Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Child Heart Centre, Nava Raipur, a specialty pediatric cardiac care center, has become India’s first charitable super-specialty hospital to bag a Guinness world record. This feat was achieved on its 10th anniversary on November 20 when 2,000 children whom the hospital had saved from certain death assembled and lit lamps to mark the occasion. “These children, all from very poor families, had congenital heart issues and needed cardiac surgeries. Our hospital was their only hope. All treatment, including complex surgeries we perform, are completely free of charge. On our 10th anniversary, parents of many children who we had treated wanted to come together to express their gratitude. So, 2,000 children lit lamps on the occasion. It became a Guinness world record”, explains Dr. C Sreenivas, Chairman, of Sri Sathya Sai Health and Education Trust, manages the hospital.
The joy of receiving a gift of life wasn’t restricted to just the children on that day. Representatives from the Army, paramilitary forces, State police, NCC, schools and nursing colleges in the State, and some NGOs joined in the celebrations. “Nowhere in the world have patients come back to a hospital where they sought treatment to celebrate an occasion that facility is observing. I view this as a prayer for the well-being of children in the world. The lighting of lamps witnessed here was more than just a feat. It symbolized the power of love. It was a recognition of the selfless service rendered by the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital”, Dr. Sreenivas said.
Incidentally, this facility also became the first centre in Chhattisgarh and only the seventh in India to be notified to perform heart transplants and graft tissues from cadaveric hearts for homograft banks under the Transplantation of Human Organ Act, 1994.
The hospital has state-of-the-art technology and performs complex surgeries free of charge irrespective of caste or creed. The Sri Sathya Sai Health and Education Trust has two more Sai Sanjeevani hospitals – in Palwal and Navi Mumbai – that together have performed over 23,000 life-saving cardiac procedures so far.