This morning we were picked up in a small bus hired for the day. Anitha’s organization doesn’t own a vehicle, or any property for that matter. They believe in investing in people, not in physical goods. When they need a vehicle, they rent it. The small bus is required today as we will stop to pick up six doctors at the Sree Balaji Medical Centre in Anakaputhur, on the way to Irumedu, some 40 km from Chennai, to attend a one day clinic in the local school. When we reached the health centre, the head of the team of doctors invited us to visit their training centre located in Kundrathur, on the edge of the city.
The doctors, four men and two women, are pleased to donate their time to reach out to people in rural areas where health services are not available. It opens their eyes to the health problems that are specific to those areas, such as skin conditions that occur as a result of extended work in rice fields, respiratory infections, anaemia, etc. Volunteering in the villages helps the doctors expand their knowledge while providing an essential service to the community.
As we make our way out of the congested city into the countryside, the tarmac turns into a dirt road, and the noise and fumes of the traffic vanish. When we reach Irumedu, there is already a line up of 30 people patiently waiting to be seen by the volunteer doctors.
Immediately, the doctors unload their gear and set up six stations in one classroom. The vast majority of those waiting to be seen are women and children. The school kids also line up and are checked to see if they are suffering from malnutrition symptoms, or if they have any other problems. The consultations are free, as well as basic medicines that are provided (mainly vitamins, tonics, mild pain relief, etc). The doctors use the consultations as an opportunity to teach the patients about the things they can do to stay healthy.
Needless to say, the benefits of sharing basic knowledge on nutrition, pre- and post-natal care, family planning, vaccination, and so on, creates improved conditions for the women both now and in the future. The health of their children is likely to be stronger, which helps them succeed in their studies and to eventually get a job or be creatively entrepreneurial. Women’s life expectancy is likely to rise as a result as well.
These are key reasons why PWS&D’s partners focus a large part of their energies on health related activities. Through their experience, they have seen that health and nutrition of community members has a direct impact on the potential for that community to develop, and on the ability of women to feel empowered.
Helping communities to stay healthy will provide a strong human resources basin to build upon. The doctors go to different villages every Wednesday, and will come back to this village in two months’ time. In the meantime, the team leader told me he would send a group to do a baseline analysis in order to help them understand what the starting point is for this village in terms of its health indicators. After a couple of months, they will conduct the same survey in order to gauge the impact of the clinics on the communities’ health. On our way out, we talked with a grandmother, her daughter, and granddaughter. They were happy to have been seen and told us how they had been taken care of. A small step on the path to community health for Irumedu.
