The New Mercy Medical Center of Merced California scheduled to open May 2, 2010, is a $260 million dollar, seven story complex with 200 beds. Mercy Medical's family birthing center is designed to keep families as close together as possible during the birthing process and features a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit named for Guru Har Krishan located adjacent to two birthing surgical suites in case of delivery trauma.
Guru Har Krishan known as the child guru of Sikhism was the youngest son of Guru Har Rai, a renowned healer. Har Krishan became guru at the age of five on October 20, 1661. Guru Har Krishan visited Delhi in 1664 when a small pox epidemic ravished the city's inhabitants. Setting aside concerns for his own safety, the child guru personally administered to the stricken people, comforting them with his own hands. On April 16, 1664 at the tender age of eight, Guru Har Krishan succumbed himself to the dreaded pox and breathed his last.
Because of his selfless action, Guru Har Krishan is remembered with the greatest respect by Sikhs. His inspiring example is held in the highest esteem by Dr. SatNam Uppal, a physician who in exchange for his personal pledge of sponsorship, proposed that the Merced Neonatal ICU be named in honor of his beloved hero, the child Guru Har Krishan.