Hosptials, clinics and medical camps are run by
Ananda Marga in poor areas, both on a long-term or short-term basis,
depending on the need. The Abha Seva
Sadan Multitherapy Charitable Health Centre in Jharkhand,
India, is one example:
The rural areas of Jharkhand state (formerly Bihar)
in Northeastern India are among the poorest and most neglected parts
of the country. The tribal inhabitants live in primitive conditions
which have hardly improved in the last century. With few schools
of poor quality, their illiteracy rate approaches 80 percent. They
suffer from chronic malnutrition and infectious diseases. Primitive
subsistence agriculture is the main employment available.
There is very poor health infrastructure in Kashijharia.
Easily treatable diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, leprosy,
gastro-enteritis and malaria are widespread. Many women die during
childbirth due to a complete lack of maternity services. Because
of poor or inadequate training, village doctors often fail to recognize
life-threatening complications. The nearest hospital is over 20
km away; it is private and much too expensive for the people to
afford.
The Abha Seva Sadan Multitherapy Charitable Health
Centre (ASSMCH) is designed to provide quality health care and health
education. Its main features include:
Integrated Health Care
No single discipline of healing is appropriate
for all persons and all ailments. Since May 2005 ASSMCH has been
offering treatment in allopathy, acupuncture and homeopathy. Ayurveda
and naturopathy will be also be added. This holistic approach of
combining conventional and alternative treatments allows the physicians
and therapists to provide the most suitable care for each patient.
Training of health care workers
Another aspect of our work is to train primary
health care workers. This training of local men and women is called
Community Medical Service, a global program of the World Health
Organization. These village medical workers can then begin to earn
a living and contribute to an effective health infrastructure in
the region.
Grassroots work in villages
Our mobile medical team is regularly visiting distant
villages, to give treatment and to raise the consciousness of the
people about nutrition, hygiene and good health practices. This
will in future be combined with cultural and sports activities,
for the all-round physical and mental development of the population.
Through dramas and games, the villagers can more readily accept
and learn about preventive and curative health care for themselves
and their families.
We have a 1-acre plot of land in Kashijharia which is surrounded
by a number of poor villages. It has good access via a nearby connecting
road. We are serving a rural population of approx. 50,000 that has
no access to other adequate affordable medical facilities.
We currently have a 6-room out-patient clinic with
consultation rooms for acupuncture, allopathy and homeopathy. A
phase-wise construction program will eventually give additional
facilities: dressing/treatment room, pharmacy, stock room, registration
room, waiting hall and accomodation for staff and volunteers.
Due to limited resources, we are not yet able to
employ a doctor in each medical discipline to work every day. Currently
the homeopathic doctor gives consultations 5 days a week, the acupuncture
doctor 3 days a week and the allopathic doctor one day a week.
The mobile medical team regularly visits nearby
villages on a weekly basis. The first village programmes were education
on water hygiene, including the disinfection of all drinking water
wells in the village. The current programs are focusing on nutritional
education, with the weekly screeining of an entertaining film which
was made with local actors in the local dialect. The film is screened
in a different village every week and so far over 60 villages have
been covered. The response has been very encouraging.
Have you got what it takes?
Email service at anandamarga.org to volunteer.
