MediCare Ethics of modern medicine
The 4th International Symposium on Cardiology, which took place in Puttaparthi, India, in September 2005, was attended by participants from India, U.K., U.S.A., Germany, France, Israel, Sweden, Austria and other countries. They discussed the significant improvements in the way we run hospitals and health care, as it is demonstrated by Sathya Sai Baba’s two Super Speciality Hospitals in Puttaparthi and Bangalore. According to Sri Sathya Sai Baba, education, clean drinking water and medical health care should be completely free for all, irrespective of caste, creed, colour, religion and country of origin. With respect to highly specialised medical care, the treatment of diseases such as heart surgery, brain surgery, advanced spinal surgery or kidney surgery has become quite costly, and in countries where the government offers free medical care, like in most of Western Europe, the resources seem to run short of the demands and the result is often long waiting lists or that the more affluent patients choose an alternative, costly treatment at private hospitals.	Even the structural design of the hospitals reflects this caring philosophy. They are not laid out like high silo plants, but rather as low buildings in contact with the environment, representing an openness that seems to embrace the patients. Doctors and nurses at Sathya Sai Baba’s hospitals follow the human values of love in speech and action, as well as love in feelings, i.e. equanimity, inner harmony and peace. The consummation of this is the principle of non-violence, where the patients are seen as divine beings and sparks of the very same love that also constitutes the true identity of the doctors and nurses. This highly spiritual philosophy, taught by Sri Sathya Sai Baba, is also the guiding principle for the many volunteers who take turns at the hospitals and contribute to the smooth running of a complicated, modern super speciality hospital.
As high-technology diagnosis and treatment have evolved it has become possible to treat diseases that were incurable decades ago. In this context the costs have increased many fold. The increase in technology, the growing demand for highly specialised personnel and the corresponding high costs just seem to continue. However, along with perfection in technology and specialisation the skills are perfected but the ethical aspects in terms of a caring involvement between professionals and patients have suffered. This is why the Sathya Sai Health mission is so important. This mission is based on a spiritual philosophy where love and care is the undercurrent of a set of human values governing all activities at Sathya Sai Baba’s two model hospitals. In Western medical research it is a well known fact that when the interaction between the professionals and the patients are based on a caring, human involvement the healing process is significantly enhanced. This relation is truly reflected in the results achieved at the Super Speciality Hospitals.	The spiritual atmosphere and the rewarding experience of working there draws highly skilled doctors and other medical staff, as well as other volunteers, to the Super Speciality Hospitals and the statistics of the results achieved clearly speak for a unique approach to health care that deserves to be emulated. May the experience of the participants at the Symposium serve as beacons that will inspire the beginning of such a much needed development in our technically advanced hospitals around the globe. Thorbjoern Meyer, PhD. Chairman Zones 6 & 7 of the Sri Sathya Sai Organizations (Europe) Chairman ESSE Institute and ESSE Academy Associate Professor at the CBS (deemed University) in Copenhagen and Head of the Research Centre for Organization and Development Based on Human Values and Dialogue (ret.)*
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Sri Sathya Sai Baba's hospitals in Puttaparthi and Whitefield : Providing the best diagnostic and therapeutic facilities of modern high-technology medicine for the underprivileged sections of society.