Dr. Balachandran, the Diocesan Medical Superintendent, visited Dr Haebus in 2008 in Dornakal, where he was then working and was instrumental in inspiring Dr Haebus to take up his great-grandfather’s legacy.

He has completed his Diploma in Family Medicine from CMC and is doing DNB Family Medicine part time from CSI Rainy Hospital, Chennai.

After taking up his appointment Dr Haebus said:

“Those are really big shoes to fill but I am doing my best for the cause.

Frankly work here is quite different to what I was used to and is challenging as well as interesting.

My priority is to ensure longevity of St Luke’s Leprosarium. To heal the sick and to preach the gospel is something our founder religiously followed, and I have earnest intentions of doing the same”.

It was with very mixed feelings and low expectations that I was returning to India. I knew I really wanted – even needed? – to go, but I was carrying memories of how it had been when I was there as an 8 then 12 year old child. At that time the culture shock was overwhelming, the visits to relatives seemed endless, and in places there was such curiosity about seeing white people that it was quite intimidating. Not surprisingly, I hadn’t wanted to go back for several years after! I didn’t feel I had anything in common with the people, and as I grew up, I didn’t feel like my Indian side meant much to me. When I told people I was half-Indian they were always surprised and interested. I liked being a bit different, but it was more of a curiosity than anything else.

This trip totally changed my feelings. From the moment we arrived and saw the “Welcome to Dawsons” sign held by our driver in the airport, I felt really welcomed, at home, and loved every moment (well, almost!). On the minibus ride to our destination, I eagerly took in all the sights around me. Everything is so different from England – the colours, people, animals everywhere, little roadside shops, clothes, noises, trees, houses, smells. I felt deeply happy to be in India again at last.

Going as an adult was totally different, and India has changed for the better, making it easier. During our stay, I realised that for the first time in my life I didn’t just know I was half-Indian, I felt half-Indian – which was a big change for me.

It was my top priority to visit St Luke’s Leprosarium. Ever since training as an Occupational Therapist (OT) I have wanted to return there. My Uncle, Dr Jeyabalan’s approach is just like an OT, looking at the “whole” person – not just their medical problems – and trying to help his patients to integrate back into society via work-related training.

Our first week, spent at St Luke’s, and Nazareth, Dad’s home town, proved to be a very emotional and meaningful time for me. Uncle is a wonderful man who demonstrates Christ-like compassion, and humour, to all he meets. When I was with him the phrase “He went about doing good” kept coming into my mind, as it fits him so well. He could be earning a lot of money as a doctor in India, but has chosen not to, in order to help leprosy patients – the most stigmatised group of people in India.

He has been supported in his vocation by his wife, Chandra, also a doctor, who has worked tirelessly for years running her own single handed GP practice, in order to provide the necessary finance to educate and support their family. Their three girls are lovely people who have all become doctors, one working with leprosy patients. Uncle and Auntie have come to mean so much to me, and I have immense respect for them. They really do “walk the (Christian) walk”, whatever the personal cost.

It Was very sad to visit the wards and see some of the leprosy patients who didn’t get treatment early enough, and have lost fingers, toes, even limbs. Leprosy is curable, and leaves no effects if treated early. However, there is still a lot of education to do to get this message across, as leprosy is still surrounded in many myths and superstitions.

Spending time with the leprosy patients’ children, some of whom live at St Luke’s was very special. Like children everywhere, they crave attention and are full of fun. They work very hard compared with children in the UK, grateful for the chance that St Luke’s gives them to get an education, which their parents could never afford.

Our time in St Luke’s was too short. I always knew it would be, but I hadn’t been prepared for the strength of my emotions on leaving. I feel that I have left part of myself there, and I really want to go back, as soon as I can, this time hopefully using my skills to provide some practical help.

We spent the second week of our trip in Chennai, catching up with Dad’s sister and brothers, my cousins and their families, and various other relatives. I really enjoyed getting to know them – this time visiting relatives was not a chore. We also did a fair bit of retail therapy, which was great fun! However, St Luke’s was never far from our thoughts, and we bought quite a few things to sell to raise money on our return.

