Telemedicine works on the principle of ''move the information not the patient''

A Tele-education session in progress at SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram. The session is being conducted in Chennai which is around 400 kms from Puttaparthi. The post graduate students can view proceedings live also interact with the lecturers. 

Sai, the Abhayadayaka:   Bhagawan and Sri Sashidhar during the one of Bhagawan's visits to the hospital  

My first encounter with my Mother Sai was 49 years ago in the year 1969 in Hyderabad when I was just ten years old.  Later in the year 1970 I visited Puttaparthi for the first time just two days after Swami's Birthday celebrations were over. It was a sight to behold Swami moving freely in the Darshan ground in front of the Prasanthi Mandir. He then casually walked into a shed, which later became the  Poornachandra auditorium. Once inside the shed Swami showered His grace on one and all - talking to some, smiling at others and creating vibhuti for some. It was as if an unknown bond coming down the ages connected Swami to each one of them. In the deepest recesses of my heart I knew Prasanthi Nilayam would be my home.    

I was lucky to become a Sevadal in the year 1974 and was  fortunate to receive the sevadal scarf and badge directly from Bhagawan's Divine hands. Bhagawan while handing over the scarf said “very happy, serve with love and devotion, be humble, sweet and sincere”. Since then I served as sevadal volunteer till 1983 in Hyderabad. Then I moved to Bangalore and served there till June 1991. I had the great privilege of being in-charge of Swami's room in Shivam at Hyderabad and Sai Darshan in Bangalore.  

Since birth I had congenital cataract in both eyes and I did not have regular schooling. I studied first and second standard in Bangalore and third and fourth standard in Secunderabad. As my condition would not permit, I then completed rest of my schooling privately. In the year 1974 when I was sitting in Shivam (Swami's Ashram in Hyderabad)  for Darshan, Swami came down the stairs walked towards me, created vibhuthi, applied it on my throat and neck and put a dot on my forehead and said “don't worry I will take care” without me telling anything to Swami. With the Blessings of Bhagawan I completed Matriculation and Intermediate through distance education and joined a 3 year B.Com degree in a regular college. After the college I used to either go to Shivam or our local Sai Samithi for service activities. While performing Seva I learn't that when we follow the message of Swami -Service to Man is Service to God- He will take care of us. That’s how I could secure first class in all the three years. It is only through the Grace of Swami that I could get a degree, that too with distinction in 1983. Then I applied for M.Com, which was introduced for the first time at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) and I passed the written exam and got selected for the interview next day. I sat for Darshan in the afternoon. Swami walked towards me and smilingly asked “why are you sitting here go home, you have many things to do”. Without attending the interview I went home.

Which ever eye hospital we visited, we were told that the chances of me getting a normal sight were miniscule. In 1986 my father took me to a private eye  hospital in  Madurai. I told my father that it would be my last visit to any eye hospital. I was very much dejected and feeling bad for all the trouble I was putting the my father through. 

But when I entered the hospital, the first thing I saw was Bhagawan's picture with both the hands raised as blessing. Below it was written 'why fear when I am here”. It was a booster dose for my dejected morale. We were then given appointment to meet the chief surgeon. After going through the records and examining my eyes he said, get admitted tomorrow and we will operate the following day. When we asked about the success, he said "You will have normal vision with God’s grace". 

He had been so happy to get his daughter married.  As a father it was the happiest day of his life. He remembered the bright henna on his daughter’s palms, the neighbourhood lost in fun and frolic and the beaming countenance of the handsome young man Altaf, his daughter Nausheen was getting married to. For a few years it went perfectly, the couple had a lovely son Aamir and when they came visiting him, even his dingy home felt like heaven. He remembered that during that visit he had reclined on his creaky arm chair, his heart filled with contentment. He could not have been happier.

In the same arm chair he now lay with his heart broken into a million pieces. It was as if the tsunamis of tragedies crashing against his fragile heart would never stop. “That wretched day,” Mahmood muttered loudly. Then suddenly he stirred from his reverie to check whether little Aamir had by chance woken up due to his muttering. It was late evening, and tired from the return travel from Bangalore, nine-year-old Aamir  lay fast asleep on the blotchy bed. Mahmood’s eyes as usual were drawn to Aamir's wound on the  left foot, and the wizened old man with a long grey beard could not stop himself. He wept. 

                                                                             *                                              *                                             *

Mahmood had worked as a driver with the state road transport corporation and resided at Palamaneru, a small town of Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh. Now retired from job, he was a man of modest means, but put his heart into whatever he did. He was past 60 and had managed to get his son and his daughter married and pretty well too. But then his life came a full circle. 

One day he had just returned home after visiting a friend when his cheap cell phone rang. It was Nausheen. Amid sobs, she informed him that a vehicular accident had claimed Altaf's life. Mahmood's paradise lay destroyed. Soon after the mood of the in-laws changed and Nausheen had suddenly become an alien in the household. Mahmood, a man of strong will, could not allow his daughter to suffer every day. He may have had to eat a bit less and may have had to work a bit harder, it may have been a small home already housing four inhabitants, yet it did not matter. And the decision was made. One day Mahmood went to his in-laws place, packed up all of Nausheen’s and her son Aamir's  belongings, put them in the truck and got them back to his home. Life somehow pulled on. 

