This is the story of Sri Rakesh Pradhan. 32-year-old Rakesh is a resident of Berhampur district of Odisha and  one of the patients of SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram. Rakesh’s well settled life changed suddenly after a motor vehicle accident left his left leg fractured and later badly infected. He tells in his own words how he was eventually cured by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s hospital. And how his love for Swami drew him to Swami’s Seva and eventually to a position in Swami’s Prasanthi Nilayam Ashram.

Lying on the bed with white bed sheet I knew I was in a hospital, but I could not figure out how I reached there. My mind was totally blank. There were people attending me, giving medicines and putting a drip etc. but still it somehow made no sense. I felt as if I was stuck in a dream.

My left side was heavily bandaged right from by face down to my leg and I was wondering what had happened that I got injured so badly. My family members and friends were standing around me, but I would not be able to recognize them. My mind told me I knew them, but who they were I could not remember.

Gradually as the time passed my memory started returning and I started recognizing my friends and relatives. It was then I remembered that I was riding pillion with my friend on his bicycle from my village to a nearby village when something had hit us. My friend later visited me and told me that a motorcycle had hit both of us. He jumped into a ditch next to road and was saved, but the entire impact was borne by me and I was dragged over some distance on the road on my left side. That explained why my left side was bandaged.

My friend then told me that later as the villagers had gathered around the accident site and took me to the local hospital from where the doctors referred me to a bigger hospital.

The doctors in the hospital put my leg in traction and after some time they told me that a surgery would be needed for my left leg. Initially my parents could not come and therefore my maternal uncle came and stayed as an attendant and the surgery was performed.

After the surgery I started to realise that something was wrong. My wound on my left leg was not healing and had become infected and was painful. When the doctors saw this they performed one more surgery, but there was no improvement.

I had already spent around three months in the hospital and I was not feeling any better. It was then that I decided that I no longer wished to continue treatment in that hospital and got myself discharged.

 My ordeal, which started in the hospital continued for the next one year. My family is not a rich family. We just get by. My father is a farmer while my younger brother has lately taken up driving as a profession. And we have a younger sister. I dropped out of school after 10th to support my family and went to Surat in Gujarat to work in a textile industry. After learning the ropes of a textile technician I went and did many jobs in textile industry and finally landed a job in Karnataka’s Bijapur. Here I was getting around Rs.20,000 a month, which was just enough as we had a large family. My sister’s marriage had to be performed and being the elder in the family I took the entire responsibility. Because I was in a decently paying job and because of my job people gave me loans for my sister’s wedding. When the accident happened I was still paying back the loans taken for my sister’s wedding. That one incident turned my life upside down.

After discharge I could not put my left leg on the ground and was reduced to walking with a stick for support holding it across the body. People who saw me were shocked at my sudden physical transformation from a healthy young man to one reduced to walking with the support of a stick.

However, I was determined that I would not be reduced to a cripple and I would definitely walk on my two feet.

Initially I tried to explore hospitals near my house. Most of them could not figure out how to repair the damage already done. I would visit some hospitals for dressing and as it was getting too expensive, I learnt dressing my wound myself.  All the money I had saved by working for years was gradually getting spent on medicines and visits to various hospitals. Any hospital I would visit would tell me to get the tests done again, even though the previous tests performed in another hospital were just a few days old.

I had to get money out of my provident fund to pay for the expenses on some occasions and eventually even that also was not enough and then I was reduced to taking loan from my friends. My family members could not help me in this matter.

There was no improvement and the infection was not reducing though it was under control due to regular dressing.

Then one day after a year I sat with my friends and we all decided that it would be better if we went to the city of Vishakhapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh for treatment. Me and my friends and my mother and my brother-in-law then embarked on this journey. We had earlier enquired about which hospitals to visit in Vizag and we visited those hospitals first. But I was totally disappointed with all of them. By this time I had a good knowledge of how my leg was as I had gone through my medical reports thoroughly, so I wanted to know what the hospitals had to offer. None of the surgeons could tell me clearly how they would go about treating my ailment. They would tell me, get admitted, we will try. I had heard this statement enough number of times to realise that they would just try to experiment with me and there would be no guarantee that I would become better. Several hospitals also told me that there was no alternative but amputation.

Finally we went to the last hospital on the list and here too we did not get a satisfactory reply. Staying in hotels and travelling to various hospitals was taking a toll not only on my finances but also on my body. Then one evening we sat together as a group again to discuss what to do next. I was losing patience with my infected leg. I felt I would go to one of those hospitals where they would amputate my leg and then live in peace. At least this unending ordeal of mine would then be over.

