- Burrows Memorial Christian Hospital is a 70-bed charitable hospital based in Alipur, just 18 km away from Silchar in Assam, Northeast India. BMCH has been serving the poor and needy patients not only in Alipur but also of the neighboring states of Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
HISTORY OF THE MISSION
Despite his advancing years and lack of support from the mission Dr. Crozier established the mission station at Alipur in 1935. The hostile environment, unfriendly neighbours who burnt down the place 12 years after its inception and the lack of facilities did not deter the pioneer missionaries from establishing a mission that had a great impact on the surrounding area.
Dr. Kenoyer who came in the late forties with the support of the Baptist Mid Missions made it a state of the art hospital. The Tuberculosis sanatorium of the hospital gave sufficient time for the early local leaders to study the Bible and take over as the local Christian leaders who took over the missionary work started by the pioneers. The school of Nursing started by Mrs. Kenoyer became a popular destination for girls all over the Northeast and from other parts of the country.
The vision and enthusiasm of missionaries like Rev. Paul Versluis was responsible for starting many of the ancillary ministries of the Baptist Mid Mission like the Bible college, the Bibles International, Christian literature house, the Fellowship of Baptist Churches, etc.
The prayers and unwillingness to give up sustained the Burrows Memorial Christian Hospital through the period from 1977 when the overseas missionaries left to the time when Emmanuel Hospital Association took over in the year 2000.
During the period from April 2005 to March 2006, BMCH continued the tradition of compassionate Christian care and became a pioneer in taking modern technical advances to the poor and the marginalized.
THE VISION AND MISSION
BMCH is a medical mission providing compassionate Christian care at primary, secondary and tertiary levels to people of Northeast India (especially the poor and the marginalized) irrespective of caste, creed or religion, training medical missionaries instilling the values of the Kingdom of god in them and endeavoring to transform the communities around them.
In support of this we are committed to innovative leadership in - High quality cost effective patient care methods
- Introducing tertiary level care facilities especially for the poor
- Providing an environment that promotes and rewards the development and involvement of all employees
- Training medical missionaries and offering opportunities for spiritual growth
- Looking into ways of transformation of communities around us
- Networking with missions to aid transformation
- Creating a model for other mission hospitals to follow
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
□ The primary purpose of the hospital is to share the Gospel to all the people who pass through the hospital
□ People should not be denied high quality modern care just because they are poor
□ Poor patients do not come to the hospital (especially if they have surgical conditions)
□ It is better to train someone rather than doing it yourself
FINDINGS AT BMCH AND ACTIONS TAKEN
No one refuses prayer for them (whatever be the background)
- Daily prayers for patients
- Prayer rounds
People like to hear their names and see their faces - Photo ID cards for patients
- Showing the patients and relatives on BMCH channel
Poor are not aware of their surgical conditions because they have not seen experienced doctors or had diagnostic investigations
- BMCH diagnostic camps take all the diagnostic facilities available at the hospital to the interior villages
The poor are not able to afford the modern high quality care
- The BMCH health scheme makes it easier because of deferred and nominal payment
- The local Churches help by “Pig for surgery scheme”
- Churches abroad help by “Person to person scheme”.
Empowering nurses help the hospital
- The male nurses give anesthesia, carry out diagnostic scopies etc.
- They contribute a lot to continuing medical education
Computers help the hospital (a lot)
- The profits from the Pharmacy have gone up from 25% to 60% (of the turnover)
- The progress of the hospital could be monitored by generation of about 47 ratios online
- The surgeries and diagnostic scopies are recorded and shown live to the patients and relatives and this is also used for health education and evangelical purposes.
