So, if Dr Monali Takawale from Noble hospital has to adjust her shifts to help patients at Sassoon hospital or even clean the wards, she does it. “Initially, we conducted a survey of the hospital and tried to understand the needs of patients. There are a lot of patients, from Baramati, Shirur and adjoining areas of Pune, who often spend most of their day figuring out how to reach certain wards or meet the concerned doctors.”
We have set up an information counter, says Sachin Manohar, assistant manager of the Satguru Shri Aniruddha Upasana Foundation, which has motivated its members to launch the ‘Sassoon Seva’ campaign. Last Sunday at least 200 volunteers swept Ward 29 and 30 while three months ago they had swept the campus.
“We work in shifts,” says Pushkar Brahme, an engineering student at Sinhagad Institute of Engineering. “It is not only Dr Aniruddh Bapu, who formed this foundation, who inspires us but also the youngsters and professionals who have come forward to be part of a social service. There is immense satisfaction in helping and trying to be of use to patients,”says Brahme.
The shifts are from 9 am to 1 pm and 1 pm to 5 pm. Volunteers chalk out a timetable amongst themselves and adjust their timings according to their turn for the ‘Sassoon Seva’. The coordinator of the project and the pramukh sevak of the foundation Pravin Sinh Wagh said that the volunteers often sit with the patient for a couple of hours and talk to them while the relative can take a break. Initially, the volunteers worked at the Yeravada central jail, mental hospital, Shivajinagar remand home and leprosy hospital in Kondhwa.
Dr Anand Malik, Dean, Sassoon hospital, said that a group of highly educated and qualified persons were motivated as part of the foundation activities to serve the patients. “They have been regularly cleaning the place and spending a lot of time with the patients,”Malik said.
URL: http://indianexpress.com/story/286112.html