Author: Neeraj Mishra
Publication: India Today
Date: August 7, 2006
Introduction: A camp hospital-turned-education
village in Madhya Pradesh becomes one-stop learning destination
In a place like Bhopal, where infrastructure is in a shambles and where there
is no planning in the name of development, a state-of-the-art 150-acre campus
with a 750-bed hospital, two dental colleges, one medical college, one management
institute, one paramedical college and one school, is sure a novelty. The
brainchild of an NGO People's Group, this campus is a one-stop shop for all
the educational requirements of a child-from kindergarten to class 12 and
beyond.
"The idea is that as soon as a child
joins the People's Public School, his parents should stop worrying. Over the
next 20 years he is our responsibility as we provide him a school, college
and then perhaps a job at our hospital," says 62-year-old Suresh Vijayvargiya,
a Bhopal-based entrepreneur who set up this organisation in 1992 under his
trust Sarvajanik Jankalyan Parmarthik Nyas.
People's Group has come a long way since its
inception as a store-turned-camp hospital in 1991 to provide healthcare facilities
to the victims of the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots in Bhopal. Most of
the transformation took place in the past two years when Vijayvargiya went
to the US where he had worked earlier and had many contacts from whom to raise
finances for his dream project.
Today, apart from schools, colleges and hospitals,
those in the People's Group campus enjoy the facilities of a stadium, auditoriums,
a residential colony, a shopping complex, guest houses and hostels. The quiet
environment of the campus, about 10 km north west from the city, also inspires
students to study. Says Devika, 20, in her second year at the People's Group
Medical College, "The distance from the city and a self-sufficient campus
means we have no distractions."
And it is not just the buildings and the physical
infrastructure which the NGO worked on. It took care to remember that best
dreams would crumble if quality human input was ignored. So it went about
recruiting doctors and specialists from all over the country. "We have
thought of every last detail. From hiring specialists, teachers and civil
contractors to a work force of 5,300 people to making every household item
available in a thinly populated suburb," says A.K. Khurana, executive
director of the group.
If the ever-increasing crowd at the hospital is anything to go by, then the
venture is already a success. Most patients come from neighbouring areas and
swarm the hospital for its assured service and latest equipment. As for those
in the campus, there is hardly any reason to complain.
