Healthcare is the right of every individual but 60% of the Indian population is deprived of basic medicines and medical facilities. To control the spread of diseases and reduce the growing rates of mortality due to lack of adequate health facilities, special attention needs to be given to the health care in rural areas.
The key challenges in the healthcare sector are low quality of care, poor accountability, lack of awareness, and limited access to facilities.
Switch took a step forward to contribute a little to the healthcare system in rural areas. To do our little part, a rural medical camp in aasangaon was held on 20th May, 2018. It was organised by Gram panchayat Gotheghar in collaboration with Switch. There was a team of 25 people.
The camp was conducted to provide free general check-up, dental check-up, physiotherapy to the patients. The camp started at 9am and continued till 3pm.
The setup was planned to maximise the efficiency and distribute the tasks evenly amongst the team. It was done with the help of Dr. Gauri Telvane from shahapur who was the coordinator. There was a registration desk at the entrance. After that, the BMI of the patient was taken by the students along with the blood pressure.
A group of 6 people were assigned for the general examination of the patients. Their complaints were heard and were referred to the physicians if required. The physicians heard their complaints, prescribed them medicines and counselled the patients accordingly. Medicines as prescribed by the physicians were provided to the patients for free. There was a team of physiotherapists as well who considered the problems of the patients and advised them exercises accordingly.
We also tried to emphasise on health education. Today, a significant percentage of Indians are hypertensive but very few of them are on treatment because they never bother to check their blood pressure. Lack of awareness is the main problem along with affordability. We tried to educate the people about health.
It included educating them to work towards building an environment of well-being by proper sanitary habits and explain how they can bring a difference at community level by individual contributions.
To educate adolescent females on menstrual hygiene as a vital aspect of one’s health. Explaining to them briefly what happens during menstruation to remove the taboo, encouraging mothers to provide good nutrition to their kids and do proper exercise. A total of 180 patients appeared for the check-up.
The camp was conducted with the hope that this initiative makes a difference and make people more aware. It was a great work by everyone who participated and made this camp a success.
