Free Medical
Camp Report
NAVODAYA ALUMNI
ASSOCIATION BIHAR
ORGANISED
ONE DAY FREE
GENERAL MEDICAL CAMP
DATE: 13.11.16 VENUE: KURSELA
The Navodaya Alumni
Association Bihar held its 2nd Medical Camp on 13th Nov 2016 and it was a
huge success.
On behalf of Navodaya
Alumni Association Bihar, the camp management team wishes to convey sincere
appreciation to all alumni members, volunteers of Kursela and donors over
the globe for your generous contribution by way of medical supplies, finances
and service to support the organization in this philanthropic event.
This report highlights
the main achievements and lessons learnt for your attention. The camp
organizing committee request you to provide any feedback which would facilitate
continuous improvement in the organization of the future medical camps. You
could post your comments on NAAB facebook page or through the comment option in
the website.
NAAB is planning on
the next medical camp which will be held in Purnea Subdivision, during
the 1st quarter of the year 2017 and as usual we count on
your support to make it a success. The actual dates and venue will be
posted on the website and fb page in the near future.
II. Objectives of the 2016 Kursela
Free Medical Camp
The main objective of
this particular camp, and indeed of all the medical camps organized by NAAB,
was to bring affordable healthcare and free health information to the community
and identify the common health problems of the community in order to devise
ways of addressing them.
Specifically,
the medical camp sought to : Provide free health checkup; provide both
preventive and curative treatment for common conditions in the community; refer
those who require specialized treatment to the relevant centers;
create awareness and provide counseling on Diabetes and other ailments;
create awareness on the need for personal hygiene in prevention of serious
disabling diseases such diarrhea & other water borne diseases, which
are prevalent in the area due to lack of clean potable water and
frequent floods. The free medical camp also aimed at encouraging use of
available nutritious food products in the area; and discouraging
drug/substance abuse among the community members.
Furthermore the
medical camp provided opportunities to both medical and non-medical personnel
to give back to the community by way of volunteering their time, energy and
expertise. Over 25 Navodaya Alumni (5 of them doctors) and more than 30
non-Navodayan Volunteers from Kursela set aside their personal engagements and
spent the whole day serving the needy in various capacities and it is because
of the input of everybody who came out to help that the medical camp was a
success.
III. Achievement of the
Kursela Medical Camp
Patients started
arriving at the venue as early as 8 am to ensure that they were the first in
the queue and by 5 pm everybody had been attended to. NAAB, through the support
of various partners, acknowledged herein, oversaw the provision of various
medical related services to approximately 600 people. The success of the
medical camp is attributed to the high quality medical consultation from top
doctors and medicines provided together with the collaboration of NAAB members.
The fund collected
from online campaign served to purchase medicines enough to cover
over 500 patients while the samples collected from doctors and private
pharmaceutical companies supplemented to serve all those who attended.
Number of medical
doctors like Dr. Khwaza Naseem Ahmed, Dr. Abhay Agrawal, Dr. Vinod Kumar, Dr. Mayank
Singh and Dr. Baser Ali, worked nonstop from 10 am to 5 pm with a little break
for a little bite. They are also the member of NAAB. The community was greatly
appreciative of their love and care. Dr. Vinod Kumar could not find time for
snacks and asked for it only after he finished the diagnosis of even the last
visitor to the camp.
5 needy patients from
the camp have been selected for free surgery which would be conducted in Al-Safa
hospital Purnea by Dr K.N Ahmed and Dr. Baser Ali. We have promised to come with eye
specialist and orthopedic in the next medical camp because we saw the demand
for eye and bone specialists among the rural people.
Since the inception
of the free medical camp initiative, NAAB has continued to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of subsequent camps based on the
lessons learnt from the previous one. The Kursela medical camp was
planned and was organized in a very short span of time, but the continuous
guidance and support of members like Arbind bhaiya, Amarnath bhaiya, Mayank
bhaiya, Sandeep, Neema di and friends at Kursela made this programme a
successful reality.
There were enough volunteers
and a steady flow of patients throughout
the day which made work easier especially in recording data and helping the
doctors. Although we are lucky to have efficient pharmacist in Amarnath bhaiya
and Saurabh, dispensing of medicine remains a concern mainly due to large no of
patient turnout. Neema di, Pranav and Anuradha di helped occasionally but few
more experienced pharmacists from the organization would have improved the
efficiency of medicine distribution and ultimately the people management.
NAAB also provided the
necessary logistical support to all the visiting alumni members. The
services that were provided at the medical camp were as follows:
1.
Medical clinic for all age groups
2.
Skin diseases treatment
3.
Dental clinic
4.
Awareness creation on personal hygiene and nutrition
IV. Sponsors and Partners
With the increasing
cost of living and especially healthcare, it is going to be even harder for the
common people to afford effective medicine and food. Thus there is need for all
stakeholders from the private, public and individuals to forge a strong alliance
aimed at improving the social amenities in the country. Their intervention will
complement the efforts of government and will indeed make a real difference in
the lives of those from humble backgrounds.
