Swami Ram Prakash Charitable Hospital, Haridwar, Swami Vivekananda Health Mission (SVHM/ SVHMUK - Uttarakhand)

Swami Vivekananda Health Mission has 11 Hospitals in Uttarakhand and a 12th Hospital at Vrindavan.
 
One of Priya and Nikin’s main aims for this trip was to identify a suitable partner in Haridwar/Rishikesh whom RF can help with improving their women’s healthcare. This is especially close to Dr Priya Patel's heart, being an ambulatory gynaecology consultant in London herself.
 
We were all so pleased to meet the team and be shown around the Swami Vivekananda Health Mission’s Swami Ram Prakash Charitable Hospital, Haridwar. They are doing some excellent work for the needy in their hospital.
 
The Rama Foundation team had some interesting and busy days at this hospital.
 
The SVHM approach is to provide healthcare services to primarily the needy. Therefore, if people state that they are unable to pay, they are able to have absolutely free healthcare.

For those that can pay, the pricing is transparent and appears to be very reasonable.

The current site has around 50 inpatient beds and 10 outpatient rooms. They are planning to acquire a larger site here in Haridwar for a 200 or so inpatient facility which will allow for the current facility to be focused entirely on outpatient services - and this could include women’s health.
  
They gave Dr Patel the opportunity to see some gynaecology patients. She was able to scan a patient too. It was very helpful to be able to experience their facilities, way of working and equipment herself.
 
The hospital uses hand written notes and have an efficient registration service where patients are allocated to an individual doctor with the doctor’s name printed on the consultation document.
 
At present they only have basic gynaecology care with no interventions/ specialist gynaecologist but are able to examine and Dr Teesta scans which is great. They have a laboratory and until recently had a histopathologist. They are able to do cervical smears (cytology and not HPV yet) & ultrasounds on site. Their ultrasound machine is basic but adequate. Dr Patel realised that there are cultural barriers towards internal examinations and scans but convinced a patient of the importance of this and appropriately examined & scanned her. She spoke to patients and staff regarding the importance of proper gynaecological examination but was sensitive to the fact that the shift in mindset will take time.
 
Nikin and Priya spoke to Dr Shah, Dr Reddy & Dr Teesta about a potential partnership between RF and SVHM Haridwar and we identified a potential room which could be converted to a gynaecology suite. RF are very excited about developing this idea further! We all agreed about the serious need to improve women’s healthcare in the area. Without improving a woman’s health, the whole family will suffer. Regular checks and screening, which we take for granted in the UK, are absent in India and women often find it very difficult to seek healthcare, especially when they are poor and have other significant challenges. We need to work together to improve access and ease of investigation and treatment for these women.