President inaugurates hospital block in Vrindavan, hails Ramakrishna Mission

President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated a 300-bed block of a hospital run by the Ramakrishna Mission in Vrindavan on Thursday and compared the organisation's work to that done by Lord Krishna. The President, while dedicating the 'Sharda Block' of the Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama Charitable Hospital to cancer patients, also said the Mission was established with the objective of 'Nar seva hi Narayan seva hai', meaning serving people is serving God.

"Lord Krishna chose Vrindavan to save the masses from demons. In the same way, Ramakrishna Mission also set up the hospital to serve the poor patients of chronic pain," Kovind said. He praised the hospital, saying it has been selflessly serving the needy for the last 112 years.

The President noted that during the past one year, around 5.5 lakh patients received treatment at the hospital. He said many new facilities, including cancer ward and cancer operation theatre, women's surgical ward and neonatal intensive care unit have been started at the hospital. Kovind recalled his visit to the hospital in 2017 when he was the Governor of Bihar.

"I am pleased to learn that the cath lab that I inaugurated in April, 2017 has provided treatment to 322 cardiac patients in the last one year," the President said. He said it is a matter of pride for him to witness the extension of the facility which was once visited by great personalities such as Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and S Radhakrishnan.

The President also visited the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan. He was accompanied by his wife Savita Kovind and daughter Swati besides Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Mathura-Vrindavan Municipal Commissioner Ravindra Kumar Mandar said police personnel were deployed at the surrounding buildings to deal with the monkey menace there. The forest department had also brought four 'langurs' to keep them at bay, Mandar said.

Kovind also visited NGO Akshaya Patra's kitchen in Vrindavan and served meals to 32 schoolchildren of government schools. He was joined by Governor Patel, CM Adityanath, Akshaya Patra Foundation Chairman Madhu Pandit Dasa and others.

"I had never thought a President would serve food to me," said Manisha Kumari, a class 8 student of Junior High School, Bati. "It felt very good," said class 6 student Yuvraj, who was also served food by the dignitaries.

Uttar Pradesh Minister for Dairying and Animal Husbandry Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, Power Minister Shrikant Sharma, Basic Education Minister Satish Dwivedi were also present on the occasion.

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