Share and Care Community Health
The Community Centre at Bhopoli is a unique centre, where the clinical services are integrated with the development activities for the community. Thus at this centre, over & above the Outpatient department, Inpatient department, Casualty, we also have programmes on school education, organic farming, self help groups and warli art for a ‘Holistic Community Development & Health Programme’. In the modern world where cities are progressing rapidly, our native places, villages are deprived of even the basic necessities. Can we imagine how a 9 month pregnant woman, carrying the future of India, would be managing to walk miles for water?
How would she be managing nature’s call, especially during rains? How does she deliver a baby when she herself is barely an adult? Would a child with advanced pneumonia survive without medication? Such and many stories are encountered at every junction while working in the tribal community. Our journey with them actually began in 1989. The realities of access to health care with poor transportation, low priority on health, struggle for daily survival became an everyday experience for us. The realization became intense that the motto of the Trust ‘to reach the unreached’ could only be possible if doctors went to patients rather than patients coming to doctors.
The objective of this activity is to reach the community & screen them for chronic illnesses, hitherto ignored. These illnesses, unless treated, pose a threat to the state of health of the community as a whole. Through these screening camps, we are able to identify chronic conditions affecting skin (pediatric group more affected than elder), musculoskeleton system, Genito-urinary system (Female), hypertension, anemia, vision disorders etc.
The Mobile Medical Unit is literally a clinic-on-wheels. With in-built Examination tables and all basic clinical equipment, the MMU allows us to take health care services to those who cannot reach us due to lack of transportation, lack of funds or fear of going to a hospital.
The Community Health Volunteer, spreads the awareness of importance of visiting a medical practitioner and encourages patients to come to designated spot on a designated date. She also encourages expectant mothers to register for Antenatal care and those register to come for routine checkup.
The MMU is extremely convenient to expectant mothers, children and to geriatric population, whose ability to visit the hospital is rather limited.
Malnutrition needs no introduction. More than 50% of the children under the age of 5, in the area that we serve, are severely malnourished, stunting their physical and mental growth. Food alone is not the solution. We have embarked upon a holistic project to devise & implement long term sustainable methods for mitigating malnutrition covering 25 villages consisting of over 1250 malnourished children through the medium of Homoeopathic care.
The pilot project was started in October 2015 in 5 villages. With support from Oracle, we could scale up the project to 25 villages, screening screened more than 2000 children in 2016-17 and identify cases where further intervention was needed. We continue to work on various factors that cause malnutrition beyond the normal factors.
Our doctors, social workers, community health volunteers work through various channels to orient the community, make them understand the issue, educate them and spread awareness.
The broad goal is to make farming on small land plots ecologically sustainable and Economically viable and meet food security and balanced nutrition needs of the family along with incomes for enhancing quality of life.
We have been ably supported by:
Currently in 2017 we are working with 60 tribal farmers; out of them 50 have been registered With Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) a central Government initiative aimed at dissemination of technology and extension services at grass roots through better involvement of farmers. In Vikramgad taluka MLDT supported group is the only group practicing organic cultivation for over 3 years.
Currently in 2017 we are working with 60 tribal farmers; out of them 50 have been registered With Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) a central Government initiative aimed at dissemination of technology and extension services at grass roots through better involvement of farmers. In Vikramgad taluka MLDT supported group is the only group practicing organic cultivation for over 3 years.
The seeds of intervention of the activity to support education in schools were sown when one of our senior doctor on his visit to a pada discovered that children in that pada had no school infrastructure. School was organized in homes and verandahs of the community members and shifted from place to place depending on availability of space. Thus began a long enriching journey for the doctor who with active community involvement supplemented with material support which he organized from donors managed to raise a primary school building!
Age old problems of inequity, poverty, strife, ill health, child malnourishment have their roots in education. Consequently, Community services Group (CSG), Bhopoli in its quest for holistic health and development has been exploring the needs of education posed in its area of operations and nature of contribution it can make.
Scope of the Education Enrichment Programme
Programme:
Each One Teach One (EOTO), an NGO based in Mumbai, active in the field of education with municipal schools evinced interest in partnering with MLDT to expand their work to rural / tribal area. The partnership between the two organizations commenced in 2006 and has played a key role in the development of the Education Enrichment Programme.
Survey by the students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences highlighted some of the ground realities:
Provision of Basic Necessities
Support in Upgrading School Infrastructure
Academic Support
General Exposure & Development
Mobile Library
Currently in 2017 we are working with 60 tribal farmers; out of them 50 have been registered With Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) a central Government initiative aimed at dissemination of technology and extension services at grass roots through better involvement of farmers. In Vikramgad taluka MLDT supported group is the only group practicing organic cultivation for over 3 years.
Bal Arogya Samitis instituted in various padas for :
This is a promising and potential avenue for growth and development of children and one where much more needs to be done.
Warli painting is the traditional art form of the tribals. A tribal youth group skilled in this was discovered through the persistence of our social worker and students from the TISS who were placed for block placement with the MLDT. The youth were working with a private individual’s Warli workshop on a contract basis. Seeing the potential of growing the group efforts to mobilize were made resulting in establishment of Warli arts SHG around 2005. CSG extended support by way of:
The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA),the governing body at Zilla Parishad level to organize and authorize the Self help group programmeworks through NGOs in their respective areas to undertake this work. MLDT is now the official NGO to work for the State govt. for Vikramgarh taluka and part of Jawhar taluka of Palghar district.
CSG plays a role in:
