A UNIQUE CREATION
Dr Michael Nobel on the Sri Sathya Sai Super Specialty Hospitals
Dr. Michael Nobel is the great grand nephew of Alfred Nobel who founded
the Nobel Prize. Dr. Nobel is also the Chairman of THE APPEAL OF NOBEL PEACE
LAUREATES FOUNDATION. Below are extracts from a TV interview he gave to an
Italian producer.
What is lacking in this high-tech, electronically orientated Western
Society is the synergistic aspect of Spirituality. By this I mean the effects
of the positive mind on the patient’s health. The patient’s belief system does
not enter into healthcare considerations in Western Europe, except of course
when it comes to psychiatric illnesses.
So I was very surprised, the first time that I visited the Hospital here,
to see the number of large photos displayed of Bhagavan Sai Baba, as most
Western hospitals might perhaps have one picture of the Head of State in the
reception room.
But I was informed that it was the patients who needed that, to provide
spiritual support and the assurance that Baba was present to lend His support
to the healing process. The psychological belief of the patient that a Higher
Being will help him get well is largely ignored in the West.
Over the last 20 years I have been to dozens and dozens of hospitals and
I work in a hospital and I know hospitals very well, but I have never seen
anything like this on Earth. Everyone is there to help you, it is a wonderful
feeling far removed from the national healthcare in the west which does not
seem to work very well.
I went to a hospital with my daughter in Sweden when she had a glass
splinter in her eye and we had to wait 5 hours in emergency before we were seen
- there were no doctors available. You can go to private healthcare but then
you have to pay. But here this free hospital is really a marvelous creation.
I think the whole structure and concept is absolutely marvelous. It is
not difficult to find the latest medical technology and the world’s hospitals
are filled with expensive and advanced medical technology. It is also easy to
find free hospitals.
But a combination of the two, of a super specialty, highly advanced state
of the art hospital that is free to the poor is a completely unique concept.
And if we add the idea of Sai Baba’s presence, the spirituality that His
presence in the form of photos or His actual presence lends to the Hospital, it
becomes a very unique creation.
Yes, I have been to Puttaparthi. I have visited most of Sai Baba’s
creations - the University, the Hospital that is there, the sports field, the
library and so on and they are all marvelous creations. It is unbelievable that
He has created this wondrous achievement based in a little village; it is
really very, very impressive. And the medical facilities are just as good as in
Whitefield - it is the same high quality and the same friendly staff.
So in summary, the impressive thing about the Hospital created by
Bhagawan Sri sathya Sai Baba in India is the combination of the three aspects:
state-of-the-art technology; free medical treatment and the healing powers of
His presence instilling in the patient the firm belief that he/she will get
well; this is something I believe Western healthcare would do very well to
consider.
Om Sai Ram
