ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network) — Fresh out of medical school, Dr. Kanchan Naik chose to work at a mission hospital where she could get a wide array of medical experience.
Kanchan thought she’d work at Sewa Bhawan Hospital, in Jagdeeshpur, India, for a few years, developing her skills as one of three doctors at the hospital located in a remote area three hours from the nearest city, Raipur.
Sewa Bhawan Hospital is a 50-bed hospital that serves about 500,000 people. The hospital was established in 1928 by mission workers from the Commission on Overseas Mission, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network.
The hospital is now run by Emmanuel Hospital Association, an organization started in 1970 to maintain the long-term stability of 13 Indian mission hospitals. Sewa Bhawan Hospital and two other hospitals started by Mennonite missionaries are part of this association that Mission Network supports with funds and medical workers.
Although young doctors usually leave mission hospitals in favor of higher paying jobs in the city, Kanchan, an OB-GYN doctor by training, relished the long hours and variety of cases, and decided to commit her life to mission hospitals.
“I saw how people couldn’t go anywhere else,” said Kanchan. “I came to love the people.”
After family members introduced her to Tushar Naik, a trained surgeon working as medical director at a Lutheran mission hospital, they married and started what is now 25 years of work together at mission hospitals.
Initially, they started at Tushar’s hospital, but in 1993, senior staff from Sewa Bhawan Hospital contacted the Naiks asking them to come serve in Jagdeeshpur. They wanted Tushar to be their medical director.
The Naiks accepted the positions and have worked at Sewa Bhawan for 20 years, while also raising their daughter, Aparajita, and son, Ronak.
In September, Kanchan spent several weeks traveling in North America to visit friends and to bring her daughter to Goshen (Ind.) College. She shared her experience of service at Sewa Bhawan with several churches and other groups.
The Naiks need to work hard to keep doctors and nurses at the hospital. Young doctors will typically come for initial postings, but are lured away by better facilities and urban environments.
“It’s a struggle,” said Kanchan. “They only come for short-term assignments. Often they go on to get government jobs that pay better than we can. We’ve also had many nurses come from the area, but few stay.”
The Naiks often collaborate with doctors from other hospitals to exchange services. For example, one day a month, Tushar will go to another hospital and perform general surgeries since they do not have a general surgeon. In exchange, a doctor who specializes in eye surgeries will come from that hospital to perform cataract surgeries at Sewa Bhawan one day a month.
This partnership lets patients receive specialized care from the limited number of mission doctors in the area.
In order to bring more nurses to their hospital, the Naiks want to start a nursing college together with Champa Christian Hospital, a hospital that’s also part of the Emmanuel Hospital Association.
The plans are still in the initial stages, but the hope is that nursing students trained in a rural hospital environment will choose to serve long-term at Sewa Bhawan or other mission hospitals. But even if they don’t, a steady stream of student interns would help the nursing staff of the hospital.
Despite the challenges of low staff and small budgets, the Naiks are dedicated to offering the best care to their patients.
Committed doctors have been a godsend to Sewa Bhawan Hospital and other small mission hospitals. The Naiks continue to welcome service visits from North American doctors and other medical professionals. Because Sewa Bhawan is a general-treatment facility, they especially need generalist medical personnel, but they often have cases that sometimes require specific expertise. So Dr. Kanchan and Dr. Tushar are always seeking connections with other doctors and nurses to find the best care for cases that lie outside their competency.
Despite the sacrifice it sometimes takes, the Naiks are exactly where they want to be: treating patients.
“I receive many blessings from the Lord treating patients who otherwise would have died at home,” said Kanchan. “I see lots of miracles.”
###
For immediate release
Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact news@mennonitemission.net.