As I’m sure you can tell, this visit was truly life changing and I’m interested to see what the next chapter will be. After a morning with my Uncle we had signed up to funding a number of different projects and I said “There should be a new Indian proverb – No one’s pockets are safe when Uncle’s around!” His reply was “No one’s hearts are safe when Uncle’s around”. He’s right. No one can be untouched by his compassion for leprosy patients and their families. This is your advanced warning – he and Auntie are planning to visit the UK some time and I hope lots of you get to meet them – but watch out for your hearts!

St Luke’s has two ‘faces’ – a calm, peaceful, supportive side you would expect of any hospital, and a lively, vibrant atmosphere which comes from the 250 ‘healthy children’ who also live on the campus.

On our first morning Dr Jeyabalan explained the history of both the disease of leprosy and of St Luke’s Leprosarium, and gave us a tour of the hospital. As non-medical people we found this very moving to see at first hand the dreadful red nodules on skin, the loss of fingers and toes, and the acute weeping ulcers on the feet of some of the patients. The three hospital wards are very simple and basic – the cure of leprosy and managing its associated disabilities does not require hi-tech equipment. The nurses and other staff went efficiently about their duties and the patients sat on their beds in grateful awe of Dr Jeyabalan. Every one of them greeted us with a quiet and respectful namaste (the traditional Indian clasped hand greeting). Above each bed was a painted board indicating the name of the bed sponsor. These were mostly Indian individuals or organisations but there were some UK sponsors including the Neem Tree Trust.

The philosophy of care at St Luke’s is to take a holistic approach. When someone presents and is diagnosed as having leprosy a whole series of actions is initiated – the Multi Drug Therapy to cure the leprosy; treatment of other illnesses (eg vitamin deficiencies, ulcers and open wounds); minimisation of leprosy disabilities (eg tendon surgery to release clawed hands); aids provided (eg crutches, appropriate shoes, and special spoons); social issues addressed (eg training/retraining for work, family support if unemployed, children admitted to the Home for Healthy Children, support through the stigma of being a ‘leper’, including education about leprosy for the patient’s home village).

A large proportion of the inpatients are elderly. These older people are called Mercy Patients. They are often ex leprosy patients readmitted not because of the active disease but for the treatment of recurring ulcers. It is very easy to injure feet which are insensitive to pain whilst walking barefoot, and then these wounds can become infected and ulcerate. These patients can spend the rest of their lives at St Luke’s as mostly they have no means of supporting or caring for themselves.

If leprosy is diagnosed early enough it can be cured simply by administering Multi Drug Therapy as an outpatient. Providing the disease is caught early enough and medication compliance is good, leprosy is 100% curable. In untreated leprosy the disabilities and deformities caused by damage to the nerve endings cannot be reversed. Dr Jeyabalan told us of the outreach programme based on outpatient clinics held in rural villages and the vitally important health education programme.

We saw this latter in action when one morning we sat in with 100 students from a teacher training college. As part of their course they visit St Luke’s for lectures on both leprosy and its social issues. Dr Jeyabalan is hopeful that these future primary school teachers will be alert to spotting early signs of leprosy and de-stigmatising the illness for the pupils and their parents.

The students, all female, had prepared an entertainment for the patients and some of the children. We were delighted to be invited to this. There was dancing (to modern Indian Christian music – quite ‘Bollywood’ to our eyes!), a choir and two dramas (one in English and one in Tamil). We were honoured when the choir sang “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” for us – bringing back childhood memories of Sunday School.

We were fascinated that all meals in the hospital dining room are served on fresh banana leaves rather than plates. Although strange at first this has obvious hygiene and cost benefits, not least in that all food waste and leftovers (including the banana ‘plates’) are fed to the hospital pigs – truly eco friendly recycling!

As well as the pigs there is a farm for breeding goats at St Luke’s. Most of the patients admitted to the hospital are from rural areas and many of them are/were goat herders. Before returning home they are trained in modern husbandry methods, provided with a pair of breeding goats (stronger and more dependable than the native breed) and encouraged to grow fodder for them rather than walking long distances on their vulnerable feet to find suitable grazing – another example of St Luke’s holistic approach.

