Sargur!

Here you can see many people waiting to be seen in the main consultations (offices). In India, a physician has a room and patients are brought into see him/her by the nurses, rather than patients being put into rooms to be seen.
This is where patients buy their medications after they see the doctor. Meds are free for all tribal Indians - there are about 10 tribal communities in the area, which comprise about 40% of the patients seen at this hospital.
This is the hospital - finally arrived!!
Finally I've arrived! My luggage arrived yesterday at the Mysore airport and I collected it - all in one piece...amazing! I was apart of the celebrations at SVYM yesterday, which were for honoring Swami Vivekananda's birthday - he is the man whose principles this organization is based. I then was driven down to the hospital yesterday evening with Balu, who is one of the founders (along with my mentor at North Memorial Hospital, and the reason I know about SVYM) and quite an innovative and inspirational thinker. And I settled into my room, just in time for a 14 hour sleep!

Today I awoke and was given a tour of the hospital, then began seeing patients on the wards with one of the OB/gyn physicians who works here, then spent the rest of the day with the other. Today was quite exciting because there were protests outside the hospital because of a car crash that occurred yesterday involving one of the vehicles belonging to the hospital. I don't know the whole story, but the folks caused quite a commotion for a while and the hospital administrators, understandably, were working hard to come to an understanding with them.

I am happy to be here, while the adjusting to a whole new medical system can be frustrating at times. I learned a lot today about the Indian medical system, which I am sure will be the case everyday. Saturday is a holiday (harvest festival), and the children at the school have planned a celebration in the afternoon, which should be great.

More when I have the chance! I have wireless in one part of the hospital, which should be reliable for me to have internet. Thankful for that!