ST. JOHN’S TALES – CHRONICLES OF SOME KEY EVENTS.pdf
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ST. JOHN’S TALES – CHRONICLES OF SOME KEY EVENTS FROM THE
EARLY YEARS.
IA- A chronicle of St. John’s interns/students response to the Bangladesh
crises in 1971, among the worst genocides in History!) *
Introduction:
One of the inspiring initiatives of interns and students of St. John’s Medical College, in its
historic 50 years, was the spontaneous response to volunteer to serve in the East Pakistan
refugee camps during the worst genocide in history in 1971. Beginning with the pioneering
interns team of Ravi Narayan, Vikram, Venugopal and T.P. Gouri and Mr. Carpenter (of
Pathology Department) who went to the Neelganj Camp in July 1971, there were three to four
more teams who kept up the flow of volunteers till the beginning of the war in December
1971.
The extract from the letter of Rev. Fr. Alan de Lastic, then Rector of Morning Star College (later
Bishop of Delhi and President of C.B.C.I Society of Medical Education) to Dr. Louis Monteiro,
Dean of St. John’s Medical College sums up the spirit of the whole initiative (see box)
A WORD OF APPRECIATION!
“Please accept my heartfelt thanks for sending the medical team to help
out in the refugee camps nearby. Doctors Vikram, Ravi and Gouri were
the pioneers in this work. But for their kind service the camp at Nilganj,
two miles from here, would have remained neglected, and many probably
would not be alive today. Their efficient and regular medical attention is
responsible for the health of the entire camps. I do not think there is a
healthier camp than that of Nilganj and the credit must surely go to
them…………. The medical students also did outstanding work in the big
camp at Salt lake, Sector five, close to the city.
The entire medical staff, students and intern doctors showed unstinting
dedication in their service to the suffering victims from across the border.
St. John’s Medical College, which assumes responsibility for their training,
can well be proud of them…….
May God grant you his blessings for this great service to the Nation and to
the afflicted members of our human race.”
Source: A letter from Rev. Alan de Lastic, to Dr. L. Monterio, Dean,
St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore (28th August, 1971)
*(COMPILED BY DR. RAVI NARAYAN, BATCH OF 1965)
1
This chronicle of events is drawn from a historic collection of documents, correspondence, and
reports that had been put together by Dr. Ravi Narayan, who spent three months in the camps,
kept a regular record of events, took a series of photographs with a simple old box camera and
gradually became one of the key facilitators of the initiative receiving letters from students and
interns during the period July to December 1971. This old file was recently discovered in an old
trunk and forms the basic reference to this chronicle. The story exemplifies the first of many
such inspiring staff/ Interns/ student responses that lived up to the college motto. ‘He shall live
because of me.’ The Bangladesh response of 1971 saw the participation of over 25 young
Johnites in this ‘mercy mission’ .
Johnites in the Mercy Mission to the Refugee
Camps 1971
10 interns from 1965 batch – Ravi Narayan, Vikram
Venugopal, Sr. Lucian, VV. Mathew, Joseph Sequeira,
Palaniappan, and Christopher Mathias ; T.P. Gouri and Sushil
Cleatus of Batch of 1964; and S.T. Ong of Batch of 1963.
Eleven medical students included Marian Kamath, K.J.
Joppen, John Fernandes, Jose Joseph, Wenzil Vaz, all of
batch of 1967 and Satish Kashyap, M.J.Thomas, Sr. Leah, Sr.
Agnesita, K.T. Sebastian,
Paul Mendonca
and
Irudayaradjou, of the batch of 1968. In addition five others
Johnites were involved in refugee relief though they did not
join as part of the college teams. These included Anand
Noronha, Ramakrishna Bhatt, Fr. Xavier Barrett, and
Jennifer Williams, of the 1965 batch and Gorden Vanspall of
the 1966 batch. No list of teams was available and this list
has been put together from the available correspondence.
The Bangladesh response in 1971 was followed by the next big response from the college to the
Andhra cyclone disaster in 1978. Based on a small file maintained by Thelma Narayan and Luis
Barreto, volunteer interns in that initiative a small post script has been added to this
Bangladesh chronicle. Both these inspiring responses led to the establishment of a long
standing tradition now, to St. Johns responding to several disasters in South Asia and leading
finally to the development of a Disaster Response Unit in the college. The chronicles will be
circulated in two sets.
1A - Chronicle of Photographs sent by the teams
1B- Chronicle of extracts from official documents of the college and university and
extracts from the letters from the volunteers and some staff.
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1A- CHRONICLE OF PHOTOGRAPHS.
I -THE REFUGEES AND THE CAMPS
01
Refugees in queues with their
umbrellas from East Pakistan.
033
Refugees walking in through the
Indo-Pakistan border
05
A view of the camps with thatched
accommodation
3
02
Much larger numbers of children than
usual
04
More children and adolescent boys
06
The Neelganj camp by the side of a
small river
II- PROVIDING BASIC NEEDS:
07
08
Providing mats and thatch to build
new accommodation ( mat brothers)
10
09
Distributing milk prepared
powder ( Milk brothers)
with
11
A view of our well stock pharmacy
and food rations
4
River water and borewell with pumps – the
only source of water
Our bamboo and cane hospital –a marvel
of appropriate technology built by us
12
Leaving head quarters with more
mats/ thatch and volunteers
III- INTERNS AND STUDENTS AT WORK
13
Dr. Ravi – batch of 1965, dispensing
medicines
Marian Kamath – student of 1967
batch examining patient
15
16
Dr.T.P.Gouri-1966 batch and Dr. Vikram
K.J.Joppen, student of 1967
batch giving an injection
– 1965 batch in the Neelganj dispensary
17
Dr. Sr. Lucien, 1965 batch
auscultating patients
5
14
18
Sr. Leah, student of 1968 with
children in the camps
IV- Teams of Volunteers from St. John’s
19
Ravi,Gouri,Vikram, Ong, Marian, Jose,
Wenzil,Joppen,-all johnites with volunteers
20
The team visiting the border as an
outing
22
21
Vikram,Marian, Gouri, Joppen and
Dr. Sr.Lucien and students- Srs Leah,
Agnesita, Paul, and Irudayaraj
John in Salt Lake Camp – A visit.
23
Drs. Christopher Mathias, Sr.
Lucien, and Sr. Scholastica with Fr.
Alan De Lastic - Rector
6
24
Dr. Sr. Lucien and team with
refugees
V – SPECIAL EVENTS AT THE CAMPS
26
251
Senator Kennedy visits the camps
with Msgr Henry D’Souza of CARITAS
Vikram, Gouri, and Ravi with Fr. Alan and
Editor of a Catholic Paper outside our
Bamboo Hospital
27
At the border watching the increasing
security.
28
Three orphan children – Anand, Lokhi and
Shobita, rehabilitated in Bangalore (see
Chronicles)
7
29
30
The first two babies born in our
Bamboo hospital and called Martha
and John!!
Refugees giving us a musical send off at
the end of the stay.
31
32
Dr. Vikram, batch of 1965 examining
a child
Dr.Ravi, batch of 1965 starting a drip
for a cholera patient
Sr. Paul from Bombay treating a
child with sores
Another Volunteer Sister
Bombay immunizing a child
33
34
Dr. Gouri batch of 1964 examining a
child with severe malnutrition
Mr. Carpenter of Pathology
Department – our skin specialist
35
36
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