Boasting first-rate facilities, a large campus and a nursing school, the Seventh-day Adventist-owned Giffard Memorial Hospital in Andhra Pradesh, India has a significant Adventist presence in the local community of Nuzvid. Yet most of its 100 beds lie empty due to a lack of doctors.

This issue is what drew delegates from 10 Seventh-day Adventist churches in India this past May to the secluded mountain city of Shimla for an Adventist Health International-India (AHI-I) meeting.

Adventist Health International (AHI)—a management organization based in the United States on the campus of Loma Linda University in California—is committed to partnering with health care services in developing countries.

AHI has established a presence in India where 15 official languages and 845 dialects reflect a cultural kaleidoscope. Yet with India’s sprawling estimated population of a billion plus people, only about 35 Adventist physicians currently practice in the entire country. 

The conference provided a much-needed opportunity “to cement the structure of AHI-India and create momentum toward common goals,” said Dr. Richard Hart, president of Adventist Health International and chancellor of Loma Linda University.

“The world has changed around us so much, but our hospitals have changed so little,” added Dr. John Christo, medical director of Bangalore Adventist Hospital. “Now, by working with AHI’s professional management, we will be given a chance to develop our own Adventist specialists, our educational programs, and move our hospitals forward.”

The challenges that Adventist hospitals in India face are considerable but the conference delegates focused on the progress already made. Just a few short years ago, Bangalore Adventist Hospital clung to the outskirts of the information technology capital of India. Today the hospital is centrally located in a city with a population of 6 million.

With its 10 beds and two physicians, Thanjuvar Adventist Hospital is the newest and smallest hospital to join the AHI network.  Its staff is planning programs to promote eye-care camps and maternity health in surrounding rural areas.

“Organizing as a unified system under the AHI-India banner will not only give these hospitals new opportunities in acquiring technology, personnel, and developing medical and educational programs, but it will also turn some of the historical weaknesses of the organization of these hospitals into a strength,” commented Hart.

“Now, rather than operating alone and isolated from one another, these hospitals will be able to share resources, personnel, and training,” he added. “These hospitals will be able to act as a powerful and effective system…to provide health and education services from one end of the country to the other.”

The conference, hosted by Dr. G.R. Bazliel, president and CEO of Shimla Sanitarium and Hospital, included delegates from Aizawl, Pune, Bangalore, Ottapalam, Ranchi, Nuzvid, Ruby Nelson Memorial in Jalandhar, Thanjavur, and Hapur’s Milton Mattison Memorial Adventist Hospitals.