BMCH NOW
v The 50 year old school of nursing is a well known one in Northeast India with regular 100% pass results over the last few years. The alumni are well respected and are well trained. They are capable of presenting in Continuing Medical education programmes, giving anesthesia, carrying out diagnostic scopies, etc in addition to their usual work. The nurses also study computers along with the nursing and are given certification by NIIT. They also study the Bible through the ROGMA course.
v BMCH has an active Hospital based evangelism with innovative methods like BMCH television channel, locally produced evangelical videos, daily prayers for the patients, disease specific tracts, many evangelists and evangelical book house, volunteers from organisations like Army of Jesus, Friends Missionary Prayer band, etc
v BMCH has been actively working with various organisations like Operation Mobilisation, Friends Missionary Prayer Band, Believer’s Church, the Young Mizo’s Association, the Presbyterian Churches, the Fellowship of Baptist Churches, the local Alipur Baptist Church, etc to actively and systematically take the Gospel to the nearby villages.
v BMCH has devised the innovative plan of diagnostic camp and health scheme to overcome the problems of the poor accessibility and poor paying capacity. The diagnostic camps involve bringing medical personnel and modern diagnostic equipment into the interior villages of various northeastern states. Patients identified with the need for surgical intervention were then offered a health scheme to come to the hospital itself where surgery could be performed.
v BMCH has attractive antenatal insurance schemes, good labour room, continuous foetal monitoring facilities, low LSCS rate, high instrument delivery date, etc, to take care of the pregnant women in this area
v The laboratory at BMCH has two semiautomatic auto analyzers and tie up with Christian Medical College Vellore for quality control and carries out a wide variety of tests. There is also a microbiology department. BMCH also has a training programme for laboratory technicians that has been going on for a long time
v BMCH has very well equipped operating rooms with facilities for laparoscopic, microscopic and endoscopic surgeries. There are two monitors for laparoscopic surgeries and the surgeries are broadcast live to the relatives. They are also recorded and given to patients along with health education and evangelical materials.
v The hospital has C3MDS (Christian Comprehensive Computerised Mission hospital Development Service) software for managing the hospital. In addition to the usual patient data this locally developed software has the following facilities.
§ The nurses could enter the presenting symptoms of the patients with the computer guiding them with the questions to ask for each of the symptoms. The doctors could order predefined set of investigations for any provisional diagnosis and predefined medicines for any diagnosis with complete set of instructions. They could also look for relevant information about the diagnosis or the signs to look for.
§ The stocks, the prices, the needs, all relevant details about the medicines, etc are available online and this has made the profits from Pharmacy go upto 60% from the earlier 25%.
§ About 40 different parameters and ratios could be analysed online to monitor the progress of the hospital.
v The health insurance scheme of BMCH has over 4000 people and has made the poor avail the services of the hospital at nominal cost. In this scheme a patient could have a laparoscopic Cholecystectomy for a operation fee of Rs. 500 only and he needs to just buy the medicines and disposable.
v The continuing medical education programme at BMCH has made the staff and students keep updated on medical advances. The regular programme is there every Saturdays and there are also other programmes when elective students are around. BMCH has organised several seminars and workshops for doctors and medical students with senior staff from Christian Medical College Vellore and International visitors.
v The Government of India appreciated the ministry of BMCH and on three occasions broadcast documentaries about the hospital in the State television channel. The National Informatics Center (NIC) of the Government of India has the CME videos of BMCH in its website and broadcast them for the CICs in Northeast India.
v A variety of training programmes are organised by BMCH. Medical and nursing students from abroad come for their elective posting and a structured programme with hands on training is available for them. Medical students from CMC Vellore also come for their elective posting. Several surgeons have training in Laparoscopic surgeries and other minimally invasive surgeries and BMCH has helped several hospitals to start laparoscopic and urology surgeries.
v Several research projects are going on at BMCH and some have been published in the national and international journals and have been presented at various conferences.
v BMCH has a community health project which has no overseas funding and sponsored by the hospital and some Churches in Mizoram. There is also a CMAI project that is described as one of the best in Northeast India by the CMAI.
v The Bethel English School of BMCH offers high quality education to the poor children around the hospital at a very nominal cost.
v BMCH supports many missions and missionaries belonging to the Evangelical Medical Fellowship of India, Friends Missionary Prayer Band, the Alipur Baptist Church, the Bibles International, etc both directly through the hospital and through contributions from the staff and students. The Rev. Paul retreat center hosts meeting for mission exposure for medical students, Evangelical Union, Christian Medical Association of India, Fellowship of Baptist Churches and the AWANA group, etc
v Regular patient satisfaction surveys help in improving patient care.
