Niedfield, M. Frederic

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 32 | Number 3 Article 21August 1965Patna: A Medical MissionM. Frederic NiedfieldFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationNiedfield, M. Frederic (1965) "Patna: A Medical Mission," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 32 : No. 3 , Article 21.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol32/iss3/21S1sTER M. FREDERIC NrEDFIELD, S.C.M.M., ;\I The Patna Holy Family Hospital Jubilee began Christmas 1964 with the celebr1J.tion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the hospital and ends this October as its school of nursing marks its own silver jubilee. In an article in the Patna Jesuit summing up this year, Father Kevin Cleary, S.J. wrote: "The School of Nursing ... is a center radiating a most special influ­ence; the best of nursing traditions are passed on and spread to Cath­olic hospitals and Government hos­pitals all over India. These are the facts of 25 years of history." · From its very inception, Patna Holy Family Hospital, like its coun­terparts in 22 towns and cities in southeast Asia, Africa and South America, is geared to both patient care and teaching programs. During these 25 years, Patna H.F.H. has recorded 1 million pa­tients treated, 32,000 operations, 18,000 deliveries on the care side. On the teaching side of the balance are 246 graduates from its School of Nursing, 257 from the School of Midwifery, 21 compounders (junior pharmacists) and 20 doctors who have spent 1 to 3 years in a precep­torship type of residency program. The old hospital began in the heart of the bazaar with only 12 beds. Within 10 years it had in-270 creased to 120, anc;. present 200 bed cap:.. Kurji Holy Family Ganges at the oppm Kurji, at the west four hospitals, the under government F a town population ( million people plus outlying villages wit radius. ,1 up to the y of the new 1pital on the nd of town. :l., is one of ,thers being Jices, serving 1lmost half a ose from the 1 a forty mile The object of the :_ jety of Cath­olic Medical Missi uies* which owns and operates t hospital has always been to pro" , professional medical care in mir m lands, for the love of our Lo, The Society itself is only 15 yea!'"· ,)Ider than its Patna Hospital, and ·ms 45 sister· doctors of its own, .- ne with spe· cialty qualifications Patna is its first hospital in lndir and its second in Southeast Asia. In India, most of <1e lay doctors associated with our hospitals are Indian. However, DI" H. Purcell of St. Louis has just f: tished a four· year tour as chief of surgery at our Delhi Holy Family Hospital, and Dr. J. Reuss is presently on a 2 ye_ar tour as radiologist at Kurji. Dr. W�l­liam Caccamise, an ophthalmologist has already held four winter "eye camps" at Kurji and is planning a fifth for 1966. Judging by the past, next time he will sec at least 5000 LINACRE QUARTERLY out patients in the clinic, about 500 of whom will come to cataract surgery. The medical problems of Patna are similar to those in the United States, with a slightly different em­phasis, and with added tropical diseases. A very important part of the hospital service is the immuni­zation and health teaching program of its small public health division. Typhoid and amebiasis are like the common cold in frequency. TB, tetanus, cholera and small pox are almost daily problems most of the year. Cirrhosis, peptic ulcer, hyper­tension and diabetes remind one of any city hospital here. Most of the deliveries are done by nurse-midwives after prior screening by a woman doctor. Abdominal operations make up most of the general major surgery, gastro-duo­denal, biliary and bowel problems AUGUST, 1965 being common. Vaginal hysterecto­mies are about as frequent as ab­dominal because .of the many cases of massive prolapse. Cancer surgery is less common because so many of the patients still come in the terminal or pre-terminal stages. The work presents many chal­lenges and is probably not too dissimilar to that written of by Dr. Bain and his colleagues, even down to the joys and problems. *The Society of Catholic Medical Mission­aries is a religious congregation of women founded by Mother Anna Dengel, M.D. in 1925. Its American headquarters is located at 8400 Pine Road, Philadelphia, Pa. # 19111. The general headquarters is located at Piazza Cimone 3, Rome, Italy. Sister M. Frederic, author of the above, is a former Medical Director of the Patna Mission. 271 

Patna: A Medical Mission

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Patna: A Medical Mission

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