“The Roman Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of health care services in the world. It has around 18,000 clinics, 16,000 homes for the elderly and those with special needs, and 5,500 hospitals, with 65 percent of them located in developing countries…The Church manages 26% of the world’s health care facilities. The Church’s involvement in health care has ancient origins.” (Wikipedia)
The Church has “117,000 health care facilities, … as well as … “512 centres” for the care of leprosy patients.
In India, too, the Church is the largest provider of medical services after the Central Government, with over 3500 presences. Staffing these institutions are 1,000 Sister Doctors, 25,000 Nursing Sisters and 10,000 Para-medical staff.
The medical centres run by the Church go from large and top-rated institutions to simple dispensaries in remote villages which lack electricity or proper roads.
St. John’s Medical College, run by the Catholic Church in India, was rated the fourth best medical college in India in 2018. At the other end are Sisters managing deliveries, fevers and TB in remote corners of India.
What about the so-called First World? “The Catholic Church is the largest private provider of health care in the United States of America. During the 1990s, the church provided about one in six hospital beds in America, at around 566 hospitals, many established by nuns.”
(More details can be found on the Net.)
The backbone of this ministry has been, without any doubt, our Sisters. This is true worldwide and in India. These women of God, capable and well-qualified, did not flee to the richer countries to make money. Many went to parts of India where medical services were non-existent, and became a life-line for their patients, without any discrimination of religion or language, caste or class.
We dedicate this issue of MAGNET to this heroic band of women, who become true life-savers through their qualified service, loving presence, prayerful support to the patients and, often, a rhythm of work unmatched in most other professions. Long days and sleepless nights are often the norm.
Hats off to our Sister Doctors, then!
We are proud of you, Sisters. We thank God for you. Your unpaid and generous self-gift is at the heart of the Church’s medical ministry. (In another issue, we shall speak of our nurses.)
This issue carries several features on the contribution of Sister Doctors—and other medical professionals:
- The main findings of a survey among Sister Doctors;
- The personal account of a Sister Doctor’s thirty years of service among the poor;
- True stories of contemporary saints in the medical profession;
- The witness of a medical specialist belonging to a Secular Institute;
- Two books and two movies on the theme of healing;
- Inner healing of hardened prisoners;
- The healing impact of meditation—and more.
Enjoy the reading!
May you and I allow the Lord to heal us—through
May we, in our turn, be healers.
Doctors do it one way—by reducing our pain and increasing our time on this earth.
The rest of us can do it, too—each in our own way.
While we are blessed with health and time, let us reach out and heal!
Fr Joe Mannath SDB
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