It was at this time that one of my friends suggested that we should visit Bangalore as there were some good hospitals there and there, may be, I would get some relief.

Here I need to go back a bit and tell you that many years earlier I had visited Bhagawan Baba’s hospital in Bangalore’s Whitefield as an attendant to one of my friends. During the treatment of my friend’s cardiac treatment there, I would just sit inside the hospital and feel I had come to heaven. Most importantly all the treatment was given totally free of charge to all the patients. Be it heart surgery or any other surgery for that matter, totally free to all. The atmosphere was so calm and the people were so nice, I had then asked Bhagawan to give me also an opportunity to serve in His mission.

So just when this idea of visiting Bangalore was suggested those memories of Baba’s hospital returned to me. We boarded a train to Bangalore.

I believe that all this was Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s doing. The compartment where our seats were, in the same bogie Sevadals from Odisha were travelling to perform Seva in Puttaparthi. They asked me where I was bound to. I told them my predicament and they told that rather than going to Bangalore, I should get down at Puttaparthi and visit Swami’s hospital as there was an Orthopaedics department available there. I could not believe my ears. What really? I thought.

One of the sevadals who was in the train told me that one of his relatives had a similar problem and he got treatment in Swami’s Puttaparthi hospital and had gone back completely fit. He told me “I give you the guarantee that you will be cured,” he said. All the while visiting various hospitals I was wishing somebody would give me a guarantee that I would be cured and for the first time a heard from a Swami’s Sevadal that I would be cured. I felt that it was not the Sevadal, but Swami himself who had given me the guarantee. And then I also realized that being Baba’s hospital my treatment would also be totally free. I cannot express how much relief I felt at that moment.

I, therefore, got down at the Puttaparthi station and made my way to the hospital. As we took the auto on the road leading to Puttaparthi gradually from the green and brown of the land emerged a mild red building from the horizon. It looked like an emperor’s palace and at the same time like a temple. The auto driver dropped me outside the gate and told me that we had reached the hospital. Initially I refused to believe, but then I read the board above the main gate of the hospital which read “Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences”. It was then that I realised that it was indeed a hospital.

I came inside and got registered the same day. The hospital was so calm and peaceful, the corridors were so spacious. Peace pervaded all across the hospital.

I came to the Out Patient Department of the Orthopaedics and here my treatment began in earnest.  A range of tests were performed from X-ray to CT scans etc. and the usual blood tests. Finally the surgeons at Swami’s hospital told that they can treat my ailment. But I wanted clarity in what exactly would they do with my leg. The doctor told me that a senior doctor will meet me and explain everything to me. At that very moment the senior doctor, Dr. Koushik Narayan entered the OPD after finishing his surgeries for the day.

I asked Dr. Koushik what was going to be my plan of treatment. He explained everything in detail. He said that first that my limb was badly infected and therefore the first step was to reduce the infection. “Once that the infection is reduced then the fracture will be set right. And for that the ilizarov method will be used and the whole process would take around six months.

For the first time in my visiting multiple hospitals that I had heard a surgeon tell me the method of my treatment with this much clarity. I decided that how much ever time it may take I would get the treatment done in Swami’s hospital only. So periodically I was asked to visit for dressing the wound. I could see that with the dressing being done in Swami’s hospital gradually my infection was reducing.

One day I met a patient who told me about the miraculous powers of Swami’s Vibhuti. He told me that any type of illness can be taken care by Swami’s Vibhuti. I wanted my infection to disappear immediately. So the next time I went for dressing. I kept a little Vibhuti hidden in my hand and when the surgeon turned to pick up gauge pieces for my dressing I quietly put the Vibhuti in my wound and covered it with cotton. The surgeon had no inkling of what I had done. He went about covering my wound with bandage as usual. 

The next day I saw with my own eyes Swami’s miracle, my wound which was gradually healing, healed completely in one night. When I came again for dressing, the wound had completely healed and the doctors themselves were surprised.

Now the next step was the surgery. I was admitted and then taken for surgery and the ilizarov rings were put on my leg. It took a while but at the end my fracture healed and after around 6 months I was finally back on my legs.

