KAKINADA: A decade ago when Allavarapu Veera Venkata Satyanarayana’s father was admitted to the Kakinada government general hospital for accident treatment, he had the first-hand experience of how many face difficulties in getting proper medical care and support from the health staff.
After his father’s recovery and subsequent discharge from the hospital, Satyanarayana decided to look after orphans and destitute admitted at government hospitals. “I saw the pain my father was suffering from and neither me nor my mother could do much as we knew less about how it goes in hospitals. Then I realised that there are a few things that need change,” he said.
His father soon recovered and started working as an auto driver. Satyanarayana, however, could not forget the ordeal his father had to go through. With the permission of the hospital authorities, he started helping orphans and elderly patients at the isolation ward.
“Initially, I was the only one who helped people with no one to look after them. With some motivation, nine of my friends joined me gradually. They help me in dressing their wounds and even changing their bedsheet.” In 2019, the friends got themselves registered as a voluntary organisation ‘Badhyatha’ and set up an orphanage.