Bethel Hospital is a private Baptist hospital based in Vuyyuru, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is a member of Council of Christian Hospitals. It is perhaps the oldest hospital in the region.Sivasankaranarayana, M. V. Rajagopal (Eds.), Andhra Pradesh District Gazetteers, Directorate of Printing and Stationery, Secretariat Press, Hyderabad, 1977. Page 205. Internet, accessed 5 October 2008.
History The Canadian Baptist Mission was initiated at the request of the missionary Thomas Gabriel. As a result of this, in 1868, Rev. A. V. Timpany and Rev. John McLaurin arrived in RamayapatnamT. Theophilus, op.cit. and then moved to Kakinada in 1874 after the mission itself began.
In 1904, Dr. Gertrude HuletGeorge W. Brown, Ramsay Cook (Eds.), Dictionary of Canadian Biography: 1901–1910, University of Toronto Press, 1994, , , p. 122. Internet, accessed 5 October 2008. arrived in Vuyyuru and went on to open a dispensaryCarlotta Hacker, The Indomitable Lady Doctors, Formac Publishing Company, 2001, , , p. 121. Internet, accessed 5 October 2008. in 1906.T. Theophilus, The History of the Bethel Hospital, Vuyyuru, Platinum Jubilee Souvenir, Vuyyuru, pp. 36–38. The formation of the hospital's current administrative structure was started by the Krishna district collector in 1923.Ibid. A chapel was built in memory of Dr. Hulet in 1957.
What had started as a clinic in 1904 soon developed into a large hospital, taking care of patients in coastal parts of the Krishna district. A number of wards, case rooms and operating rooms were built.Manorama Fritschi (Ed.), Council of Christian Hospitals, Pithapuram, 1977. Manorama Fritschi was wife of Dr. Ernest Paul Fritschi who was earlier Director of Schieffelin Institute of Health, Research and Leprosy Centre, Karigiri, India. Internet, accessed 26 October 2008. By 1955, hospital became a general hospital.
Evelyn Eaton started a midwifery training course in 1941 and, by 1956, it became an Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) course. More than 500 nurses have graduated from this school.
Membership Bethel Hospital is a member of the Council of Christian Hospitals, Pithapuram, and the Christian Medical Association of India, New DelhiETASI, healthThe Christian Medical Association of India, Member Institutes in Andhra Pradesh. Internet, accessed 5 October 2008.
The Hospital also networks and collaborates with Christian Medical College, VelloreChristian Medical College, Vellore, Networking. Internet, accessed 5 October 2008.
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