Thanarbaid Health Care Centre, Bangladesh
A rural health movement, promoting health for all people by the people
Home | Site Map | General Information | Annual Reports | Newsletters | Special Documents | Biographies | Contact Information | Links


Doctor Edric S. Baker

New Zealand

Dr. Edric Baker with a patient

Medical School to Bangladesh

Edric Baker, who is now 60, grew up in New Zealand. He attended medical school in New Zealand and almost immediately went to work in international health. Before coming to Bangladesh he worked in three other developing countries, including Vietnam. After Vietnam made all foreigners leave in the 1970s, Edric went to England for further study. Finally he came to work in Bangladesh. During his first three years in Bangladesh Edric did hospital work, but was not satisfied with what he was doing. Edric felt (and still feels) that in order for the health of the people of Bangladesh to improve, the people need to do it themselves. His desire was (and still is) to work in a community health role, propagating health knowledge amongst the ordinary people. The health knowledge would inform people about basic health needs and how to care for those needs. When one is a doctor in Bangladesh, though, one is not allowed to just do community health work. One needs to do "doctor" work. So Edric went to work at Thanarbaid Health Care Centre, a rural clinic operated by the Church of Bangaldesh (Anglican-Presbyterian).

The Beginnings at Thanarbaid Health Care Centre

Edric carried his philosophy with him to the clinic. He began to teach the patients how to take care of each other, and he continues to do so now. One patient was saved from diarrhoea with oral rehydration solution (ORS--a simple sugar and salt water solution). Ordinarily, one could die easily from dehydration due to diarrhoea, but she was saved. She carried the knowledge of ORS with her, and has saved many lives since then. When someone gets diarrhoea, she makes ORS for him and teaches him how to make ORS for himself and others. The Thanarbaid Health Care Centre has grown to four times its original size, since Edric has been the Medical Officer in Charge. It now serves 10 villages. It includes a village program for maternal and infant health. In 1996 it opened the Diabetes and Tuberculosis Subcentre in Kailakuri village (pronounced KYE-la-koo-ree). All of the staff for Thanarbaid are local villagers. Almost none have passed school certificate.

Witnessing to his Faith

Of Anglican origin, Edric became Roman Catholic in Vietnam. He is impressed by the deep central unity of the Christian faith in Christ and its reaching out to those in distress. This idea of unity spills over into the work done at the clinic. The staff come from surrounding villages. In those villages there are three cultures. Each culture has its own religion: Bengali Muslim, Borman Hindu, and Mandi Christian. In the Muslim and Hindu cultures the men own the property and women need permission from their husbands to do most anything. In the Mandi culture, the women own the property and do not need permission from their husbands to do anything. Differences in religion and culture can cause conflicts among staff at the clinic, since they all work together. Edric works to unify them in several ways. The first way is to have combined prayer and song in the mornings. Muslims, Hindus, and Christians sing together and pray together. The devotion, faith, and prayer of each is felt by the others. The second way is to have open discussions at weekly staff training meetings. In these discussions, topics such as marriage, cultural ideals, forgiveness, and God play important roles alongside of health and health care.

Since Edric is Christian, he witness to his own faith through what he does. Just as Christ prayed for unification of the Church, Edric works and prays for unification of the people who work at the clinic. Just as Christ served us so that we might serve each other, Edric serves staff and patients at the clinic so that they might learn to serve each other.

Contact Information

If you would like to contact Edric, please use one of the following methods:

Site Map | General Information | Annual Reports | Newsletters
Special Documents | Biographies | Contact Information | Links