For Chote Lal, an auto rickshaw driver, it was a torture every day. But compared to the responsibility that weighed heavily on his shoulders, the pain was nothing. It would start with Chote Lal getting ready and then his young daughter and his young son would physically lift him and put him in the driver’s seat of his auto for him to ply his trade. “Sometimes I would not get off from the seat the whole day. It would be too painful.  My family was against me going through this pain, but there was no way out as I was the sole bread earner of the family and I had to work to fend for them,” he said. All this now is a passage from history, thanks to the Grace of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.    

Chote Lal a resident of Bhopal in the Central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh is one of the millions whose life totally transformed after undergoing treatment at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram, founded by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. All treatment is provided completely free of charge at the hospital irrespective of caste, class, creed, race, religion and nationality. In fact, the hospital prides itself for being a hospital where there is no billing department.  

An auto driver by profession Chote Lal would earn around Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,000 a month and with that he would take care of his family of six members. Somehow he had got his two elder daughters married while his younger son and daughter were still pursuing studies. “It all started pretty innocuously,”  he says.  “Initially I felt a little pain at my left hip joint. Friends told me that it could be sciatica pain. I visited local hospitals and I was told that the hip ball of my left hip joint had started degenerating. Many years went by and eventually I could not walk even a few steps, it was extremely painful and then doctors told me that even my right hip ball was degenerating.  The only way out was hip replacement for both hips. I was quoted a figure of around Rs 400,000 to Rs. 500,000. I visited some other hospitals in Bhopal and received a similar answer,” Chote Lal said. 

 “Initially I could drag on with the pain but later it became difficult to walk even a few steps.  In the house I was mostly confined to the bed or a chair. Due to the ailment the left leg had become shorter by almost 4 inches, it was difficult for me to even balance. I was the sole bread earner of the family so it was a compulsion for me to ply my auto.  My young daughter and my son would pick me up physically and put me in the auto’s driver’s seat in the morning and get me out similar way when I returned, some times I could not get up at all from my seat” he said.  

It was Chote Lal’s brother-in-law ,Vinay, a Sai Devotee and an active member of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation, Madhya Pradesh, who got him to the Bhagawan Baba’s hospital. Vinay had performed service as a volunteer many times at the Prasanthi Nilayuam Ashram.  Vinay had developed some cardiac problem and had gone to the SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram for treatment. “After his treatment when he was called for a review he told me to go along as he had seen the department of Orthopaedics at the hospital,” Chote Lal said.  

Chote Lal came along with this relative to the hospital. All the necessary tests were performed and the Orthopaedic Surgeons of SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, told him that he in fact required a bilateral hip replacement surgery. He was given a date to come for the surgery. Chote Lal confessed that when he was spoken to about surgery elsewhere it had filled him with a lot of fear. But at Swami’s hospital all his fear disappeared due the complete faith he had in Baba’s hospital. “I had complete faith in the hospital and I wanted to get this surgery done only at Baba's hospital and nowhere else,” he said. “I already knew that Bhagawan Baba’s hospital provided treatment completely free, so there was nothing for me to worry about,” he added.  Chote Lal came on the given date and he first underwent hip replacement surgery to his left hip and later to his right hip. After recovering completely Chote Lal was once again fit as a fiddle. 

According to Dr. Prakash Khanchandani, the Head of Department of Orthopaedics at SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram Chote lal had severe arthritis of both the hips secondary to Avascular Necrosis of femoral heads, a debilitating condition, wherein the blood supply to femoral head, the ball part of the ball and socket joint of the hip, gets destroyed. This disease starts in young active individuals and gradually leads to death of native bone leading to collapse and severe arthritis of the hip joint, Dr. Prakash said.  

"Patients with such a disease become severely disabled with inability to perform even simple activities of daily living. The only way to give a fresh lease of life to such patients is a total joint replacement surgery, wherein the destroyed joint is replaced by an artificial joint. Very few can afford such a specialized surgery due to limited numbers of skilled surgeons and high treatment costs involved. A bilateral hip replacement surgery in a corporate hospital will easily cost between 4 to 5 lakh rupees, which very few can afford, " he added

Chote lal underwent staged bilateral hip replacement surgeries with a high quality Depuy (Johnson & Johnson) implants and was able to get back to his basic activities of daily living within a short span of time. Noteworthy is the fact that here in Swami’s hospital Medical care offered is not only free but of supreme quality as well. 

“Chote Lal came back for a review and is able to walk on his two feet without any support. To see a man who was confined to a wheelchair and had required constant support even to take a few steps, seeing him walking on his two feet gives us a great satisfaction. These miracles happen every day at Bhagawan Baba’s hospitals,” Dr. Prakash said.  

“What to talk about the hospital “said Chote Lal.  “It is so beautiful. It is a temple. For my ailment I had visited many hospitals, but in Baba’s hospital it is so peaceful and the staff is so committed. Even if we pay lakhs and lakhs of rupees elsewhere we will never get such care. Swami is God, only God can do something like this” he said.  

 Jai Sai Ram