This year’s seva report presents two unique seva initiatives in health care. These seva initiatives portray how our alumni, inspired by Swami’s life, collaborate with the society and leverage their expertise to provide care and comfort to the patients looking for support.

Sri Sathya Sai Palliative Care Centre, Puttaparthi

For the first time in the state of Andhra Pradesh, a Palliative care centre has been established to provide patient-centred care rather than an ailment-centred treatment to patients, including terminally ill patients. In line with Swami’s philosophy, the centre provides services with no cost to the patients.

The centre is initiated by the United Care Development Services (a non-Profit company founded by alumni) in collaboration with Palliative Care Society, Hyderabad. It was opened in July 2022 as a 10 bed facility. Shri Ratnakar, Managing Trustee of SSSCT graciously inaugurated the facility. The project is supported by the Local Administration (i.e. Collector, Sri Sathya Sai District and Department of Health – Govt of AP). It should be noted that Sri Sathya Sai district has more than 450 villages and a population close to 2 million Situated near the ashram, the facility has 11 full time staff, including a doctor and 5 nurses. Additionally, there is a counsellor and physiotherapist who provide their voluntary services to the centre. The centre is providing care to patients suffering from cancer and has provided cremation services as well. Sixty admissions have happened so far. The centre also has a home care van facility which caters to 5-6 patients across the district daily with about 200 patients registered.

The global estimate is that only 14% of the patients requiring Palliative care actually receive it. The estimated population of patients requiring Palliative care in India is 6 million. Due to lack of Palliative care, patients receive aggressive and expensive medical treatment forcing patients to leave hospitals against medical advice. The aim of home-based Palliative care is to promote and restore a person’s maximum level of comfort and health including care towards a dignified death. The centre takes into account value systems including religion and culture of the patients along with giving respect to patients’ right to privacy and dignity.

The centre provides opportunities for community volunteers including alumni and their families to be part of the initiative through physical and remote seva opportunities. For service opportunities, please reach out to:
Brother Gunaranjan ([email protected]) or
Brother Sridhar (Ph: 0091 – 9491130211)

Hospital Helpline Call

This service was started in Dec 2020 as part of Premabandam seva activities and has successfully completed two years. As part of this service, alumni families and devotees respond to calls of patients calling to both Super Speciality hospitals’ dedicated helpline for setting up the appointment. The average number of calls per day is currently 1000. Around 400-500 volunteers are trained to manage this helpline. The calls are backed up on cloud and can be played back for reference. The service also includes missed call seva i.e., if the patients’ call have been missed during the working hours, they will receive a call back to cater to their needs and provide the information they had sought. There is also a quality control team based overseas given overseas volunteers cannot take voice calls. The performance review of the seva is regularly done by the hospital director and a team of managers which includes alumni brothers. The seva is delighting the patients coming from far off regions to get the healthcare services from Bhagawan.

Alumni looking to get involved in this seva can reach out to:
Brother Venkatadesikan (Ph: 0091 – 9632422311) or
Brother G Manoj (Ph: 0091 – 8073292851)