FREE MEDICAL AID
In India the S.R.F. is known as the Y.S.S. (Yogoda Sat-Sanga) with headquarters at Ranchi. One of the important activities in connection with the school there is a very busy Medical Department. A regular percentage of the monthly support given by S.R.F. here to the Headquarters in India is allocated to this department. In addition, patrons in that vicinity have given much needed assistance, but the sums available are never sufficient for the work to be done, since the more successful the Medical Department becomes, the more faith needy patients have in its ability to help them. The annual report of the Y.S.S. Hospital Committee has just been received from its secretary, Sj. Sasi B. Bose Mullick. It states, in part:
"This institution of ours was started in 1938 to render medical aid and relief to the poor of the locality. I am glad to say that the institution has, since, been doing great service to the suffering public and earned great popularity among them.
" In the year 1944, 20,096 and 2,888 patients were treated with free medicines in the Allopathic and Homeopathic departments respectively. Out of 20,096 patients in the Allopathic Section, 9,131 were new patients and 10,965 were old patients. Out of the 9,131 new patients, 3,598 were patients of malaria.
"During these seven years, we have treated as many as 126,642 patients, averaging 18,092 patients per year or 1,508 per month. This is quite a proud record for an institution only seven years old, as ours is; especially considering many of its handicaps and limitations, chief of which are its resources and supply of medicines. That we could achieve so much speaks of the ability and sincere services of our attending physicians Dr. S. N. Pal, M. B., Dr. P. K. Bhattachargee, M. B., and Dr. Hamen Mukherjee, M. B., who have earned the sincere gratitude of all concerned with this institution; and I take this opportunity to thank them most cordially for their efficient voluntary services.
Appeal for Quinine
"Our difficulties are not few, but I would only enumerate here some of the chief ones for your consideration. As with every public institution, especially growing ones, ours too requires apt resources to meet its demands and maintain its efficiency. We badly suffer from paucity of funds, and feel the want of them all the more now, in these days of high costs of medicines and of living wages. We are, however, endeavoring our best to secure and maintain the same standard of medicines as before, with what resources we have. At present, we are immensely perturbed at the inadequacy of the supply of quinine and its substitutes, and appeal to all concerned for an adequate supply of the drugs needed to help the institution to meet its demands.
"In these years, we have been experiencing a great demand for an indoor department of this Charitable Hospital and have been convinced of its necessity. The present Yogoda Sat-Sanga Hospital Committee will, I believe, give full support to this proposed project for which we have already the plinth ready. To complete the building will require a further sum of Rs. 8,000/-.** This, when completed, will, I am sure, prove a boon to the suffering public.
** Less than $2700.
"A Homeopathic Charitable dispensary has been working at Lakhanpur in the district of Purulia, since last year, under Mr. Girindra Nath Dey, Secretary of the Y.S.S. there. This institution has now been incorporated with us."
The report ends with thanks to individual patrons of the work. Since many of our friends and readers are more interested in practical brotherhood than in theoretical brotherhood, and will be interested in this opportunity for service, we are arranging to forward any donations made. Any amount will be welcomed. Where else could a few dollars--or even one dollar --do so much to alleviate suffer-' ing? (And where else could some philanthropist build a hospital for $2700?) Donations should be sent in care of East-West, 3880 San Rafael Ave., Los Angeles 31. California, and should be clearly marked for Ranchi Medical Department.
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PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY
On the negative side, we find many so-called Christian organizations whose leaders and members openly practice racial discrimination, apparently unaware that their actions belie their professed principles. On the positive side are other groups of similar background which more nearly approach in practice the theories they teach. For instance, the Los Angeles Church Federation chooses its staff members - employed as clerks, social workers, etc.-from various racial and cultural groups. In addition to Anglo-Saxon and Negro Americans the staff now includes a Chickasaw Indian, a member of the Shoshone and Paiute tribes, a Mexican-American and two Japanese-Americans.
Dr. Farnham, the executive Secretary has stated, "The Church Federation stands by its Christian convictions, regardless of race. Our 40 employees, of various racial groups, get along famously together."