Annual General Meeting 2020
The Annual General Meeting this year will be a Zoom meeting at 2 o’clock on the afternoon of Thursday May 7th. If you would like an invitation to join the meeting please email request to info@friendsofludhiana.org.uk
Friends of Ludhiana Chairman’s Report April 2020
The Christian Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana celebrated its 125th anniversary in March 2019. There has been so much for which to thank God in those years since 1894 when Dame Edith Brown was so concerned about the medical care of females in the Punjab that she established a medical school for women in Ludhiana. God has blessed the institution even through difficult times and today it remains as a Beacon for Jesus in North India.
William Bhatti remains the Director of CMC supported by a very able Executive team. There are still tremendous financial struggles in the institution which in 2019 led to delayed payment of salaries and pensions and delays in payment for supplies. This is an area to which Friends of Ludhiana cannot contribute since our annual income of £31,000 is tiny when compared with the running costs of CMC [of the order of £20,000,000 per annum]. However, with the agreement of the Charity Commission we have continued to support the Good Samaritan Fund which helps to fund patients who are unable to pay for their in-patient treatment at CMC. In 2019 we transferred £10,000 for the Good Samaritan Fund. Since the beginning of 2020, with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, we transferred £28,500 to help fund the newly-established Covid ward at CMC. We also transferred a further £10,000 for the Good Samaritan Fund.
As most readers will know Reg Britt died in 2019. He was a long-standing Trustee of Friends of Ludhiana, a great supporter of the Pathology and Haematology Departments in Ludhiana and an inspiring colleague and friend. Donations were received at his funeral and earlier this year we transferred £2,900 to CMC for the purchase of an ‘Easy Sep’ magnet which separates plasma cells for myeloma treatment. We were planning to have a service of dedication for this device when I hoped to attend the Governing Body meetings in March 2020 but that was all overtaken by the Covid-19 pandemic.
During 2019 we have also seen the retirement of four Trustees from the Council of Management –Sunil Thomas [who was also the Vice Chairman], Tim Jenns, Diane Woosley and John Parry. All four have freely given of their time and experience to Friends of Ludhiana and we are very grateful to them. They have left for a variety of social and domestic reasons but I know that they will continue to support CMC and FoL in their thoughts and prayers. We are very conscious that the Council of Management of FoL is contracting and ageing! We now number six and our average age is in excess of 70yrs. We have hoped that some of the Alumni of CMC Ludhiana who are based in the UK might be willing to join us but so far no-one has come forward. It does call into question the continued existence of the charity and we would value you prayers about this.
I would like to sincerely thank my colleagues on the Council of Management for all their help and support – Peter Clark [Treasurer], Neil Watts [Company Secretary], Rosemary Tootle [who very ably handles the website and computerised communications], Ursula Hyde [whose encyclopaedic knowledge of folk with links to CMC is invaluable] and John Sumitra [who is still working but is able to speak from his personal experience in CMC in the past]. I would also like to thank our members around the country for their financial and their prayer support.
Dr Keith R Hine
Chairman, Friends of Ludhiana