Prayer Letter 1

THANE NEWS – PRAYER LETTER 1

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you all for your prayers - I had a reasonable flight out here and a good few days with some family friends in Mumbai, though I think it was a rather “upper class” introduction to India. I arrived in Thane on Sunday night and am just about starting to settle into the hospital and work out which way is up! Dr Stephen Alfred and his family (Claire, Joshua (12) and Ben (9)) have made me welcome in their home, which seems a constant thoroughfare of visitors and Christian workers, and God has been faithful in providing fellowship for me here. Just when the culture shock was most overwhelming, I met an English GP, Adam, and his wife Jo, who are out here for 3 years volunteering for the aids project which is associated with Lok. It was really good to be able to talk with them and to know that I have support and fellowship from fellow believers who understand a bit about feeling so ‘out of place’. It is proving a real faith-builder stepping out of the comfort zone and having to rely for everything on God’s grace and loving provision. And he IS faithful to all his children, as I am certain will be the continuing testimony of my time here.

Things are very different to England here, and also slightly different to what I had understood in terms of how they fit into the community here and the way the hospital works with respect to the Harijans (untouchable) caste, or Dalits (oppressed) as they are also known. Since a lot of you were at the prayer meeting I shared with Rachel and Ben, I wanted to clarify a bit about this. Lok hospital does do all of the things I said it does – it does treat the poorest Harijan people, and it does treat those who cannot afford treatment, as well as link with the aids and village healthcare work. But there is more to it than that.

Firstly, the primary vision that Dr Alfred has is underpinned by an understanding that it is God who ultimately blesses us with healing through the physician, not simply the physicians skill, and this is his witness to the patients – that they will only get better by God’s grace.

Secondly, in India, most of the healthcare access is through GPs, who refer a patient for secondary health care, like in England. However, supposing a treatment the patient 1000 rupees at the hospital – the hospital will take around 600 of that and the GP will take around 400 rupees. This leads to a lot of endemic corruption, with GP’s requesting unnecessary procedures and investigations at the patient’s expense to line their own purses. This has the inevitable consequence of making healthcare unaffordable for the poorest Indians. But more significantly it leads to a 2 tier system of care since it is not in GP’s interests to help the poorest gain access to the overstretched and limited state-run medical care since they do not receive the same remunerations.

Lok hospital does 2 things to counteract this. It will not take referrals from GPs but sees people directly. It provides the best level of healthcare services to paying residents of Thane without deceiving them or recommending unnecessary care. Thus it has a growing reputation spreading by word of mouth, for excellence and integrity in the local community. It uses this revenue from wealthier patients, who come because of its reputation for honesty, to reduce its own overall running costs so that it can maintain a free healthcare service for those who cannot afford it. This model has another major cultural significance: if it were only to treat Harijans, apart from making it difficult to maintain financially, it would also mean that it was looked down on as a second-rate hospital by locals of higher caste helping to perpetuate a 2 tier system. What Lok is doing is giving the same quality of care to the higher caste individuals as to the Harijans, but significantly they see the same physicians, wait in the same rooms and are not segregated off into separate wards. Thus it is culturally more effective at promoting equality of treatment.

Thirdly, and most importantly with respect to the gospel, Lok DOES take referrals from other Christian NGOs (including their own Aids project) working amongst the poorest and most needy in the community. This opens vital doors for these workers – they are able to go into a household, and as well as sharing the gospel and ministering in their own capacities, they are able to see potentially sick people and offer referral to Lok for free assessment and treatment. This makes many people more willing to open their homes to Christians, and thus many more hear about Jesus than otherwise might. Additionally, not all the staff are Christian, so there is the witness to them – there is a meeting every Sunday night in the basement of the hospital for patients, where the Gospel is preached directly and clearly. Dr Alfred invites all the patients who are able to come, and many do, perhaps hearing the gospel for the first time. On his ward rounds, I frequently hear him entreat patients to give God thanks for their recovery or encourage family to ask the Lord for blessing on their loved ones or give thanks for blessing already received.

So I hope that gives you a better picture of what is going on here – it might, at face value, seem less worthy than simply using the hospital for the poorest Harijans, but it is a much more thought-through, culturally and spiritually aware strategy. In fact, plans to expand the hospital to over double it’s current size are well underway, with a new site and building plans already in place – work commences in February. The total funds needed for this work are £2 million GBP with payments being made on an instalment basis during the building work. Half of this is planned to be met from the hosptial’s own funds, but half will need to be raised from benefactors and charitable giving. If you are interested in giving to this, please email or speak to Jess, as she has some gift-aid donation forms for the Thana trust, the English arm of the charitable organisation which supports Lok hospital.

So, points for prayer then:

Please give thanks for:

• Safe Arrival
• God’s provision of fellowship
• God’s faithfulness in meeting my spiritual and other needs so far
• The goodness of God so evident in the work at Lok
  
  
  Pray for:
• Jess in the UK – for sustaining of our relationship and spiritual growth in our separation.
• Stephen Alfred – for wisdom and stamina as he leads the hospital, is an elder in the fellowship and nurtures his family.
• Claire Alfred – for energy and refreshing as she runs their home which is open to many many visitors and friends (including me!!)
• Joshua and Ben Alfred – they are being educated in the Indian school system which is really tough and very demanding on them. They have upcoming exams, and Joshua is dyslexic, and Ben really struggles to be motivated and to concentrate – Stephen and Claire would value prayer for them and for themselves in wise and loving parenting.
• For Adam and the work at the aids project, for Jo who is expecting a baby in January, and for both of them to settle in well and learn hindi quickly.
• Lok Hospital – the relocation and building project. India is known for it bureaucracy and corruption.
• Lok Hospital- funding to be in place for the start of the building work.
• Lok Hospital – the witness and work of Gospel ministry by Dr Alfred and those Christians at Lok. Pray for continued patience, boldness, wisdom and gentleness with those around them.
• For my ability to learn Hindi – I am trying my best but I have only a rudimentary grasp and not enough to communicate much more than ”hello how are you feeling” with patients.
• For wisdom to know how to best use my time here to learn and prepare for my clinical finals this summer.
• That I would settle into the hospital quickly and be of use to them as well as learning from them.
• For the establishing of telephone links between Jess and me – we have so far only managed emails since I have been at Thane.
  
  
  Love to you all in Jesus,

Duncan