Diocese: Mysore
Pioneers: Sisters Mary Mendonca and Hilda Rita Lobo
The medical centre Sanjeevini, meaning elixir is a modest effort of the Ursuline Franciscan Sisters to give the best to the marginalized. The Sisters, after the example of their Master bring health and wholeness to the ailing and thus attempt to offer them a glimpse of the Immortal One. Sanjeevini is located 250 feet south of St Mary Convent. It takes its origin from the seed for healing ministry sowed and executed by Sr Beatrice D’Silva at St Mary Convent, HD Kote in 1974. After a lull for 30 years, the healing ministry was revived through the construction and inauguration of St Mary Community Health Centre named ‘Spoorthi Kendra’ on July 16, 2004 by Sr Jyothi Fernandes, the Provincial Superior. Sr Mary Mendonca, a staff nurse and Sr Hilda Rita Lobo, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist were the pioneers at the place. Committing themselves to study major health problems of the locality, they arrived from Naganahalli where they worked full time in M & R F (Madeleine and Raoul Follereau) hospital to Spoorti Centre on alternate days. The Spoorti Centre was not registered as a medical centre but as a social work centre; it continued to be so until the construction and inauguration of the hospital in the same campus on June 22, 2004.
The Sisters, including Sr Placid Saldanha occupied themselves in the Centre immediately after the inauguration. While residing at St Mary Convent, they attended to every emergency case that arrived at the Centre even during midnight hours. As medical facilities at H D Kote were deplorably few, more and more ailing people arrived at the Centre. In response, the Sisters propelled extra energy and resources to the hospital. The nature of their work required a residence adjacent to the hospital. As the Sisters were hoping for divine intervention, Don Francesco Saverio Bazzoffi proved a godsend. He promised financial assistance to construct the convent building. Fr John Manthadom, the parish priest of St Mary’s church blessed the foundation stone and Sr Leena Mascarenhas, the Provincial Superior, laid it on April 13, 2005. Sr Cressy D’Souza supervised the construction efficiently.
During his visit to St Mary’s Health Centre H D Kote on November 28, 2005 Don Francesco saw for himself the need for more facilities and space in view of attending to ailing people arriving from remote areas. He assured the Sisters that he would sponsor the first floor of the convent building which was still under construction. Thus at its completion of the ground floor, Sanjeevini was inaugurated by Don Francesco along with five of his Associates on January 24, 2005. Bishop Thomas Antony Vazhapilly of Mysore Diocese blessed the building. Sr Doreen D’Souza, the Superior General, and Sr Leena Mascarenhas, the Provincial Superior, were present at the occasion. The first floor of the convent building was inaugurated on July 15, 2006.
Sisters Mary Mendonca (animator), Placid Saldanha, Concepta Pinto, Jessilda D’Souza, Hilda Rita Lobo and Gracy Andrade were the members of the St Mary community; all of them were involved in medical and social apostolate. With the residence besides the hospital building, health apostolate was made convenient and easily accessible in times of casualties.
Over the years the hospital has been equipped with more medical personnel such as doctors, nurses, supportive staff and collaborative associations and hospitals. It is also upgraded with registered Pharmacy, Ultrasound Scanner, X– ray machine, a well- equipped laboratory, ECG machine, CTG machine and 30 KV generator for power supply. In order to attend to inpatients, an extra block has been added to the hospital and the number of beds has been increased from eighteen to fifty.
The Sisters do not limit themselves to the four walls of the hospitals. They conduct regular outreach programmes and health camps. During seasonal breakout diseases, mobile clinics render services to people. ANM programme, a dream of Sr Edilburga Monteiro has been a feature of the hospital. The programme enables young girls to render their services to the neediest on the one hand and on the other to fetch steady income for their livelihood. Besides catering to the needy outside, Sanjeevini also caters to Sisters of the Province by offering them diverse avenues in the medical field. The presence of physicians, lab technicians, pharmacists, physiotherapists etc. in the Congregation would have been unimaginable but for the existence of Sanjeevini. The Sisters serving at Sanjeevini definitely offer a glimpse of new life to everyone they encounter in and around the hospital.
