With the Grace of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba the hospital will be celebrating its 31st anniversary on the November 22, 2022. It is time now for us to reflect on the events of the years gone by. We, therefore, take a look at the work done by the hospital in the past 31 years and afterwards we will spend some time on the facilities acquired by the hospital in the past year. And now that the Covid-19 pandemic is virtually over, I feel our 31st anniversary gives us an opportunity to look back at this period.

31 years and the journey continues

The SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram continued to maintain high standards of patient care by providing completely free treatment to all in-patients and out-patients irrespective of caste, creed, race, religion, ethnicity and nationality. The completely free treatment includes diagnosis, surgery, interventions, medicines and diet. During the past 31 years 3,908,641 outpatient consultations were performed. This number is excluding the Covid hospital patients.

During the year under review 279,356 surgeries and procedures were carried out by the departments of CTVS, Cardiology, Urology, Plastic Surgery, Ophthalmology and Orthopaedics put together.

New Equipment and facilities

New Oxygen Generation Plant

With the blessings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba the new oxygen generation plant was inaugurated at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram. The plant was inaugurated by the Managing Trustee of SSSCT, Sri R J Rathnakar in the presence of the Director of SSSIHMS, Prasanthigam, Dr. Gurumurthy and other senior staff members of the hospital. 

Initially the plant was set up in view of the approaching Covid-19 third wave, but is being currently used to cater to the regular patients of the hospital. The plant has been set up at the cost of Rs. 90 lakh.  The oxygen plant can produce 500 liters of oxygen per minute and as such will make the hospital self-reliant for oxygen once the covid-19 cases cease. The machine takes in atmospheric air and produces medical grade oxygen. Nitrogen and other atmospheric gases escape through the exhaust back to the atmosphere. This oxygen generation plant offers a cost-effective, reliable and safe alternative to conventional oxygen gas plants. The machine uses a unique and proprietary Vacuum Swing Adsorption (VSA) process that eliminates many of the design problems associated with other commercial systems. It is also equipped with Variable Speed Drives (VSDs) to conserve electrical power at lower consumption requirements.

RIRS with Laser Lithotripsy Procedure: 

The hospital in the past year added the RIRS with Laser Lithotripsy setup to the treatment procedures of stone disease of Urology department. In this procedure the stone is approached using a flexible ureteroscope and once the stone is localised it is shifted into a favourable location and then a laser is used to powder it. This procedure causes minimum morbidity and requires minimum post operative care and hence has reduced hospital stay.  

Covid Management

The first cases around Puttaparthi started appearing in the initial months of April 2020. During that period there were not many testing facilities and any person found to be having the disease symptoms were considered prospective candidates of infection and to deal with this scenario the state government started covid qurantine centres around the whole district. Our hospital was also requested to start a quarantine centre where persons with symptoms or those who have come in contact with the infected patients could be isolated. Our hospital then set up a quarantine centre and many people from various areas in and around Puttaparthi were transported by the government agencies to the centre. Apart from that, the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust also provided around Rs. 2 Crore ( $260,000)  worth material like hand wash, gloves, personal protective equipment, and other requirements for other government Covid quarantine centres set up elsewhere by the State Government.

Owing to the lockdown the spread of the pandemic remained under control in and around Puttaparthi. Elective or regular cases were deferred for a few weeks due to the lockdown. But starting late July the Covid cases started increasing around Puttaparthi.  

With the Grace of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba,  a full fledged Covid treatment centre was established at SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram. Credit must be given to the SSSCT for equipping the centre at such short notice.

And here I must mention the courage of the hospital staff of all cadres who just jumped into the fray to serve the patients. Be it a Head of Department of a specialty or the housekeeping staff, for them it was Swami's work to help and heal the patients affected with Covid. The staff of various cadres were trained about using the Personal Protective Equipment and sanitisation procedures and care of the patients began. 

Inside view of the ICU and regular rooms of the Covid Centre established on the hospital campus.

As seen across the world it was a difficult time for all the staff as they were putting their lives on the line while taking care of the patients. Added to that they could not see their families for days at a stretch as there was a mandatory quarantine period for each staff member after contact with the covid infected patient. But with Swami's Grace we all came out with flying colours. 

The second wave hit India in March 2021 and the delta variant spread like wildfire across India. We were ready and we knew the steps to be taken. But as we came across the cases we noticed that compared to the previous wave the symptoms were far more severe and more people required oxygen and therefore hospitalisation increased. Undeterred, all the staff like earlier put their heart and soul into providing the care. Initially getting enough oxygen was proving to be difficult, but due to the efforts of the SSSCT and our staff  we could successfully tide over the issue. 

It was during the second wave that the govt rolled out the vaccines and in that phase all the hospital staff were vaccinated which helped them to face the virus with more confidence. From then on wards the SSSIHMS became a centre where many of staff and the students and their families were vaccinated. 

We started the normal operations as the second wave eased and there was already a talk of the third wave. Keeping that in mind the SSSCT got for the hospital an oxygen plant on our campus to meet the exigencies of the third wave. But with Swami's Grace the third wave passed off without much of a trouble. The oxygen plant ,therefore, was shifted to the main hospital to take care of the regular patients of the hospital.

Academics

The SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram had a stellar performance in the academics with the hospital securing two All India Gold Medals in the specialties of Cardio Thoracic Vascular Surgery and Urology by Dr. Yogi Changanti and Dr. Anuj Dumra respectively. They both credited the Grace of Bhagawan Baba and the unmatched training provided by the SSSIHMS for their success. 

As on 31.3.2022, 40 postgraduate students were undergoing training to pass the all India examination to qualify for obtaining the certificate of Diplomate of National Board in various disciplines approved by the National Board of Examinations, New Delhi, which also includes super-specialties in medical sciences viz., Cardio Thoracic and vascular surgery, Cardiology, and Urology and sub-specialties of Ophthalmology, Anaesthesiology and Orthopaedics.