 The Art of Living Foundation has announced a partnership with Montreal-based Freedom from Poverty Foundation (FFPF) to construct and maintain a multi-specialty charitable hospital in Ayodhya, India. This partnership is the first of its kind for Western-medicine-based FFPF, enabling the hospital with holistic approach to medicine through His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s teachings of yoga and meditation.
The Ram Janaki Charitable Hospital, which is projected to serve 15,000 patients per year once completed, will now have facilities for yoga and meditation, which are an often overlooked method in treating diseases. “This is a unique opportunity for our foundation”, says Dr. S. D. Dwivedi, Treasurer of the Freedom From Poverty Foundation and Chief of Department of Anesthesia at Santa Cabrini Hospital in Montreal. “Conditions such as hypertension and diabetes are not well treated in India – medications are expensive and simply out of reach for the villagers in rural Ayoydha. His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and his staff teach an approach rooted in yoga and meditation. This gives the villagers a first line of defense at prevention which doesn’t cost them anything.”
With a population of over 6 million people in the surrounding area and an available bed ratio of 1 per 3250,access to proper healthcare facilities is sorely lacking.The infant mortality rate is over 85 per 100,000,which is 3 times worse than in other Indian states and over 10 times worse than developed countries.
The Freedom From Poverty Foundation was established in Montreal, Quebec in 1993 working to help the needy in the State of Uttar Pradesh since 1998. Their mission is to improve the quality of life for the impoverished people of Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorest states in India, by providing access to education and healthcare to the less fortunate to help them break out of the cycle of poverty. The Marcelle & Jean Coutu Foundation has been one of the main benefactors to the FFPF. Now, with the aid of the Art of Living Foundation, their goal is one step closer to realization.
Above in Picture: FFPF Board of Directors with H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. From left to right: Ms. Nan Panesar-director, Ms.Arpita Chatterjee-representative on our Board of the Indo Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Dr.Shivendra Dwivedi-Treasurer, H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Mr.Ravi Chhabra-director, Dr.Dushyant Sahai-Director (Members of FFPF Board missing from picture: Mr.Vinod Dargan-secretary, Dr.Tryambkeshwar Dwivedi -President)
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