Tura, June 23: The oldest Catholic missionary in Garo Hills, 92 year old former Bishop of Tura- Bishop Emeritus George Mamalassery, is on oxygen support in the intensive care unit of Holy Cross Hospital in Tura after he developed breathing difficulties following a lung infection.

The Auxiliary Bishop of Tura, Fr C J Jose, told Hub News that Emeritus Bishop George Mamalassery, who is fondly called Bishop Mama by the Catholic faithful, was being treated for lung infection in which he had developed fluid accumulation inside.

“The water was being-taken out with a drainage pipe. Eventually the fluid dried up and the pipe was removed. Now he has severe breathing problem. He is in the holy cross ICU with high flow oxygen support and under medication,” informed Auxiliary Bishop Jose as he called on the faithful to remember Bishop Mama in their prayers.

Bishop Mama turned 92 on the 22nd of April, this year.

A missionary who is sometimes called the “Engineer Bishop” for his construction zeal ensuring the establishment of dozens of schools, churches and health care centres across the Garo Hills region, he was instrumental in establishing the Holy Cross Hospital at Tura, health centres attached to schools in parishes in the most remote locations of the border region and other initiatives that have helped the people in rural part of Garo Hills to grow over the years.

He came to Garo Hills as a young missionary over 64 years ago and never left the region that he has always called his home.

He was the Bishop of Tura for 28 years- from 1979 to 2007, before he retired and shifted to a home for elderly priests, next to the Holy Cross Hospital, where he currently resides.

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Principal Secretary to Meghalaya Government, P Sampath Kumar, who has worked closely with the people of Garo Hills during his tenure as Deputy Commissioner of West Garo Hills and is a close friend of the Bishop, paid a visit to the hospital on Sunday morning to see the ailing Bishop.

Read: Chippakore FC defend title to win Tura Football League Super Division for the 2nd time

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