Dr. Norman Tunnel Hospital
By Barbara Clark
The Dr. Norman Tunnel Hospital in the town of Jowai serves 435 tribal villages throughout Shillong in northeastern India. It takes up to eight hours to reach the hospital for those living the farthest from Jowai. This hospital, owned by Khasi Jaintia Presbytery Assembly, is the prenatal and birthing center for the area. The hospital burned in 2000 and they are just now reconstructing the surgery unit and will have two surgical theaters up and running again by the first of December 2011. They have both out-patient and in-patient services for routine illnesses and offer basic surgeries, including laparoscopic work. Due to the air pollution from all of the trucks serving the coal mining industry in the area, doctors frequently diagnose tongue and esphogeal cancers, but are not equipped to offer cancer treatments. Patients with advanced heart problems are usually sent to larger hospitals in Shillong. Adjacent to the hospital is a nurse’s training school where at this time, all of the students are women. The Women’s Fellowship donated funds to the rebuilding effort to add a chapel to the grounds.
Barbara traveled to India in October 2011 with Presbyterian Women’s Global Exchange.
Invite the participant from your synod to your next event to share more insights from this life-changing trip.
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