One aspect of the hospital, which stuck to me much later and suddenly was that there was no talk anywhere about money. Though I knew it was free, I was so lost in my treatment that I never realised it at all. I had undergone so many advanced tests, had undergone periodic dressings, consultations without spending a single rupee. Not only that, never was any patient made to feel that they were being given free treatment, it was so natural. Whichever other hospital I had gone to, the first talk was about money and then treatment. The word money did not exist in the dictionary of the Swami’s hospital. Secondly, I must say about the care I received at Swami's hospital. I felt like the nurses were my own sisters and the doctors were my own brothers. The time that I spent in the hospital I felt like I was staying at my home. It felt so good. 

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Dr Koushik and Dr Abhishek who operated upon Rakesh Pradhan summarized their treatment strategy. In their words, “Rakesh came to us with a very complex and disabling problem that had put a great question his walking ability and future at large. He had an un-united fracture of the thigh bone with severe infection. He had underwent multiple surgeries in various hospitals. The skin and the muscles around the fracture were unhealthy and scarred adding to the complexity of the problem. To top it all his samples grew multiple antibiotic resistant organisms.

“The aims of treatment were judged to be eradication of infection, achievement of bony union and get him back to walk on his feet. And we decided to approach the problem step wise, solving one issue at each step. We had to remove the broken plate and screws from his limb along with the antibiotic beads that were originally inserted as an attempt to eradicate the infection. Simultaneously we performed a thorough cleansing surgery (technically called “debridement”) to remove all infection and unhealthy tissue from inside the limb. This step was the key to get rid of the infection, and getting the fracture united can be thought of only after the infection is completely cleared.

“At this stage, the limb was dangling due to the un-united fracture. It was stabilized with a temporary external fixator. We also applied antibiotic beads around the fracture and closed the surgical site. From this point, he was put on appropriate antibiotics for the next 4 weeks to ensure control of infection.

“At six weeks after the first surgery, the infection was completely under control. We took up our second aim of getting the fracture united. Given the situation, no one would dare to fix the fracture with any internal implant as any foreign body is like inviting the infection back. In our view, the only approach was to use the Ilizarov fixator, stabilize the fracture, compress the fracture gradually over time and eventually get it united. This unique method had options to address all the challenges, which in conventional methods are almost impossible to overcome. There would be rings and rods outside the limb, but the biggest advantage was that the patient could be made to walk with the fixator on the next day of surgery.

“Though Ilizarov method maximizes the chances of success in this complex situation, it requires lot of dedication from the side of the patient and also the surgeon. Rakesh was very compliant, he took care of himself and his fixator well. It also required dedicated dressings, pin site care and gradual adjustment of the fixator to compress the fracture in the post-operative period and all the residents of the department played their role in this arduous rehab protocol. We were supervising the progress of the fracture union closely, which with Swami’s Grace happened well and culminated in removal of the Ilizarov fixator at about five months from its application.

“Rakesh could return to his previous activity level. There has been no relapse of infection. It his heartening to see him active and running around in Prasanthi Nilayam Ashram and taking care of thousands of devotees in his new capacity as caretaker of their accommodation facility."

According to Dr. Prakash Khanchandani, the Head of Department of Orthopaedics at SSSIHMS, “ The Orthopaedics department, following the principles of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, has been doing unmatched service to the humanity for the last 17 years. “ Around 50,000 patient consultations have taken place in the Orthopaedics department, while we have performed about 25,000 surgeries at our department. With Bhagawan Baba’s immense Grace and whole-hearted gracious support of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, we have state-of-the-art equipment, which helps us in providing advanced medical and surgical care to our patients. Furthermore, this treatment is infused with dedication, love and compassion, which is the cornerstone of Swami’s principles. On many occasions we have seen our patients telling us that they have been taken care better in our hospital than in their own homes. This is all Swamis’ Grace,” Dr. Prakash said

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After my surgery and recovery I went back home and all my friends and relatives were happy to know that I was again walking on my two feet. Post my discharge I was somehow always drawn to Puttaparthi. While doing some job outside I would just feel like visiting Puttaparthi and would make an excuse with my employer and my friends that I had to go for a checkup to the hospital and then visit Puttaparthi and take up some Seva activity with the permission of the Ashram Security. I would stay for months at end doing Seva. This would happen many times a year. I felt like I belonged to Swami’s Ashram only and nowhere else. I would pray to Swami that somehow He should keep me permanently in Puttaparthi. Finally in the January this year I got a job in Prasanthi Nilayam Ashram. It was like a dream come true for me.

 Swami has given me a new life in His hospital and a new direction to my life by bringing me to His Ashram. I dedicate this life, therefore, to Swami.

Jai Sai Ram