Baliapal: One can be forgiven for mistaking Ghantua Primary Health Centre (PHC) for a park. The PHC’s pharmacist is the man who gave the hospital a pleasant look, considered good for both the body and mind.
Ratindra Narayan Parida’s profession is healthcare, but a desire to keep the hospital’s premises clean and green has energised him long before ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ was launched.
An ardent follower of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, Parida has groomed gardens all around the hospital with a stream, flowering plants, bushes and medicinal plants in them.
The one on the left side of the main entrance of the hospital is the cynosure of all eyes. It has around 50 varieties of flower plants with a verdant grass carpet and a stream in the middle.
The hospital, set up in 1991, was initially operating from a school. In 2000, one and a half acres was identified for it and the hospital building was built. It is three kilometres from Baliapal block.
Later an OPD, AAYUSH OPD, dressing room, store, laboratory, immunisation room, rainwater harvesting point, grey water recycling point and staff quarters were added.
Ratindra says greenery can sooth human minds. Patients get well faster if the hospital’s surroundings are clean and green. Researchers have confirmed the role of music, colour and greenery in healing minds and bodies.
“I always make a mental note to devote my leisure to gardens. I work like a gardener. I treat the plants and shrubs as my children. I feel happy seeing them branching out and flowering and feel sad seeing them wilting. However, I make sure none of the plants wilt due to lack of water and care,” he said.
The medicinal park coming up on the hospital’s premises houses a good variety of plants and shrubs like ‘Guduchi’, ‘Sada Bihari’, ‘Basanga’, ‘Amarpoi’, ‘Brahmi’, ‘Pippali’, Black Pepper, ‘Bhrungaraj’, ‘Hemsa Giri’, ‘Chireita’, ‘Patal Garuda’, ‘Bacha’, ‘Gandhali’, ‘Saparkechu’ and ‘Palua Gandhali’.
There is an orchard to the left of the hospital and it has mango, guava, orange, litchi, star fruit and grape vines. The kitchen garden merits a special mention.
“I am using only organic fertilizers to raise vegetables in my kitchen garden. I have planted egg plants, ivy guard plants, pointed guard plants, bitter guard plants, ladies finger plants and elephant yam plants,” he added.
Gardener Suryakant Badu has been appointed by the Rogi Kalyan Samiti to take care of the garden. Under the guidance of female health worker Bhanumati Behera, Class Four staffer Sambhunath Badu and Parida’s wife Jharana Parida are also taking care of the gardens.
The hospital has been operating without a doctor from 2009. It is Parida who attends to patients and after that he devotes time to keep the hospital surroundings beautiful and clean.
A believer in ‘simple living and high thinking’, Parida is also known for his generosity. He is never reluctant to help needy patients financially. His love for nature and generosity is coming in for appreciation from all quarters, including in-patients and out patients.
“If the CHC gets a permanent doctor it would have been helpful to patients,” Parida added.
PNN