Can you believe this?
Robert McCulloch
St Elizabeth's Hospital is owned by the Catholic diocese of Hyderabad, Pakistan and is run on its behalf by the Medical Board of the diocese. It was established in 1958 and initially staffed by personnel from the Netherlands. Since 1975 it has been staffed by Pakistani personnel although three Holy Family sisters from Sri Lanka supervise the nursing and oversee the School of Midwifery which is attached to the hospital.
Guided by its mission statement to be at the service of the sick who are poor and marginalised, the hospital is a non-profit institution. It has to depend on friends and sources outside the hospital to break even and to upgrade its facilities. The diocese of Hyderabad supports the hospital by providing some personnel.
The hospital has a 75 bed capacity. It provides medical care in Hyderabad and nearby Kotri, but also to the tribal people of interior Sindh especially from Badin, Matli and Nagar Parkar, irrespective of caste or creed. It is a general hospital, offering surgical and curative medical care. In continuing response to the alarming statistics concerning maternal and infant mortality in interior Sindh, the hospital specialises in maternity and neonatal care.
According to current UNICEF statistics, only 23% of all Pakistani women have the help of a trained assistant during childbirth. The hospital has its own X-ray department, laboratory facilities and pharmacy, and the hospital administration has sought to provide up-to-date diagnostic equipment.
The hospital seeks to offer the best possible medical care for those in need at the lowest possible cost. Many of the patients are treated free of cost or with major concessions. The costs are kept low so that the poor and marginalised can avail of the best possible medical care which is often denied them in other profit-oriented medical institutions.
Hospital charges for the general ward are AUD$1.20 per day which includes meals, but many patients are unable to pay this amount. No patient in need has ever been turned away from St Elizabeth's. A major strain on the hospital's financial situation is providing prescribed medication free of cost to patients in need.
The hospital has an outreach programme through its mobile Mother and Child services, School Health Service, infant and child immunisation programme in collaboration with the Department of Health and through its active facilitation and participation in the TB prevention and treatment programme in Hyderabad, Badin and Matli. Plans are underway to commence a palliative home care service for the terminally ill in Hyderabad. This will be the first such programme in Pakistan.
The medical staff at St Elizabeth's is Christian, Hindu and Muslim. There is an increasing demand for surgical operations at St Elizabeth's which reflects the confidence which patients and their families have in the pre-operative, operative, and post-operative care that our medical and nursing staff give.
The hospital books, records, and accounts are audited annually both by the auditors of the diocese of Hyderabad and also by external auditors who prepare the annual financial report and statements which are submitted to the Department of Income and Excise.
All donations to St Elizabeth's are Australian tax-deductible through the Columban Overseas Fund for medical and educational programmes. If you would like to send a donation please forward it to the Columban Mission Centre with the designation "St Elizabeth's Hospital." All funds are guaranteed for the assistance of the hospital and its medical programmes. There are no "deductions" for administrative or fundraising expenses.
Note: Muslim Dr Ishral is in company with two Catholic men and is unattended by her husband or male members of her own family. She is not wearing a hijab(head covering). We ought to avoid stereotypes of Muslim habits and customs.
Fr Robert McCulloch has been a missionary in Pakistan since 1978.
