A thousand kilometers from his home, Ajay toiled hard in a tile factory in the distant state of Haryana for a meagre salary of Rs.8000 ($110) a month. Of his large family of 8 members, he was the one who decided to move out of the house and make a living rather than depending on the 1 acre of land the family owned. Back home were his mother, father, his young wife, his son, his elder brother and his elder brother’s wife. With so many mouths to feed and the income from the one acre land unpredictable due to vagaries of nature, the 24-year-old Ajay took the decision to find work elsewhere. Some of the people whom he had spoken to in his home town of Sasaram, Bihar, told him about a tile factory in Haryana a northern state of India. With the help of his village friends he got a job. It was a steady source of income and things started looking a little better at home. Ajay would visit home once or twice a year.    

Ajay had been working at the factory for more than two years when one day in October 2019 he developed fever and felt too weak to go to work. He then visited a local doctor and took some medicines as prescribed by him, but the fever did not reduce. He spoke to his supervisor and returned home to get treated. Initially the family took him to the doctor available in the town of Sasaram.

“The doctor said it was typhoid and gave medicines for the same, but the fever again did not reduce,” Ajay said. Sometime later he found breathing being difficult and then my stomach and legs started getting bloated. “We did not go back to the same doctor as his medicines did not give any relief to my son,” Ajay’s mother Maya devi said.

After enquiring with people around their village, they went to the city of Varanasi, around 2 hours away, and visited a private hospital there. “It was private hospital and the treatment was expensive. But we did not have any other option. For every small thing money was asked” she said.  After a checkup the doctors at the hospital came to the conclusion that Ajay was suffering from Tuberculosis and started him on TB medicines.

“After taking medicines for some time I started feeling better, but later again the symptoms returned. When we visited the same hospital again they did a checkup and told us the results were not good. They said that the situation of the heart was bad and I had to undergo a surgery for the heart as soon as possible and that that kind of surgery was not easily available in Varanasi,” Ajay said.

 “We never thought that what started as a fever would eventually end up being a heart problem and would require a surgery. We were all in a state of shock. Already we had spent a lot of money for the tests and medicines and other hospital charges. From where were we now suddenly going to get the money required for a cardiac surgery” Maya Devi said.

“Looking at our plight, one of the doctors in the hospital suggested that either we go to New Delhi or visit Sai Baba hospital in Andhra Pradesh,” she said.

“At first we did not know what he was talking about, but then the doctor told us that one patient who had undergone totally free heart surgery at Sai Baba hospital in Andhra Pradesh had spoken highly about hospital. But even the doctor did not know how to reach the hospital,” she added. “If you go to a private hospital it will cost you lakhs of rupees, as it is a complicated surgery,” the doctor said.

The family returned home and started enquiring with their near and dear ones about the “Sai Baba hospital in Andhra Pradesh”.

Soon they found out two persons from nearby villages who had visited the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram for treatment.

“The first thing they told about the hospital was that best treatment was given to all the patients, and it was totally free of charge for everybody. Anybody can go to the hospital without any distinction of caste, class, creed, race religion or nationality. It took some time for the information to sink in. Our experience generally with hospitals had been difficult. But because we were talking to patients who had already undergone treatment at the hospital we believed them,” Ajay said.

Leaving his wife and kid in the care of his elder brother and sister-in-law, Ajay, his father and mother reached the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi in the month of August 2021.

“The moment we saw the hospital we felt so good. Felt like we were entering a big temple. There is this stillness in the environs of the hospital, which is so refreshing,” Maya Devi said.

“The doctors and nurses treat us like we are their own. It was like kinship,” she said.

In the cardiology department Ajay was first thoroughly checked, he also underwent an angiogram. The doctors at the cardiology department told him what he had already heard before. “ It was a complicated surgery and if the family was prepared to stay back for some more time then Ajay could be taken up for surgery. The family agreed.

According to Dr. Neelam Desai the Head of Department of Cardio Thoracic Vascular Surgery. “Here was a young man afflicted with one of the complication of Tuberculosis which is still rampant in India and unfortunately afflicts the poor. Ajay was suffering from Constrictive Pericarditis where the covering of the heart gets thickened and constricts all the chambers of the heart and does not allow them to work properly.

As a result the patient becomes bloated in abdomen, legs and eventually bedridden.

We took him for surgery explaining all the possible risks. The surgery was successful and the bloated patient within few days was back to normal in appearance and function. All the swelling from Ajay’s abdomen and legs was gone and he looked entirely normal.

Verily it was a new look and a new life for Ajay. Thanks to Bhagawan as Ajay could get a new lease of life and a family of 8 got the joy of getting him back hale and hearty and he can now go back to his normal life.

It is unfathomable as to how Swami works and whom HE calls to HIS Hospital for treatment and Cure. Not only the patient but we, the staff working in the hospital get recharged when we come to know of how the patient has come and how his treatment has made a difference to him and his family. The physical absence of Swami transcends to HIS Omnipresence and reaffirms our faith to continue His work with more Zeal and vigour. 

“Getting my son’s treatment done at Sasaram and then Varanasi was extremely difficult. We are a family of eight members and after Ajay left his job in Haryana, all we had was our 1 acre land to depend upon. None of our family is highly educated that they will get some high paying jobs. To pay for my son’s treatment we had to mortgage the 1 acre land.  We currently have a debt of around Rs. 2.5 lakh. In such a situation Baba’s hospital was a shower of grace on us,” a teary eyed Maya Devi said. “Now that he is back to normal we look forward to change in our lives,” she added.

Jai Sai Ram