On 1 October 2021, Better Education Lifestyle and Environment Foundation (BELIEF) has started a library at the Pediatric ward at Jijamata Hospital – a government hospital run by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. Dr. Kaustubh Prabhudesai, after few months of joining the hospital, realized that children when get infected with COVID 19, spend around 8-10 days in the hospital. Most of these children do not have major complications. As per the protocol, they complete the treatment and get discharged from the hospital. Most of the time they are alone and have an ample amount of free time. Kaustubh felt that these children can be given access to the Library. He contacted Mukta, the CEO at BELIEF and shared the idea of starting the library.

After some formal discussions, Sadhana, the project officer at BELIEF took up this task and coordinated with Dr. Hodghar, Sr. Medical Officer who is in charge of the isolation ward, to start the Library at the hospital. The ward already has a dedicated space where children can explore some games, we decided to use the same space for the library.

We selected 110 children’s books from different publishers like Tulika, Jyotsna, Pratham, NBT keeping in mind the age of children coming into the ward. We are also planning to conduct some online sessions with children.

When Sadhana took the library to the ward and showed all the books to the children, they were very happy. The joy of browsing, touching and reading books was evident in their eyes. All staff members could not resist and started browsing through the collection.

We really thank all the staff members, Dr. Hodghar and Dr. Kaustubh for supporting us throughout the process. With the hope that the children will enjoy their stay at the hospital and ask for more books, Sadhna left the library to all children.

Now, they own the Library!