By Matters India Reporter
Secunderabad: The Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI), one of the world’s largest healthcare organizations, has reached out to around 3 million people in the past year.
The association released its annual report at the recently concluded general body meeting. “During the financial year 2019-2020, CHAI has reached out to 2,929,231 people and 540,576 households through awareness activities,” said the association’s director general Father Mathew Abraham.
As many as 144,619 people were tested in the community and 21,163 were referred for medical care. As many as 39,173 patients were reached through health services through various programs and 3,727 patients were linked to various government schemes, added the Redemptorist priest.
As many as 130 CHAI member institutions, 53 NGOs partnered with CHAI in reaching out to these people.
Father Abraham said the partners have trained 1,236 local volunteers engaged in grassroots work. As many as 1,592 members underwent capacity building that helped hone the skills of the staff of CHAI and the partner organizations, besides sisters and various volunteers.
The annual report captures mostly the association’s donor-supported projects. It does not include various healthcare interventions by the CHAI’s 3,543 member institutions that range from primary to tertiary to medical education, Father Abraham explained.
CHAI has 11 regional units in India. Its members provide medical care to more than 21 million people in a year – with a team of 1,000 sister-doctors; 25,000 sister-nurses and more than 10,000 sister-paraprofessionals.
The association has around 40,000 nuns and priests, who are social workers, and hundreds of lay employees.
The association was founded in 1943 by Sister Mary Glowrey, an Australian member of the Congregation of the Society of Jesus Mary Joseph,. In the 78 years, it has grown as one of the world’s largest health care organization in the voluntary sector.
Sister Glowery came to Guntur, a town in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, in 1920. She founded the Catholic Hospital Association of India with 15 sisters to provide curative care to people, especially to the poor, women and children. The name was later changed to Catholic Health Association of India.
Sister Glowrey, who died in Bangalore from cancer on May 5, 1957, at 69 years of age, is a Servant of God, the first stage in the canonization process.
Nuns managed CHAI in the first 14 years. As the association grew in strength, its vision got broadened. Promoting community health, it began to see health as a basic human right.
A message from CHAI president, accompanying the report, commends the association’s family for its commitment to render “selfless service” through its vast network, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
According to Jesus, Mary and Joseph Sister Victoria Narichitti, the Coronavirus outbreak and lockdown have caused fear and anxiety among the association members.
“However, at the same time it evoked positive and brave responses. The current situation is still difficult, but we are confident that we can win the battle, as long as we stand in solidarity with one another,” Sister Narichitti said.
The crisis, she added, also revealed “our vulnerability, interdependence and connectedness, forcing us to figure out a new normal for the feature.”
She acknowledges that making quality and affordable medical services available to the poor continues to be difficult. “This difficulty is bound to continue because of covid-19,” she explained and added the member will continue to provide affordable, accessible, compassionate quality care to individuals and families.
She also noted that the CHAI network has launched Common Procurement Portal, Medigate, CHAI Academy and the Helpdesk during the past year. The main stress during the year was to main quality of services of the member institutions, she added.