The year was 1971, Dr.G.M.Jeyabalan, the new Medical Superintendent has just taken over from Dr.Vedabodakam. One day, he was examining a 25 year-old woman suffering from lepromatous leprosy \u2013 the infectious type of leprosy with complications, which warranted hospitalization.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to admit you as inpatients\u201d said Dr.Jeyabalan.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will have to stay in the ward for about 3 \u2013 4 months. We will treat you intensively and send you back home as soon as we can\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u201d, the woman refused, \u201cI cannot become an inpatient\u201d.<\/p>\n
The refusal perplexed Dr.Jeyabalan for, many patients come with recommendation letters and fall at his feet, and beg for admission as inpatient!<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do you refuse?\u201d Are you afraid of the treatment-cost? asked Dr.Jeyabalan.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is free\u201d he reassured her.<\/p>\n
Without replying the Doctor, the patient stood up and pushed aside the curtain screening the Doctor\u2019s Consultation room.<\/p>\n
There stood five of her children, aged 10, 9, 8, 7 and 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I get into the ward as an inpatient, who will look after these children?\u201d she demanded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWon\u2019t your husband, the children\u2019s father look after them?\u201d Dr.Jeyabalan gently asked her.<\/p>\n
Tears streamed down her cheeks, she sobbed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day, my husband discovered that I am a \u2018leper\u2019 he deserted me \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
Dr.Jeyabalan was stunned. The Leprosarium had barely enough money for the hospitalization and treatment of inpatients free \u2013 Surely it didn\u2019t have the extra resources to shelter five children on account of one patient.<\/p>\n
\u2018What can happen next?\u2019 Dr.Jeyabalan, made a calculation in his clinical mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll 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 \u2013 Why, some of them might catch the infection from the mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey 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\u201d.<\/p>\n
Thus was born the home for healthy children.<\/p>\n
Today, it has about 200 children. 150 of them have regular sponsors. Thanks to Compassion International.<\/p>\n
Thanks to Dr.Gerhard Fischer of Germany, German ambassador \u2013 turned Social Worker who gifted two buildings, one for the boys \u2013 Fischer\u2019s Boys Home 1995 and the other for the girls \u2013 Ann Fischer\u2019s Girls Home 2005.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But fifty children don\u2019t have permanent sponsors. However, they have temporary sponsors. Thanks to a British couple who would like to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n
Needed are fifty permanent sponsors gifting endowment of EURO 2000 each.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The year was 1971, Dr.G.M.Jeyabalan, the new Medical Superintendent has just taken over from Dr.Vedabodakam. One day, he was examining a 25 year-old woman suffering from lepromatous leprosy \u2013 the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neemtreetrust.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neemtreetrust.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neemtreetrust.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neemtreetrust.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neemtreetrust.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neemtreetrust.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neemtreetrust.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neemtreetrust.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neemtreetrust.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}