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Eye Camps
Statistics indicate that there are over 12 million curably blind people in India. The Mobile Eye
Service of Christian Medical College & Hospital (CMCH) is meeting the challenge of restoring
vision and preventing blindness through its eye camp outreach program, contributing care and
confidence to needy people in rural and remote villages of North India.
Its aims are service, rehabilitation & research. Every year approximately 25 eye camps
are held. They perform such services as screening village school students for visual problems,
treatment of eye diseases, surgery for the curably blind, and public education for prevention of
blindness. Nearly all ophthalmic surgical procedures can be performed in a mobile eye hospital.
The Mobile Eye Service maintains high standards not only in its service, but also in its
equipment and instruments. A portable electricity generator takes care of power failure. They
also place emphasis on follow-up programs for the operated patients that are carried out six to
eight weeks following surgery. About 2000 patients are treated for cataracts each year of which
40-50% receives intra-ocular lens implants.
Consider Magbulal - a tailor from the village of Thai near the border of Nepal. His vision was
clouded with cataracts, making it impossible for him to support his family. Fear, poverty and
apathy prevented him from receiving treatment. Then word came of the visit of the Mobile Eye
Service just three kilometers from his home. Led by the hand of his young granddaughter down
the mountain footpath to the clinic, Magbulal received an examination and had surgery on both
eyes. Since the restoration of his sight, Magbulal expresses his gratitude by encouraging others
to attend the eye clinics.
Dental Clinics
Over half the population in India still does not have access to modern dental care and the
problem is compounded by a critically low dentist-population ratio. In rural areas of India
there is now approximately one dentist for every 150,000 people!
The Dental Department has been providing dental health care services in the hospital and the
community at large since 1968. But seeing a need to extend that care, CMCH's Dental
Department launched its unique community dental health services in 1984 to rural areas with the
goal of providing for better dental health, particularly of school children. CMC dental students
also have the opportunity to educate villagers on better dental hygiene.
Their mobile dental van is fully equipped to deliver necessary dental health care to the
doorstep of the schools and rural communities. Christian Dental College mobile dental service
saw 3295 people and 4089 school children in villages in the year 1998.
Comprehensive Medical Clinics
Many villages have no doctors to provide medical assistance. On invitation, a busload of medical
personnel and supplies travels to a village to help. Clinics are often set up in a local
schoolhouse where classrooms are used for examinations. Those requiring hospitalization are
transported back to Ludhiana for treatment. Other patients receive healthcare and prescriptions
at the clinic.
Community Health
A staggering 500,000 Indians die of tuberculosis every year. CMCH's Community Health Department
works hard to treat patients in villages and slum areas. The challenge is to convince patients
to continue treatment as long as necessary.
Women from poverty-stricken areas are trained in midwifery and then serve the needs of expectant
mothers within their home territory. The midwives are trained to recognize problems that require
more specialized care at the hospital. Well baby clinics are also held to give inoculations and
monitor growth.
Another critical health issue, that kills thousands of babies, is diarrhea. A simple treatment
of a salt/sugar solution can prevent this tragedy. Community health workers teach mothers how to
care for their children.
Wednesday Free Clinic
Just outside the hospital gates, rickshaw cabs line up for customers. The rickshaw drivers, who
literally live on their cabs, suffer many illnesses. A special Wednesday Free Clinic was
organized at the hospital for the drivers and their families. Word spread, and other needy
people began to come. Each Wednesday afternoon over 100 people arrive for the clinic. Each
person is asked to pay a very small registration fee. Beyond that, "free" care is provided as
needed. The clinic has so far registered about 1500 patients, mostly slum dwellers, rickshaw
pullers and migrant laborers. The majority of these patients is suffering from T.B. and is on
long-term medication and follow-up treatment.
RHOP (Rural Health Outreach Program)
Heavy traffic, poor transport services and distances prevent the rural poor people from getting
the healthcare they need. To help them, an integrated network of rural village out-patient
clinics is being set up around the periphery of Ludhiana. The village provides the space and
CMCH provides the staff and medical care. Each clinic is to be open two days a week.
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