Aamir and Mahmood were inseparable. One day after returning from play, Aamir showed his grand dad, a small wound he had sustained on the sole of his left foot. It was strange that even with the wound Aamir would not feel any pain. But after a few days, Mahmood noticed that the wound had grown in size, and yet Aamir did not complain of any pain. Mahamood took Aamir to the local doctor. The doctor told that the wound had got infected and applied some lotion and put a dressing on the wound. But it did not seem to work. The local doctor then suggested that they see a specialist in Tirupathi. Mahmood carried the boy to several hospitals in Tirupathi, but no one could do much. One hospital performed a surgery, but it had no effect. Finally one doctor suggested that he should take the boy to Bangalore. Soon Mahmood and Aamir were in Bangalore. They went to all the top hospitals. At one hospital, they did some dressing, when it did not bring about any change, they refused to do anything further. Other hospitals said nothing much could be done and amputation of the little boy’s foot was the only solution. And doctors in one hospital even said that even after amputation the child may die.  “I spent lakhs of rupees on the little boy’s treatment.“ Mahmood later said.

In the end Mahmood returned to his village with empty pockets, a heart ache and  and non-healing wound on Aamir’s left foot. "I left everything to Allah. I told Allah, the role of dava (medicine) is over now and only your Dua  (blessings) will work”, he later told us.  

                                                                          *                                                   *                                              *

“Chacha you are back, so did you go to the Sri Sathya Sai Hospital,” Sakina, a girl from Mahmood’s neighbourhood woke up Mahmood from his slumber. 

“No child, I just returned from Bangalore and they have told that Aamir’s foot needs to be amputated”, Mahmood replied. 

Sakina cringed. “What rubbish you are talking. Did you go to Sri Sathya Sai Hospital or not?”, she demanded

“ No child, not yet.”

“And you are telling me these stories. What did I tell you earlier. My uncle had a similar problem, he went all over searching for treatment and doctors could not do anything. He went to Sri Sathya Sai Hospital and his foot healed perfectly.” Sakina said. 

“Ok I will do that, “ Mahmood replied more out of resignation. Mahmood,  Aamir and Nausheen made their way to Puttaparthi. A strong lady, Aamir's mother Nausheen knew the tumult the family was going through and hoped that eventually  it would  all end well. It did and in a way only our beloved Bhagawan could have done. 

“I saw the hospital for the first time and felt it was a palace not a hospital. Initially I was worried that the treatment here would be expensive, but then we read a board which said, that all treatment is completely free of charge. I felt relieved,” Nausheen said. 

They met the Dr. Gurumurthy, from the plastic Surgery department and things started looking up. 

“Once we met Dr. Gurumurthy, we felt there is hope for Aamir,” Nausheen said. 

 “Dr. Gurumurthy told us it was a difficult case, but it could be done, but would require patience,” his words sounded like balm on my heart,” Mahmood said. “And we did not have to pay anything, treatment at the Sri Sathya Sai Baba hospital was completely free of charge." he added. The treatment began and in Mahmood’s words, it was done in a way he could have never imagined. “ The blood circulation in the left foot had been destroyed, so Dr. Gurumurthy attached the left sole to the lower part of the right leg and Aamir had to keep it like that for a few weeks. The little boy endured. And the results are here for everybody to see,” he said. 

According to Dr. Gurumurthy the child was suffering from a congenital neurological condition, in which he did not have the sensation on the left leg.  In such cases the patients would not feel pain even if there is a wound on the area. According to Dr. Gurumurthy in Aamir’s case it was a non-healing ulcer.  “ So we took a flap of skin from the right leg, then it was attached to the left leg  and then the left leg was connected to the right leg and division of the pedicle was done so as to get the circulation back. It took a few weeks, but eventually the ulcer healed,” Dr. Gurumurthy said. “ Aamir would be required to wear specially made shoes so that his left leg gets adequate comfort and would  avoid any future injury,” he added. 

Before discharge Mahmood’s face was beaming and so was Aamir’s . I had gone to many hospitals. All of them were doctors. But none of them had the heart that the doctors here had. That set me thinking about what the difference between this hospital and other hospitals. Then I understood. Here God’s Grace flows through the doctors because there is no money involved and they are only concerned about the well-being of the patient. Outside, it is only about money. That is the difference”,  Mahmood said.  

Aamir’s foot has healed perfectly and with a specialized footwear, he would be back to being a happy and a healthy child again.  “In this country we have had great rajas, maharajas, big people with lots of means and resources, but nobody could do what Baba has done for the humanity. We are greatly indebted to Him,” Mahmood said. 

Inauguration of the Ophthalmology Department: Bhagawan Baba inaugurated the Ophthalmology department at the SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram in November 1994.  As mentioned earlier we would bring to you an hitherto unseen photograph of Bhagawan Baba in the hospital in this section in every issue.