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EFI NEWS PRESS RELEASE 805/92, Deepali Building, Nehru Place, New Delhi – 110 019, India Phone: +91 011 26431133; 26423726
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NUNS REMOVED FROM LEPROSY HOSPITAL
The Evangelical Fellowship of India expresses outrage at the Gujarat’s Government decision to terminate the contract of five Catholic nuns belonging to Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate in spite of their faithful service to the patients in the city’s government leprosy hospital for over 57 years on the grounds that they were preaching Christianity to the patients. The decision has been opposed by patients. Many of the sick people said they will follow the sisters wherever they go. “They are everything for us,” Babban Sitapur. “Not even our family members take such care of us.” (Asianews) Chinga Powar came from a government hospital in neighbouring Maharashtra. In that hospital, he said, doctors would “not even come near us. The nurses would give out tablets in a plastic bag tied to a stick. The toilets were never cleaned, because lepers used it. We were treated worse than animals.” Eventually someone told him about the Ahmedabad hospital. “I didn’t know the place, but I knew it was managed by Christian nuns, which was enough inspiration to come here,” he continued. One night he left the Maharashtra hospital. He covered all his wounds, used a shawl to hide his face and rode in the back of a bus to Ahmedabad. He later helped two other patients from the hospital in Maharashtra to come to Ahmedabad. (Asianews) It is clear that ‘conversion’ is merely being used as ploy to carry out the Gujarat governments agenda to hamper the Christian community’s service in public space. It is deeply regretted that the Gujarat Government in stead of recognising the Nuns’ tireless service to leprosy patients has used the state machinery to disrupt and stop their work with total disregard of the consequences for the leprosy patients. Suggested action: The EFI is deeply concerned about this case and requests your immediate intervention.
Rev. Richard Howell Prime Minister’s Office Hon’ble Dr. Manmohan Singh Office Address Room No. 152, South Block, New Delhi – 110001, India Phone: +91-11-23012312 Fax: +91-11-23016857
Chief Minister of Gujarat Minister for Health Health and Family Welfare Department |
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