Everyone aspires for good health. It is easier to maintain good health and living standards if you have financial resources and live in an urban area. Where there is poverty, there are also many health issues like obesity, diabetes, malnutrition, alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse etc. And it is even more challenging when you live in rural areas where the nearest medical facilities are far away in the main cities.
Jay Ambe Hospital
As one of the objectives of BEHT is to provide relief to the poor, the handicapped, the sick and the aged, it has helped to build a 172 bed multi speciality Jay Ambe hospital in Chaparda where all treatments are given free of charge funded mainly by overseas donors. Patients only pay for the medicine which is highly subsidised by the Government. Since starting in 2012, the hospital is currently treating on average about 750 patients a day. Thousands of lives have been cured and saved by this initiative.
Jay Ambe Hospital provides the following services:
- General Surgery
- Intensive care unit (ICU)
- Paediatrics
- 24 Hour Accident & Emergency
- Ophthalmology
- Dentistry
- Gynaecology
- Maternity
- Orthopaedics
- Physiotherapy
- 24-hour Pharmacy
- 24-hour Ambulance service
- Laboratory
- X-Ray Department
- Sonography
There are about 120 staff members including 40 nurses, 8 residents and 5 visiting doctors / surgeons, 8 medical officers, 6 laboratory workers, 5 pharmacists and 1 physiotherapist. The staff is looked after with accommodation provided for them as well as good schooling for their children.
Monthly Medical Camps
As part of the outreach programme created by the Anand Dhara project to promote good primary care in all the villages, the hospital organises medical camps to be held in different villages each month. The programming arrangements start one month before the actual day – the location of the camp is agreed with the local village Sarpanch team – usually village school buildings and grounds. Marketing of the camp is then carried out through sign boards in that village and surrounding few villages combined with leaflet drops and SMS messages.
On the actual day, normally Sunday, when most of the hospital doctors have a free day, they give their service voluntarily with the help of a few nurses and admin volunteers. Hundreds of villagers come to these camps for any medical issues they may have. The camp is divided into separate departments – general medical issues like Blood pressure, diabetes etc, optician, dentist, etc. The villagers register their medical issues with the admin desk and are given different ticket numbers for their issues. The medical checks by the doctors are very brief and the main aim of these camps is to pick up any real medical issues. If they do pick up any issues which need further investigation, they are given a letter to come to Jay Ambe Hospital where they can be tested properly and any appropriate treatment given free of charge.
These camps have created a huge positive health awareness amongst the local population. When possible, health awareness talks with audio visual have been given. In the villages, people are wary of modern medical treatment and generally resort to traditional treatments and methods. This is a huge challenge of changing the traditional mindset and putting faith in modern science and medicine. BEHT believes that it is gradually winning this challenge as every year more and more patients are coming to the hospital.