Mastichak
/I thought i would take a break from the Zanskar posts to write about recent weekend travel to Mastichak, Bihar. More specifically Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital.
Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital
I heard about this hospital and the work that they were doing from our company Charted Accountant Himanshu Asher, who has been helping them for many years. He approached me to see if i could consult for them as they were undertaking a tech infrastructure upgrade and were really in need of some advice.
So looking as i had a weekend available, we (Vasu and I) decided to head out on our first ever trip to Bihar !!
Flying into Patna was no easy feat from Mumbai, there is just the one direct flight that was not at the time we wanted so we had to take a flight via Delhi. The journey to Patna was about 3.5 hours of flying time, once you add in all the waiting and traveling to the airport we must have spent a good 5 hours of our life just getting there.
Leaving Mumbai
The Patna airport was not what i was expecting, it was a small little airport with the terminal building fairly old and decrepit. We did not have a bus to ferret us from the plane to the terminal, instead we all enjoyed a little walk on the runway till we got to the terminal building. Thankfully we did not have any check in luggage, which meant we walked straight on through to the exit. Promptly waiting at the exit was our ever smiling driver 'Laxman Jee' .
Mastichak is a little village about 2 hours from Patna, which meant we needed to head there immediately if we wanted to make it there before dark. From what little i saw of Patna it looked like any other city with long traffic jams and endless road rage.
The drive to hospital was fun, it took us about 3 hours to get there, out of which we had some semblance of a road for just about half of it. The remainder was just potholes garnished with a little road. The video best describes this. (Listen with audio for the complete effect, the local radio stations really added to the amusement).
After 3 hours on the road we finally made it to the hospital. The hospital is surrounded by fields and that adds to the remoteness of its location. Mastichak has yet to get state provided electricity so the hospital runs 24/7 on diesel generators. By night you do not see any electric lights for about a 20 km radius. The hospital is the only building for miles and the only one with electricity.
The Hospital
Miraculously this area does have cellphone coverage, but no 3G. The best you can do is 2G/EDGE speeds for internet connectivity. In fact the hospital runs most of its online operations on a little 2G USB dongle, which means some of there data processing takes upto 15 minutes to complete per patient. These were just some of the challenges that they were dealing with.
We reached the hospital by 5pm and after getting settled in we spent the next couple of hours getting a really in depth tour of the premises and how it ran. We also met the head of the facility Mr. Mritunjay Tiwary. Mr Tiwary and his crew have done an amazing job over the years to keep the hospital going and growing. The hospital when it first started, was located in a Temple (they shared the space). Eventually as it began to pick up they built their first independent building. Right now they have 2 additional buildings and are planning a third.
Below are a few snapshots of the hospital
The next morning after a hearty breakfast we went to visit the Temple where it all began and also stopped over at the local school to take a few photos. Its pretty remarkable how much you miss open spaces and the green country side. Staying in a city like Bombay its rare to see any open spaces or vegetation. Having this quick weekend getaway was much needed, even though we were just there for one night.
A critical part of my trip to the hospital was to evaluate the existing technical infrastructure and get a sense of what they are trying to achieve with a large technical infrastructure upgrade. I spent the remainder of the morning trying talking to the various people about the technical challenges and writing up notes.
Following a quick lunch we packed up and began our long journey home. We left Mastichak at 2pm and reached home at 1am. Was a long and totally worthwhile trip.