The hospital, located in the middle of nowhere, captures one's eye. Niramay Hospital, a long-term dream of DPC, is the only state-of-the-art hospital for over 50 kilometers in Guhagar district.

Commissioned on November 15, 1999, the 50-bed community hospital examines an average of 200 patients daily. Built on an area of 40,000 square feet, the hospital is equipped with departments such as OPD, general medicine, surgery, obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics, neonatology, blood bank, ENT, dental care and ophthalmology. Talking to some of the patients here, one is told that having a doctor to attend to one is a luxury in this sleepy, rural area. "We have to trudge for miles to reach here," says Savitribai who was at the hospital for a persistent cough that refused to die down with home-made remedies. "At least after all the walking one does to get here, one is happy to see a doctor attending to us patients."

Sanjeev Khandekar, senior vice-president, DPC, says the hospital offers the best facilities in a rural setting. Avers Utkrant Kurlekar, medical director, Niramay Hospital: "At Niramay, a synthesis of latest medical technology adapted to local needs is a clear focus. Most of the doctors have received training abroad and are conversant with the use of relatively recent medical procedures like video endoscopy and laproscopic surgery. Sophisticated medical equipment are also part of the hospital's infrastructure."

The hospital has two operation theatres, an intensive care unit, a neo-natal intensive care unit and a labour room. A third operation theatre is on the ground floor to treat emergency cases. An in-house pharmacy aids patients to get medicines easily within the premises. These are luxuries for the rural populace who often lose their lives for the want of a doctor for complaints such as bites from snakes and scorpions to tuberculosis.

Kurlekar claims that the hospital is geared to tackle almost any medical emergency. Extra care has also been taken to control the spread of infection. "Niramay has a sterile air-circulating unit, a device that is uncommon in most rural hospitals. This system filters and purifies the air sucked in by the air-conditioners in the operation theatre and also maintains desired temperature levels. An effluent treatment and disposal system ensures the safe disposal of biomedical waste."

The hospital has a para-medical team and a medical team which has initiated a `Gram Arogya Sabha' scheme, in which the team visits surrounding villages and explains how the community can benefit from the facilities at the hospital. DPC's Hospital-On-Wheels, which completed four years, is a mobile dispensary team which visits eight villages twice a week. It also organises various medical camps to inculcate an awareness of health and hygiene.

Khandekar says that on completion of the hospital, the company had the option of handing it over to the government. However, it decided to take on this responsibility to ensure that superior health care reached the community. Accordingly, the Dabhol Power Charitable Trust was formed with doctors Tehemton Udwadia and Milind Gokhale, and Khandekar as the managing trustee and Vinay Natu, in-charge of the advisory committee. DPC has handed over the day-to-day management of the hospital to the Jnana Prabhodhini Medical Trust, which runs the 100-bed Sanjeevan Hospital in Pune.

DPC's other project is a greenhouse project, which was conceived by Khandekar as an extension of its horticultural initiatives. In the Konkan region, farming has traditionally been a seasonal activity, restricted mainly to paddy cultivation during the monsoons. The nitrogen starved red, porous soil cannot hold water. Hence, the land lies unused for the rest of the year forcing youth to migrate to cities in search of better opportunities.

Khandekar explains that to encourage agriculture as a perennial rather than a seasonal occupation, DPC's agricultural team began demonstrations of the use of alternative farming techniques. These included vegetable inter-cropping, new methods of mango plantation and the use of `mulching' (use of dried grass and other natural waste to cover the root canopy) for conservation of water and labour. "Our efforts have been much appreciated so much so that various mahila mandals, students from Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, various schools, zilla parishad members have visited DPC's demonstration plots to study how such techniques can be used to grow cash crops such as tomatoes, watermelons, chillies, cucumbers and pumpkins. These methods not only result in optimal use of the land that lies vacant for most part of the year but also help sustain horticultural farming throughout the year," explains Khandekar.