Surgery in Ancient India
In ancient India, medicine had acquired the highest degree of proficiency. Indian medicine (Ayurveda) dealt with the subject in totality. It described the structure of the body, its organs, its ligaments, muscles, vessels and tissues. Ancient Hindus excelled in surgery too. The ancient medical man most mentioned is the great Dhanawantri. Sushruta, Charaka and others down the line were bold and skilful in their surgery. They conducted amputations, arrested bleedings by pressure, bandage or boiling oil, performed operations in the abdomen and uterus, curved hernia, fistula and piles, set broken bones and dislocations and could deftly remove foreign substances from the body.
The great surgeon Sushruta is said to have advised dissection of dead bodies to a student of surgery and stressed the importance of knowledge gained from experiment and observation. The ancient medical men of India were the first to establish hospitals and for the centuries, they were the only ones to maintain them. Speaking about a hospital in Pataliputra - of King Chandragupta II, Fa Hein, a Chinese traveler, stated in his memoirs that all poor and helpless patients that came there were taken excellent care of. Food and medicine were provided according to their needs and a doctor was in constant attendance.
Modern Hospital
A modern hospital provides health care to the people, both preventive and curative. The hospital is a organization that has to function as a group of teams. The teams can be broadly classified as:
1. Patient care team consisting of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medico-social workers and dieticians,
2. Investigative team consisting of lab technicians, radiology technicians, nurses, pathologists, micro-biologists,
3. bio-chemists and radiologists and
4. Supportive team consisting of maintenance and house-keeping staff, transport staff, aides and helpers.
Basically, each hospital has two departments
a) one for outpatients
b) and the other, for inpatients.
The outpatient department is defined as a regular part of the hospital with scheduled part of working with medical and other staff to provide care for patients who are not registered as inpatients. The outpatients services can be preventive. Promotive, curative, follow-up and rehabilitative. The OPD also includes family welfare services, health, medical, para-medical and nursing services.
The inpatient department is defined as another part of the hospital, which allows the patients to stay in the hospital, which allows the patients to stay in the hospital for days together with medical and other staff providing total care for the patients. The operation theatres, major
and minor, are important segments of a hospital. These have to be segregated from other departments. It is necessary to understand the concept of protective, dirt-free, aseptic and disposal zones. Other blocks consist of premature units (neo-natals and nursing new-borns) and pharmacy.
A modern hospital also needs to have laboratories, which consist of clinical pathology, micro-biology, bio-chemistry, hematology and histo-pathology sections. Here, provision for waiting rooms and toilets have to be made. They also need radiology (X-ray rooms etc.) departments. Of course, due provision for a central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD), casualty, generator rooms, kitchen/canteen,stores, laundry, workshops, garages, mortuary, residential campus and community center can be made.
Application of Vaastu
The planning begins with locating a proper site. The basic considerations, of course, will be to select the site near main roads. This way, the accessibility to the hospital will be good.
a) North-east sites are ideal for hospitals. But if corner sites are not available East and North-facing sites are recommended. Many a time, there are also not available and you may be forced to go in for a West or South facing site.
b) A West-facing site may be preferred to South-facing one. Do not despair if you get a South-facing site. Vastu can be applied judiciously to get the sites the needed balance.
Proper orientation to the cardinal directions is definitely recommended. A site that has all sites equal, would be ideal. In a square, all the primary elements of nature --- udaka (water), gagana (space), pavana(air), dahana(agni) and prithvi (earth) are well balanced. If a rectangular site is selected, a length not more than twice the breadth may be chosen.
Once the site is selected, the planning of the structure begins. Allow a minimum of one-ninth of the site free on all four sites. This can be used for movement of traffic, trolleys and stretchers. This one-ninth relates to the Paisacha or non-habitable zone of the site.
The basement can be for car and other vehicle parking.
The ground floor can consist of the chairman's room, pharmacy, reception, and the casualty (or emergency) department. The minor operation theatre, the ECG, audiometry, X-ray and physiotherapy rooms, the consultation rooms are also provided at the ground floor. The laundry, the kitchen/canteen, the clinical lab, the ultrasound room, the generator and plant room, the laundry, toilets and, of course, the staircase and elevators will be at the ground floor.
The chairman's and other director's offices, the clinical lab and ultrasound can be in the Southwest, South and West sectors. Canteens, kitchens, generator and plant rooms can be in the agneya - Southeast sector. The elevators/staircases, laundry and toilets can be in the vayuvya - Northwest sector of the structure.
The central area from the North to South and East to West corresponding to 1/9th of the length (or width) can be kept open for fast and free movement of stretchers, wheel chairs, trolleys, doctors and patients. As the casualty and the minor operation theatres are immediate necessities, these can be in the easanya - Northeast of the building for easy access.
First floor of a modern hospital can house the operation theatres and other attendant units and rooms. The intensive care units can be in the Southwest and the South sectors, the CSSD and the changing rooms can be in the East and South sectors. The major/minor operation theatres and the post operative and recovery rooms can be in the North and Northeast sectors, the endoscopy room and the minor OPD procedures, the changing rooms and toilets can be in the West, North and Northwest sectors. The scrubbing and washing areas, the pantry and linen cupboards and the CSSD can be in the South and Southeast sector
In the second floor, the hospital can house the patient's single and double wards and the nurse's dormitories. The chairman's room and the double wards can be in the South, West and South - west sectors, the single wards can be in the Northeast, the nurses' dormitories in the North, canteens and kitchens in the South-east, and toilets and laundry in the Northwest sector.
The third floor can have the conference rooms having close circuit TV network for watching live operations in the North, East and Northeast sectors and the incinerators used for disposing of waste and infected material can be in the Southwest sector. The male and the female toilets can be in the Northwest sector and the Southwest and the South sectors can be strengthened with a rock garden such that it slopes to the North/East.
Importance of Sleeping Positions
The patients cots can be placed such that their heads are to the South. This way, the magnetic energies coming from the various sides and the polarity induced in the body vibe with each other to maintain a balanced blood circulation in the body, thereby strengthening the healing and curative properties of the body.
The great sage Garga is said have said that one should lie with his head placed southward if he wanted to live long. Sage Markandeya says that one is strong and lives long by placing one's head to the South.
It has also been proved by experiments that the human body is a magnetiseable object and that it contains a large percentage of iron in the blood that circulates all through the body. As our feet are always in touch with the Northern Hemisphere of the earth, which exhibits the properties of north polarity, south polarity is induced in out feet and consequently north polarity is induced in the head. The body will have stable health if the head is placed to the south, thereby preserving the natural polarity of the body.
On the other hand, when the head is placed to the north, there is repulsion between the two like poles of the body and the earth, blood circulation is affected and disease sets in.
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