Born to an impoverished family during the Bengal Famine, Subhashini Mistry was one amongst 14 children her parents had to feed. By the age of 12, she was married off to Chandra, an agricultural worker. They were poor and struggled to make ends meet. Her misfortune struck harder in 1971, where her husband started feeling a pain in his abdomen and was rushed to the hospital. Even though the Government hospital was mandated to provide free service to the unfortunate, the patients always needed either money or influence to gain treatment. Death ended her husband’s torment.
She was left in shock and fright as her husband was the sole breadwinner of the family. She had 4 hungry mouths to feed. The passing of her husband gave rise to her dream of building a hospital that would treat the poor. She made an oath to herself that no one should suffer the way she did.
Subhashini started her journey towards building the facility by taking up all sorts of jobs from cleaning houses to polishing roofs. Her son Ajoy was a good student so she sent him to an orphanage to continue his education while her other three children helped her with work. Eventually, she started picking up vegetables that were growing across the streets and would sell them in Dhapa Village. She eventually moved to Dhapa Village earning 5 rupees a day with her children and then took the next big step and moved to Park Circus, Kolkata. She would save the money she earned whether it was Rs 50 or Rs 200. She slogged and saved for 20 years.
In 1992, she took the first step towards Humanity hospital and bought an acre of land in her husband’s hometown. With the help of the villagers who contributed to labour, raw materials and donated money she was able to set up a hut with basic amenities for healthcare. Her son, Ajoy tried to meet with a member of the parliament but to no avail. This did not stop Ajoy, he continued to push and eventually, he met the then member of parliament who was unconvinced at the time but on seeing the work done by Subhashini went out of her way to help the facility. When the foundation stone was being laid, not a single media house was present. But at the inauguration with the influence and word of the parliament member, they managed to invite the governor who accepted and brought in many media houses who showcased the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The trickle-down effect had begun and the Humanity Hospital started seeing a lot of patients. Ajoy graduated from Kolkata Medical College and currently looks after the affairs of the Humanity Hospital. The Humanity Hospital stands by its oath of looking after the poorest of people for free. Subhashini believes her mission will be unfulfilled until the hospital is a full-fledged 24-hour facility.
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