After the calm of the hospital and the discipline of the young teachers, other parts of our time at St Luke’s erupted in the joy of living exuded by the children of the Home for Healthy Children. Between the ages of 5 and 16, these youngsters are the children of, or orphans of, leprosy patients (both in- and outpatients). We had great fun being with the children – the younger ones in their playground, complete with swings and a garden; the older boys being read to from the morning newspaper before leaving for school (cricket scores were important!); being shown round both boys’ and girls’ dormitories (we were touched when the boys proudly showed us the small gifts some had received from their sponsors); the party atmosphere when the children joined in with the patients at the meal we sponsored (groups of children entertained us with dancing). Our sponsorship for the meal was channelled through the Neem Tree Trust to take advantage of the UK Gift Aid Scheme.

Probably the happiest memory of the children is when we accompanied about 50 of them (of all ages) on a picnic outing to a nearby bird sanctuary – travelling in a small bus full of little girls singing lustily on the journey there and back; everyone enjoying scalding hot coffee from tiny plastic cups; walking through a small rural village to view the painted storks nesting in the shade trees, with small girls squabbling over whose turn it was to hold our hands.

There was such hope for the future in these bright, happy children and there was also much hope for the future in some of the cured and rehabilitated patients presented to us. We visited a young man, his wife and three children in a nearby hamlet. Muragan had been a lorry driver before contracting leprosy. Although now completely cured he had sadly been unable to find a job driving because of the leprosy stigma and because of deteriorated night vision. St Luke’s provided him with a cow and a calf and by selling the milk to a milk combine Muragan earns enough to support his family. His children are being educated through the Home for Healthy Children and his wife (also cured of leprosy) is receiving free medical care during her current pregnancy. Without the intervention of St Luke’s this family would probably have disintegrated and the children possibly become beggars to support their parents and perhaps even succumbed to leprosy themselves.

Before the meal which we hosted, a number of gifts were presented to deserving cases – a sewing machine to a woman disabled by polio so that she could earn her living as a tailor, and three men each received a ‘load bicycle’ so they could work as coolie carriers. To us, used to the affluence of the UK and its welfare state, the 3,500 rupee (about £40) cost of each of these gifts seems incredibly small but to the recipients they could be life changing. We were also introduced to three young people for whom Dr Jeyabalan was trying to raise funding to pay fees for further education. One young man was halfway through a technical course for which his family had scraped together the fees. The second eighteen months of the course was in doubt because the father, a recovered although disabled leprosy patient, was struggling to earn enough.

Everything we saw and experienced at St Luke’s Leprosarium touched us greatly and we were very impressed by the thoughtful, economical and caring way everything was done by Dr Jeyabalan and his dedicated staff. When I spoke to the patients and children at our hosted meal, as well as thanking everyone for their care of us I also explained that the next morning we would be setting off on the very long journey back to the wintry cold of Edinburgh. I continued that not all of me would be travelling as ‘they had stolen my heart’. Our stay at St Luke’s Leprosarium had been humbling, inspiring, fascinating and fun.

The plight of a BLIND leprosy patient is pathetic beyond words.

A ‘normal’ blind person manages to grope his way thro’ somehow with his sensitive hands and feet. But very often a leprosy patient has no feelings in his hands and feet. In other words, he is blind in his hand and feet. He is also blind in the eyes.

Such blind leprosy patients come to Peikuam, lamenting,

“Doctor Sir, God has been so cruel”, I am too disabled even to beg. I have come seeking shelter in your hospital. Please don’t say, ‘there is no room’. We cannot go back, and we will not go back.”

And they don’t. Blind leprosy patients and desperately disabled patients are admitted immediately and sheltered for life.
Thanks to DIK for gifting a building for these hopelessly helpless patients – DIK MERCY HOME – 2003.

“I would like to admit you as inpatients” said Dr.Jeyabalan.

“You will have to stay in the ward for about 3 – 4 months. We will treat you intensively and send you back home as soon as we can”.

“No”, the woman refused, “I cannot become an inpatient”.

The refusal perplexed Dr.Jeyabalan for, many patients come with recommendation letters and fall at his feet, and beg for admission as inpatient!

“Why do you refuse?” Are you afraid of the treatment-cost? asked Dr.Jeyabalan.

