Against the background of 70% of Indians living in rural areas without access to high-end speciality care, and on an average 60% of healthcare expenses being out of pocket, thus pushing 6 million people below poverty line every year, the Sri Sathya Sai Sarla Memorial Hospital stands tall as a beacon of hope by offering free of cost speciality care to the rural and underprivileged sections of the society. The Hospital was dedicated to the service of the nation by Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka, Sri Basavaraj Bommai, along with Dr K Sudhakar – Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education - Government of Karnataka on 27 August 2021. The Sri Sathya Sai Sarla Memorial Hospital will be a 300-bedded medical facility and will grow in phases. In the first phase, the Hospital is being upgraded to a 150-bedded high dependency in-patient facility consisting of 125 HDU and oxygenated beds, and 25 ICU beds, with specially equipped paediatric and neonatal ICU facilities to be battle-ready, should there be a third wave of the COVID pandemic.
Construction of the Hospital commenced in 2015 under the guidance of Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai. On 14 January 2018, medical services commenced at the Sri Sathya Sai Sarla Memorial Hospital in memory of late Mrs Sarla Indulal Shah, an ardent devotee of Sri Sathya Sai Baba who dedicated her life for the service and upliftment of women and children.
The Hospital serves patients in various disciplines of General Medicine, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dentistry, ENT and Physiotherapy. Many voluntary caregivers extend their love and compassion by visiting the Hospital regularly to provide specialty services such as Orthopaedics, Podiatrics, Cardiology, Neurology, Dermatology, Plastic Surgery, Endocrinology, Radiology, and Community Medicine.
Through the Divine Mother and Child Health Program, the Community Medicine initiative, over 85,000 children from 600 Govt schools have been screened. As of August 2021, lives of about 16,000 expecting mothers have been touched and enhanced by improving vital parameters such as haemoglobin and calcium levels, controlling gestational diabetes and blood pressure, etc.
To reach out to a wider patient base, the Centre also conducts monthly medical camps, and takes healthcare to the villagers’ doorsteps and pays periodic visits to government schools in the vicinity. Since September 2020, the hospital has served over 17,000 children in the age group of 0 to 6 years for congenital heart disease screenings, from over 700 anganwadis across all the 6 taluks of Chikkaballapur district. During the pandemic lockdown, when patients were unable to come to the hospital for their regular check-up, medicines were systematically packed and delivered to their homes. Soon, the Sri Sathya Sai Sarla Memorial Hospital will grow into a teaching and training hospital, which will produce paramedics, nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, who are willing to dedicate their lives in the service of the sick and impoverished citizens of the nation. Expansion plans are already underway, and the ground-breaking ceremony for a new block – Sri Sathya Sai Rajeswari Memorial Block – adjoining the current hospital building was performed by the Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka, Sri Basavaraj Bommai, along with Dr K Sudhakar – Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education - Government of Karnataka on 27 August 2021.
‘vaidya sethu’ – tele-health services offers free consultations and prescriptions through a phone call. An Advanced Foetal Medicine Centre with integrated fellowship programme will also commence in the last quarter of 2021.
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