A friend in Nepal writes: There have been one or two deaths recently of young patients which have been particularly difficult to cope with, because their particular needs were not outwith our skills to manage, but rather outwith our allocation of technology and staff training, which are of course prioritised according to wider issues. Pray for the families of Pabitra (37), who leaves a husband and two sons, and of Yashoda (15), whose only brother died last year and whose remaining sister is deaf-mute.

‘You did your best,’ said the family each time, as they paid up and carried the body away into the nighttime thunderstorms, through which I walked home questioning whether we really did do our

best. The truth is, though, that these are painful examples because they are immediate and known, but there is much greater human cost to the everyday preventable problems in the community. It would be wrong to train nurses in intensive care in our hospital, rather than in community midwifery or health education. On the other hand, we must engage with individuals at their point of perceived need. It was against a backdrop of political injustice that Jesus dealt with individual needs. And his actions addressed both. How we need his Spirit!

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