The success of the
Kursela medical camp would not have been realized without the support of all
partners, local authorities and the community of Kurslea at large. Some
of the sponsors, supporters and partners are as follows:
1. Online Donors: The donors to our
online campaign for Bihar Flood relief have played a vital role as a share of
fund collected was used for the purchase of medicine for this medical camp
in Kursela, which is the worst flood affected area in the region. Therefore the
online donors have played a key role in ensuring that the Kurslea medical camp
could be organised.
2. Medical personnel of NAAB:
Dr. Khawaza Naseem Ahmed, Dr. Vinod Kumar, Dr. Abhay Agrawal, Dr. Mayank Singh and Dr.
Baser Ali, these doctors and alumni of the Navodaya vidyalayas played pivotal
role in the organization of the free medical camp. They found time from their
busy schedule to provide free medical consultancy and also to offer follow up
services to cases that are identified at the medical camp.
3. The NAAB Members: The other alumni
and member of association who worked closely in successful organization of the
camp were Arbind bhaiya, Amarnath bhaiya, Neema di, Anuradha di, Sandeep and
Rausan. Due to time and fund crisis Mrs. Shivani Sandeep Kumar recorded
a fabulous announcement audio for the publicity of the event. Apart from
logistic help Sandeep has agreed to share food and beverages expenditure with
me. They have been the backbone of the success recorded in this medical
initiative.
4. Volunteers of Kursela: They are the main
partner given that the medical camps was organized for the benefits of the
people of Kursela. They worked throughout the week planning and executing
things, be it booking of venue, food and water vendors, tents or the publicity
on bike, tempo or one to one contact; they have been at the forefront.
5. Kursela Girls High
School: The headmaster and support staff, Kursela Girls High School played
a significant role in the noble job by providing their campus and facilities to
be used as the venue for the camp.
6. Local
Authorities The local administrative authorities and police force were in
support in principle, although they could not visit in person due to demonetization
crisis.
V. Challenges encountered
NAAB has been organizing free medical camps in
various locations in the vicinity of Purnea for the last 2 years and as such
lessons are constantly being drawn from each one of them. For this
particular medical camp, following lessons have been noted for record and
future enhancement of the logistics and general planning and management of the
medical camps.
1.
Donor support: In this particular medical camp, there was a great challenge in
acquiring sufficient medical supplies as well as financial aid. NAAB normally
relies on the support of alumni members, doctors and local business sponsor for
support to cover medicine purchase, food allowance for medical practitioners,
alumni and volunteers, purchase of Stationary and facilitate surgery cost of
the patients who are referred for further treatment Al-Safa Hospital Purnea.
Based on past experience a medical camp with more than 500
patients would require at least Rupees 50,000 to cover logistics and buy
specialized medical supplies missing from donations. This
particular medical camp was severely short on fund which was a main
constraint in the planning of the medical camp. But the generous help from
alumni and association finance managers resulted in successful completion of
the camp.
2. Publicity: Inability to raise
enough money and medical supplies also impacted in the number of patients to be
to be covered. The strategy adopted to inform people of the medical camp was
therefore effective. Thus when fund and supplies are in plenty NAAB we can
make arrangements to advertise the medical camp through other means as
well like local radio station, Schools, community centers and women groups.
3. Duration of medical
camp. NAAB had planned to have one day medical camp with pathology service
as well. However it became evident that this was not an effective idea
especially due to the small number of doctors and late start of the event.
Lesson learnt here is that there is need for more funding for logistics, more
doctors and early start of the event.
4. Referral Cases. Cases of referral
emerge from all the medical camps. Patients referred to Al-safa Hospital will
receive free operations for the cost of medicines only. It is important that
some funds are raised to see to it that these patients are provided medicines
as well as per their financial condition. There are other complicated cases
requiring surgery and specialized treatment and NAAB can work with the media
houses to appeal for support from well-wishers on behalf of the families
that are not able to afford the recommended form of treatment.
VI.
Special Note of Appreciation
The success of the
medical camp is highly attributed to the active involvement and participation
of NAAB Secretary Mr. Arbind Amar, who could
not make it to the camp with his pathology team as he fell ill on the day
itself. His constant follow up, field work and advice to me and the committee
ensured that the medical camps objectives were achieved. He truly is an
inspiration to fellow Navodayans and we look forward to his continued support in
the future events of the association.
Friends and volunteers
of Kursela. Your contribution was very significant and helped in achieving our
goal with unquestionable success.
The medical camp was
truly a testament to the power of unity and commitment to a cause. Everything,
from planning for sufficient medical personnel to acquiring the appropriate
drugs to making sure the doctors were available, happened only because of the
dedication and sincerity of the members of the Navodaya Alumni Association
Bihar Their unrelenting follow-up efforts and involvement in logistics was
commendable.
Last and not the least
any medical camp could not have been successful without the medical
personnel as well as the patients who attended the medical camp. A big thank
you to all of you all and we look forward to future partnerships to better
our communities.
Kanchan K Rajak
Founder Member NAAB
Founder Member NAAB
Coordinator
Medical Camp Kursela
