In 2014, Ashita, my wife, and I moved to the Chinchpada Christian Hospital in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra with our two small children. The hospital was on the verge of closure. We had so many concerns. How would we be able to turn around a small, defunct hospital steeped in debt, with barely any staff, no patients, no equipment in a severely resource-limited area?
The hospital had been established in 1942 to serve tribal communities in Navapur block of the district in the Western Khandesh region of Maharashtra. Started as a clinic run by a nurse in 1919, it became a full-fledged hospital in 1942. The hospital was managed by expats until 1976 when the Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) took it over to manage it with indigenous medical professionals. The hospital was the only healthcare provider in Chinchpada till the early 2000s until healthcare facilities were set up in nearby towns by the government and private players.