“Everything is free” he reassured her.

Without replying the Doctor, the patient stood up and pushed aside the curtain screening the Doctor’s Consultation room.

There stood five of her children, aged 10, 9, 8, 7 and 6.

“If I get into the ward as an inpatient, who will look after these children?” she demanded.

“Won’t your husband, the children’s father look after them?” Dr.Jeyabalan gently asked her.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, she sobbed.

“The day, my husband discovered that I am a ‘leper’ he deserted me – the leprosy-afflicted me, but also abandoned the children who are his children, as much as they are mine. He has not returned even to see them. In fact 40 days after ditching me, he married another woman. All alone now, and semi-starving and I am keeping them alive. If I heed to your advice and become an inpatient, my children will have to either starve or beg. So saying, she scampered off with the children.

Dr.Jeyabalan was stunned. The Leprosarium had barely enough money for the hospitalization and treatment of inpatients free – Surely it didn’t have the extra resources to shelter five children on account of one patient.

‘What can happen next?’ Dr.Jeyabalan, made a calculation in his clinical mind.

“All these children, under-clothed, under-nourished, and under-cleansed are going to move closely, intimately and for a long time with their mother suffering from infectious type of leprosy which is not treated adequately – Why, some of them might catch the infection from the mother?”

“They have already begun to beg in support of their mother. In a few years, some of them might become beggars as well as lepers – a tragedy beyond words”.

Thus was born the home for healthy children.

Today, it has about 200 children. 150 of them have regular sponsors. Thanks to Compassion International.

Thanks to Dr.Gerhard Fischer of Germany, German ambassador – turned Social Worker who gifted two buildings, one for the boys – Fischer’s Boys Home 1995 and the other for the girls – Ann Fischer’s Girls Home 2005.

Thanks are also due to Dr.Fischer as well as Mr.Christoph von Toggenburgh of Switzerland for the gift of The Fischer Outpatient Block 2004.

But fifty children don’t have permanent sponsors. However, they have temporary sponsors. Thanks to a British couple who would like to remain anonymous.

Needed are fifty permanent sponsors gifting endowment of EURO 2000 each.

The Tempo Traveller – St.Luke’s has been using in the health-education campaigns is more than seven years old and veteran of 2.5 lakh kilometers run along bad roads. The cost of repair and replacement are slowly becoming prohibitive. It is wise and economic to buy a new van. With accessories it costs Rs.8 lakhs. But there is no help in sight for the money to make this all-important purchase.

Mumbai is one of the most populous cities in the world, it is the commercial capital of the country, and unfortunately it is the HIV-AIDS capital of the country as well!

The State of Tamil Nadu has the highest number of HIV-AIDS patients in India.

The District of Thirunelveli is one of the worst hit HIV-AIDS districts in Tamil Nadu.

Successive monsoon failures have driven the populace of the Thirunelveli and Thoothukudi Districts of which Peikulam is a part, to Mumbai in search of jobs for sheer survival, leaving their families behind.

In fact, Mumbai is reported to have a Tamil population of 1.5 million. Many of them are from the above Districts.

Many Mumbai-returnees have brought HIV-AIDS from the commercial sex-workers, into their hearths and homes— their wives.

St. Luke’s has made small beginning to meet this challenge.

1. It has started a Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre (VCTC). These special VCTC clinics are held every Monday.
2. Hospitalization—It has opened the doors of its leprosy wards for the hospitalisation and treatment of the HIV-AIDS patients suffering secondary infections as well those who are terminally ill.
3. Health-Education – St. Lukes’s has a proven track record of enlightening health-education on leprosy. It now embraces health-education of the HIV-AIDS as well.
4. Home for Total Orphans—There are many total orphan children of AIDS-victims with no living relatives or living relatives who are willing to support them and no willing community to care for them.

St.Luke’s has two homes for the healthy children of leprosy subjects. It has begun to take into its fold the HIV-AIDS children too. They receive everything free of cost – food, clothes, shelter, education, medicare and after School-Final, job-oriented technical training and help with placement.

The prevalence of one per ten thousand of the Indian population, which exceeds a billion, is not a small number – one hundred thousand!

