr Aubert
Carvalho gave a very inspiring Homily to
show how in the medical profession one
can and should respect life. There were
special readings chosen for the occasion.
Gifts were offered with appropriate prayers
and hymns. In the evening each class put
up items depicting different ways of respect
ing life. Every student took active part in
the celebrations.
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34
Medical Service
Report on Community Health Workers’ Orientation Course
in the Diocese of Vijayapuram
The following is a brief report of the
Community Health Workers' Course held at
Mount
Carmel
Convent
Kanjikuzhy,
Kottayam, from 25 to 30th April, 1983.
The course was intended for the Aides of
the Maternal and Child Health Programme of
CRS and the Instructors of Natural Family
Planning, who are already working in various
parts of the Diocese of Vijayapuram. Thirtynine persons working in the area of MCH
and NFP participated in the course. The
course which was sponsored by the Catholic
Hospital Association of India, New Delhi,
was conducted by Dr. K.J. Mathew and his
team of doctors from the department of
social and preventive medicine of Kottayam
Medical College.
After the registration of participants, the
Inaugural Meeting was held at 5.30 p.m.
under the Presidentship of Rt. Rev. Dr.
Cornelius Elanjikal, Bishop of Vijayapuram.
He highlighted the importance of community
health in the diocese and admonished the
participants to take this programme to heart
and work hard to implement it.
Rev.
Fr. John Vattamattom in his Inaugural
Address pointed out that though there are
many big hospitals in our country, the poor
people in the village have no access to them.
By this programme, he said, we are taking
health to the people and teaching them pre
ventive methods.
*
After the inaugural meeting, Fr. John
Vattamattom took classes on the meaning of
Presidential Address by Rt. Rev. Fr. Cornelius Elanjikal, Bishop of Vijayapuram
May-June 1983
35
Community Health and the scope of health
work in rural areas. Regular classes were
held from 26.4.83 to 30.4.83 on the follow
ing topics : (i) Environmental sanitation and
personal hygiene; (ii) The role of women in
the development of the nation; (iii) Define
Community Health work and explain the
terms; (iv) If you appoint a community
health worker, what would be the criteria
you would insist; (v) Need and methods of
health education, family welfare; (vi) Com
municable diseases and general measures of
control; (vii) Basic anatomy, physiology and
first aid; (viii) Basic concept of nutritionpractical aspects; (ix) How you would
organise CHW programme in your area; (x)
In the family of Thomas, your neighbour,
all are permanently sick; What will you do?
(xi) Child care and integration of health with
other socio-economic activities; (xii) First
aid.
Everyone participated very actively and
the secretaries of the groups presented the
reports in the evening.
The valedictory function was held at
4 p.m. on 30.4.83 presided over by His
Excelency Rt. Rev. Dr. Cornelius Elanjikal.
In his presidential address he thanked all
the resource persons especially Rev. Fr.
John Vattamattom, Executive Director of
CHAI, the
staff of Medical College,
Kottayam, and the Community of Mount
Carmel Convent, Kottayam.
His Lordship
distributed the course certificates to the
participants.
Rev. Fr. John
Vattamatton
assured all future assistance and requested
Vijayapuram Social Service Society to have
a good follow-up. The course was organised
by VSSS under the dynamic leadership of
Fr. Joseph John assisted by his team.
His Lordship distributes the course certificates
36
Medical Service
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