Belonging to a remote village in the district of Murshidabad , West Bengal, India, Rafikul Sheikh waited for customers in his tiny shop that sold groceries. He had taken that little space on rent from a landlord and was paying monthly rent from whatever little earnings he got.

At the end of the month he would take home around Rs 8000 to Rs. 10,000 (approx. $120) and with that money managed his large household. He had an aged mother, his wife and four children.  To complement the money earned by selling groceries he had a small piece of land which ensured that the family had just enough to go by.

“I was just sitting in the shop one day and had this shooting pain in the right side of my back”, Rafikul said. “Initially I thought that it was due to sitting too long in the shop or may be due to a wrong posture. But then I noticed that I could not pass urine that well. This made me think that there was definitely more than just a back ache,” he added

He consulted some local doctors who suggested that he should visit Kolkata who gave him some medicine but Rafikul did not get any relief. He then started noticing that the he was not able to pass urine easily and it was painful whenever he went to the toilet. As the ailment seemed more complex than imagined, the doctors in him home town asked him to visit Kolkata. Rafikul went to Kolkata and visited a large hospital there. The hospital performed the required tests and he was told that he was suffering from Bulbar urethral strictures for which a surgery would be required and was informed that it would take a long time before his turn for operation comes.

He then went to another hospital in the city, where they told that the senior surgeon was unavailable and that a junior surgeon was there who was not well versed with this complex kind of surgery. After insisting to know what was wrong with him he was told that his urine passage had to be reconstructed and it was a complex surgery.

Finding no solution in Kolkata, Rafikul then discussed with some of his friends and relatives where to go. With each passing day the pain was increasing and he could not work any longer.

He then went to another hospital where a surgery was performed after which he returned home.  After a relief of around two months his symptoms returned and this time a doctor he consulted in Kolkata suggested that rather than going anywhere else, he should visit the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram. 

Rafikul then visited the SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram. For him it such a departure from the hospitals that he had seen till then. “I stopped and for a long time kept gazing at the beauty and majesty of the hospital building Rafikul said. “I had seen many hospitals since I had this problem but Baba’s hospital looked out of the world,” he added.

Initially when he came to the hospital, the surgeons after conducting some tests, took his case on an emergency basis and the pain was relieved. Afterwards he was given a date for surgery. 

Rafikul got admitted in the hospital in November 2021, and a re-do surgery was performed for him. According to Consultant, Urology, SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram,  Dr. Ashwin Shekhar Rafikul underwent substitution urethroplasty where part of his diseased urethra was replaced with tissue from the inner side of the cheek in increase the lumen of his strictured urethra. He had an uneventful recovery and his catheter was removed at three weeks post surgery following which he recovered well. 

“In the ward the nurses and the doctors took care of me like I was a their own. This kinship is so unique in this hospital. Everything is so systematic and I like the discipline with which the hospital functions, “  he said.

“If the hospital had not been there then we would not know what to do. We had a meagre piece of land and we had to sell the land for whatever expenses we had visiting other hospitals and for medicines,” he said. “ If not for this hospital don’t know what I would have done. May be I would have asked friends and relatives to contribute for treatment. But Baba's hospital took care of me so nicely that I did not have to worry about anything. Now I have no pain and I am free of any symptoms, and I am so happy. It is all because of Baba’s Grace that I got well. In my home also all my family members are having a minor celebration, because now I am completely cured" he said. "I just wish to request Baba to keep me and all others like me healthy so that we may take care of our families," he added.