But the Government does not state this explicitly. Their claim that leprosy has been eliminated has led to the impression that leprosy has been eradicated and become extinct.

World Health Organization has believed the Indian Government’s claim and echoed this all over the world. The whole world has been led to believe that India has eradicated leprosy. This has resulted in drying up of funds that can be raised by international leprosy relief agencies.

Many of the Indian NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) depended on these international leprosy relief agencies for survival. Once these sources stopped their aid, they ‘closed shop’. But new leprosy cases continue to occur though at a much lower level but these centres are no longer there to meet the continued challenge.

PERMANENT AND IRREVERSIBLE ANAESTHESIA.

About 25% of leprosy patients had developed deformity and disability including insensitivity in their hands and feet. This loss of sensitivity is permanent and irreversible.

Even the best of treatment cannot restore the sensitivity. Nerves once destroyed are destroyed forever. That means even after the so-called complete treatment and cure, they continue to suffer from anaesthesia of hands and feet.

The cured-patient continues to be vulnerable to accidental injuries, the pain of which he doesn’t feel and for which he does not seek treatment, leading to infection, gangrene, and amputation. This Damocles’ sword hangs over the heads of such patients all their life. These patients need medicare for such infection, ‘until death parteth them from the world’.

But to the Government these vulnerable patients are no longer patients. Any one who has had one full course of Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) is considered cured and removed from the register.

Unfortunately Mycobacterium-caused permanent disability has not removed them from its register!

As long as these 25% of vulnerable leprosy subjects are still in this planet, the Government Hospitals, and NGO Hospitals should continue to extend treatment for these people.

These ulcer-prone patients and new leprosy patients would have gone to these NGOs if they had continued to serve them. But they have ceased to be OR they are operating at a much lower key. There are exceptions but they are precious few.

The leprosy patients of the two districts of Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi fall back on St.Luke’s for treatment. But over the last five years the flow of money from leprosy relief agencies to St.Luke’s has gone down from 75% to 10% of the total budget. Even this ten percent will be tapered off to zero percent over the next few years.

St.Luke’s has to double/treble its efforts to be able to deliver leprosy service at the original level. We are badly in need of support from friends who understand the chasm between the Government claim and the ground reality.

The following citation was presented at the Graduation Ceremony:
“After completing his MBBS, Dr. Jeyabalan underwent 15 months of special training in the field of leprosy at SLR&TC, Karigiri and CMC Vellore. This was because he had chosen to serve the leprosy-affected people of Peikulam in Thuthukudi district – an area hyper-endemic for leprosy. After his training, he joined the St.Luke’s Leprosarium at Peikulam in 1967 and has served there continuously for the past 35 years. During this period, the prevalence of leprosy has dropped from 300/10,000 to 3/10,000 in this area.

The leprosarium run by Dr.Jeyabalan has 260 inmates at present. It has always been his ambition to try and run the institution on local contributions rather than depend on foreign aid. He has had considerable success in this respect. At present, expenses for 265 days in a year come from local contributions and he hopes that by the end of 2003 the total expenses can be met in this manner.

Dr. Jeyabalan has also made significant contribution to community education and development. He has organized programmes to systematically cover all teacher training schools throughout Tirunelveli and Thuthukudi districts to improve the level of public
awareness on leprosy.

Dr. Jeyabalan has also shown keen interest in farming. He has encouraged farmers to adopt water saving and other profit yielding horticultural practices, and has established a model farm and nursery. He has also introduced new varieties of crops into the area that has revolutionized the economy of farmers in Thiruchendur and Sattankulam taluks.

His wife, Chandra Jeyabalan, is also a doctor and so are their 3 daughters. After retirement, Dr. Jeyabalan plans to start a hospital for AIDS affected people and a home for children orphaned due to AIDS.

Dr. Jeyabalan has eminently demonstrated his caring concern for people in need and has devoted his life to helping the disadvantaged and thereby transforming lives. His life has exemplified the motto of his alma mater – ‘Not to be ministered unto but to minister’. In recognition of his life long service and outstanding contribution, the Christian Medical College, Vellore is proud to bestow the Paul Harrison Award for the year 2002 upon one of its illustrious alumni – Dr.G.M. Jeyabalan.”