Bahirampada-Guravpada Medical Camp – Phase 2
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Second leg of our camps was on 19th August, wherein we covered remaining four schools viz Bahirampada, Guravpada, Khandeghar and Toplepada. We had our first school camp way back in 2012 with Janathepada at a small scale. Formal camps including all the other schools started from Oct 2013. With 2 camps per year, we have completed 9 camps so far covering 600 odd kids per camp.
Though the camps are conducted in the remote areas, execution and record tracking is done in exceptionally professional manner. We distribute case papers well in advance to the teacher. Each case paper can have records of three camps. We have a team of doctors, who maintain the details such as Nutrition anemia, ENT, Eyes, Skin disease, General organs, Respiratory system, cardiovascular system, central nervous system and Pulse etc. Depending upon the findings, the medication is mentioned in the case paper and the same is distributed immediately. We do explain the medicines and schedules to the teachers. These case papers are maintained by the teachers. Kid carries the medicines in the school, wherein teachers go through the instructions and explain the same to kids again. If some medicines are to be taken, when the kid is at home, then the instructions are provided to the parents on the similar line. We find at least 6 to 7 kids, who have unhealed wounds needing treatment. The doctors and paramedico carry out the dressing and train their parents/teachers as well. Blood test is conducted for every new kid to check the CBC. Village kids are prone to injuries. Hence, we ensure that the kids are given regular tetanus injection to avoid any complications. We would publish a separate report on the entire procedure.
We had finished our camps at 6 schools. We started the last leg of the camps at Bahirampada, wherein we examined 66 kids. Subsequently, we moved to Guravpada to examine kids from three schools viz Guravpada (86 kids), Toplepada (44 kids) and Khadeghar (48 Kids). The findings of the camp was more or less same as we found with the other schools, parental care was found quite missing in some cases. Kids are prone to injuries. Small wounds heal on itself and adds to the immunity of the kids. At the same time, the parents tend to treat deep wounds in the same manner. Over a period of time, untreated deep wound becomes worse! Our doctors have to perform special dressing to clean up area, apply medicines and patch it up properly to avoid getting infected again.
While the core team is busy with the medical checkup, remaining volunteers and the guests entertain the kids with lots of games and goodies. It is almost like a festive environment and kids look forward for the medical camp.
While we feel extremely satisfied with our effort towards the well being of the kids, we also get more and more exposed to the need of better local care. Villagers have no access to any basic medical facilities even in 10 to 12 km radius. They don’t have means to reach out to the doctor in the absence of transport. Most of the problems are linked with inadequate knowledge, poor sanitation, bad quality of water and the absence of local care. We are working towards creating a local setup to address this challenge.
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