Dashmesh Charitable hospital becomes lifeline for Doraha’s poor amid govt apathy

The Dashmesh Charitable Hospital has prevented the underprivileged in Doraha from being abandoned without care. The hospital caters to the medical needs of the town's people and the residents of 15 to 20 surrounding villages.

With the only government dispensary in the town shut down and the Community Health Centre awaiting inauguration for the past 3 years, this hospital serves as a true savior for thousands, who offer nothing but blessings in return.

The hospital was started as a dispensary in the 1997 by the former council chief Inderjit Singh Kala. It was then steadily extended from a one room facility to two and then three. As the number of patients increased by the day, Kala had to build a two-storey building to cater to the influx.

Jandeep Kaushal, a social worker, shared, “Patients belonging to the low-income group can get the care they need. The subsidised services provided by this hospital is in every way sufficient to get complete medical care under one roof.”

The dispensary has now grown to be a 25-bedded hospital and is providing specialised healthcare services, including, orthopaedics, gynaecology, dental care, eye care, physiotherapy etc. The facility also offers X ray, ECG and surgery services. It has played a vital role in improving health outreach to the needy.

This hospital seems to mock the negligible medical facilities offered by subsequent governments in the town. Founder of the hospital Kala says that the facility is entirely dedicated to the cause of the poor. “The rich can afford to procure any and every sort of treatment, it is the needy who are forced to suffer. The government couldn’t care less for the poor. So, someone has to come to their rescue. The hospital carries out 40 to 50 major surgeries in a month and provides medical care to approximately 150 to 200 poor patients daily. We record 400 OPD’s a day sometimes. The thing which drives me from within is that had it not been for this serving spot, the disadvantaged would have been left in the lurch,” he added.