Both women and men are actively involved in education.
When it comes to medical work, Sister Doctors and Sister Nurses manage and work in most Catholic hospitals and smaller medical centres. This is largely their world. Men religious and diocesan priests play a very minor role here.
India has 1,000 Sister Doctors. They form an association called the Sister Doctors Forum of India (SDFI). This forum conducted a survey among its members in 2018. They did it in collaboration with the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI), which covers over 3500 centres, includes five medical colleges and has over 76,000 medical professionals in their institutions. The results give us interesting and inspiring details about their life, work, location, concerns and struggles—and what sustains them in their demanding ministry.
As their report says, “eighteen per cent of the world’s population lives in India, and many states of India have populations similar to those of large countries. [See the map.] There is inequality of burden across states and across diseases status… India also faces a triple burden of disease communicable, non-communicable and nutritional. This is compounded in women with the addition of reproductive health associated disorders. Out of pocket expenditure is the norm and the brunt is worse in rural areas. The current healthcare systems fails to reach out to the underprivileged poor, a gap that the Sister Doctors are in a unique position to fill.”
To read the entire article, click Subscribe
Fr Joe Mannath SDB
