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Ramakrishna Mission Hospital
receives felicitation from
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Indian Federation of Working Journalists, Itanagar Chapter
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Most Revered Swami Vishwatmananda Ji Maharaj,
Secretary,
Ramakrishna Mission Hospital,
Itanagar,
Arunachal Pradesh.
Respected Maharaj,
When, twenty five years ago, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda order
and your predecessor, Swami Prathamananda Ji Maharaj came here to open a medical
service centre for the poor and the sick of this small capital town of the
remotest state of India, he carried right in his mind the eternal motto as
envisaged by Swami Vivekananda:
Bahuroope sammukhe tomar
Chhari kotha khunjichho Ishwar,
Jeebe Prem kare jei jan
Sei jan sebichhe Ishwar.
(Leaving him in front of you
in very many forms
To search for God where d’ you need?
He who loves his varied being
Loves
the God indeed)
That is the guiding spirit which saw the seed of service to the sick, the poor,
the destitute sown a quarter century ago here grow up to what we find and feel
in the sprawling, modern Ramakrishna Mission Hospital of today.
And what a true and total dedication all the revered Swamis who have worked and
are presently working here have been showing! It indeed is an inspiring awe,
constantly charging up the ones coming in contact with the hospital and the
Swamis in whatsoever way may be.
Maharaj, let us, the media persons of Araunachal, be proud of this moment. when
on the eve of the silver jubilee of the hospital in the next year, we are able
to submit to your good self a few humble words of our sincere appreciation for
the hospital, for your esteemed colleague monks, all other individuals attached
to this temple of divine service to mankind and you as the successful inheritor
of Swami Prathamananda Ji and the present dynamic leader of a large team of
service providers.
It is still fresh in our memory, how the hospital began dispensing its service
in 1979 in a small dispensary room and with one doctor, two nurses and few
attendants.
The Swami and his team of workers braved many inconveniences and hurdles and
with a rare kind of dogged dedication surmounted them one by one. At that time
there was no proper road, or communication system here. But then, as the
fragrance of a rose is independent of conditions to spread all over, so was the
name of the hospital which began to attract patients from near and far.
Undaunted by any inconvenience, poor and not so poor, important and common
patients began, in progressively increasing number, to queue up for the medical
help and maybe more for the never-experienced-before kind of service they heard
was available here.
Soon the pinch of want of space began to be felt by the hospital authority and
the then government came over to seek a solution. Here a word of appreciation is
also due to the government, particularly the Chief Minister
Gegong Apang, who, incidentally, is in the same position now.
He did not lose much time to arrange for twenty two acres of land and a permanent grant
for the hospital. The Government of India also came forward to help the hospital
acquire equipments necessary to provide better service to the patients who were
given treatment and essential medicines free of cost.
Most of the patients are availing this opportunity even today. The hospital is
spending above thirty lakhs of rupees annually for this purpose alone.
In less than a decade the hospital became virtually the only referral hospital
not only in Arunachal Pradesh but also for the nearby areas of Assam. This
status has been further elevated with the hospital acquiring modern,
sophisticated machines like CT scan, colour Doppler etc. Now many complicated
diseases can be diagnosed and treated right here in Itanagar.
The consistently increasing number of patients -- on an average about a thousand
patients are given free treatment daily – tells the story of dedication, nay
devotion, the army of workers at different level under your stewardship is
rendering to the patients, most of who are poor and are unable to go for
treatment elsewhere.
Respected Maharaj, sometime we wonder what might have happened to the poverty
stricken patients of Arunachal Pradesh had there been no Swamis and no RK
Mission Hospital. Hospital there might have been, but that would have been only
an addition to the kind of stuff we were given to know so far.
The Swamis of Ramakrishna Mission who have renounced, in the name of
Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and the holy Mother Sarada, every worldly enjoyment
have indeed set a different example of practical love before self
at the centers of the Mission spread all over the globe. This unique kind of
love is more palpable in the hospitals and medical units of the Mission in many
parts of India including the one here in Itanagar.
Love is the nectar of god. We are grateful, Maharaj, that you are giving away
this nectar to the poor patients of our state through the hospital and giving it
free in the present time of ours when nothing, even no love, comes free!
On this National Press day 2003, we the members of Itanagar Press Club
and the Arunachal chapter of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists
on behalf of the media persons of Arunachal Pradesh and on our own behalf,
do feel honoured to show you, through these few words, our greatest love and
respect to you and every other member of the Hospital.
We also take this opportunity to reaffirm every media support from our end to
you in your endeavor in serving the humanity in the spirit of serving the God.
Signed.
Signed.
Habung Payeng Mamang Dai
President President
Itanagar Press Club I.F.W.J., Itanagar
The
Ramakrishna Mission, which has its centers all over India and the abroad,
has
been conferred the status of an Established Voluntary Agency by the
Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi. This branch of the
Ramakrishna Mission also has undertaken some specific projects for the welfare
of the
tribal population of the state under the auspice of the Ministry of Tribal
Welfare, Government of India.
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