GUWAHATI: Set up during the British era by American missionaries, Satribari Christian Hospital (SCH) situated in Chatribari has been silently serving the needy patients. This nondescript hospital is one of the oldest hospitals in the city.
A unique feature of the hospital not known to many is that it was started off by nurses and not doctors way back in 1926. It started off as a hospital exclusively to provide maternity and child health facilities to women and children.
Dr. John Sangma, medical superintendent of the hospital informed G Plus, “The need to establish a hospital here was felt in the absence of any proper medical facilities and hospitals for locals during that time. This is how the American missionaries came to establish the hospital.”
With a vision to provide service to people, the Satribari Christian Hospital also charges very nominal fees for the treatment of patients. Currently, the hospital has 105 beds and also provides other medical facilities apart from maternity and child health services. But even now, the basic population of patients is of women and children. The SCH will complete 100 years of service in 2026.
The hospital was started by a nurse called Marvin with a handful of other nurses who joined her and started taking care of women and patients in a small thatched house. This humble beginning was made on October 26, 1926. The first five nurses who enrolled included Leah Momin, Kane Rongpi, Akangla Ao, Batase Sangma, Monmojini D Shira.
On the other hand, interestingly, the hospital authorities informed that they have seen a decrease in the number of patients over the years. Since at the time of its establishment, there were no other hospitals around, this led to a large footfall of patients. However, authorities said that now with many private and government hospitals and nursing homes coming up across the city, people prefer other private hospitals and nursing homes.
“Since we are registered as a society and being a charitable organisation, our main aim is to serve people belonging to the underprivileged sections of society. The people who can afford private healthcare visit private hospitals,” said Dr. Sangma.
The hospital has also been recognised for maintaining cleanliness in its premises and was awarded by the state government for being one of the cleanest hospitals.
Residents prefer SCH over govt hospitals
Authorities informed that they have still maintained a decent patient base after all these years since people have been increasingly rejecting government hospitals.
“We specifically cater to the needs of patients from lower sections of society as they are reluctant to go the government-run hospitals since they say they are not provided proper care in government hospitals,” said SCH authorities.
G Plus had recently conducted a survey called ‘Let’s Talk Guwahati’ which revealed that at least 84% Guwahati residents do not have faith in government hospitals and prefer going to private hospitals or clinics for treatment. Around 10,000 people participated in this month-long survey from different localities of the city through online as well as offline mediums.
At a time when the state government is laying a lot of emphasis on improving the overall medical facilities and infrastructure in Assam, it still has a long way to go to gain the trust of a majority of the population in public healthcare.
According to the results of the survey, 73.3% respondents said they preferred to get themselves or their family members treated at private hospitals. Further, 11% of the population said they usually favour going out of the state for medical treatment. On the other hand, merely 15.7% participants said they preferred to go to government hospitals.
Additionally, the government hospitals in the city remain overburdened with an ever increasing number of patients going to them for treatment not only from Kamrup (Metro) but from all over the state.