THE FUTURE PLANS
1. UPGRADING THE SCHOOL OF NURSING
The school of Nursing needs up gradation to B.Sc (Nursing). The necessary staffs have been sent for higher studies to CMC Vellore. A new hostel and few more class rooms are necessary and up gradation of facilities are necessary.
2. UPGRADING THE OBSTETRICS DEPARTMENT
The Obstetrics department needs up gradation for two reasons. The important one is that it is necessary for the School of Nursing to complete their requirements. The second reason is that hospitals that have good Obstetrics department are not dependant on any particular doctors and these hospitals are the ones that do well on the long run.
3. HIGH QUALITY LOW COST HEALTH CARE FOR MIZORAM (CAMP APPROACH)
BMCH is planning to provide surgical care to the entire state of Mizoram with the help of Mizoram Government and the BMCH diagnostic camp approach.
4. TRAINING PROGRAMMES
BMCH plans to start formal training programme for Laboratory technicians and the concerned persons have obtained their relevant training. BMCH in association with the Christian Medical Association of India (CMAI) and CMC Vellore is planning a 6 month training programme in Laparoscopic surgery. BMCH plans to get accreditation for Dip. NB programme in rural surgery along with the CSI hospital at Trichy and Bethel Medical center at Kohima. BMCH also has plans for stating a training programme in Hospital based evangelism.
5. UP GRADING THE ENGLISH SCHOOL
Plans are there for up grading the Bethel English School with the help of with Friends Missionary Prayer Band and Rossmore Primary School in UK to make it an excellent school for the local people here. Hostel facilities are also planned .
6. FRIENDS OF BMCH
BMCH plans to develop a group of Friends all over the world who would pray and support the ministry here. Some of the schemes that have been planned include regular prayer letters, person to person scheme to get people interested pay the bills of deserving patients whose social and medical records with photographs are sent to them. The holiday exchange scheme where by people from abroad could come here for holidays and people from here could go abroad for holidays.
7. HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME & DEVELOPING MISSION HOSPITALS
BMCH plans to expand the current health insurance scheme that is running very well and make it a model one so that other mission hospitals could follow such a model. BMCH also plans to help other mission hospitals develop with the help of the expertise that it has.
YOU COULD GET INVOLVED
There is an excellent opportunity to add treasures in heaven by involving in the ministry here. (Matthew 25:40)
ü By regularly or occasionally praying for the ministry here.
ü By regularly or occasionally supporting the ministry here
ü By joining the work either full time or part time
ü By getting involved in the person to person scheme
ü By getting involved in the holiday exchange scheme
ü By collecting disposables and other things that are useful for the ministry here and sending them
ü By talking to others about the ministries here
CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS
NEED and JUSTIFICATION
“C” arm fluoroscopy unit
This would complete the tertiary level care offered at BMCH as it would facilitate carrying out
Ø Percutaneous nephrolithotomy
Ø ERCP and placement of stents and removal of CBD stones
Ø Complicated ureterorenoscopy
Urologist is available at the hospital and BMCH is now a well known center. CBD stones and periampullary carcinoma is common in this area
PCNL instruments (Nephroscope, dilators, amplatz sheath, etc
These are necessary for PCNL when C arm becomes available and now Ultrasound guided PCNL could be carried out in selected patients
Side viewing Gastroscope, colonoscope etc
These would be required for ERCP when “C” arm becomes available and for patients needing colonoscopy. Colonoscopy is available only in one or two places in Northeast India
New Hostel for School on Nursing
The nursing school which is doing very well needs up gradation to BSc (N) school and the present hostel facility is not adequate according to the present rules even for the General Nursing course that we have now.
Hostel and classrooms for the Bethel English School
The English School is the felt need of the community. Specialists from Interserve who were involved in helping the Hebron School teachers learn teaching methodology are coming to help teaching methodology to the school teachers here. The Friends Missionary Prayer Band has promised help with providing staff and Compassion India is considering supporting the needy students in this area.
