Coimbatore, India - July 6, 2004
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Well baby clinic in the slums of Coimbatore. The residents try to make these visits to this slum once a month. The inhabitants know when the doctors come so that they can bring their little ones to have them checked out. It is absolutely free, and usually most common medications are given for free as well. Interestingly, each baby is given a small dose of albendazole as prophylaxis for worm infestations. |
This is our second day on the job. Dr. Shivamani, our guru, is briefing us on some of the things we will expect to see today. We were to go into a few of the local villages and perform a needs assessment. Also, we were to visit some of the women empowerment camps in the Coimbatore area. Although there was not much in terms of clinical aspects to see today, we were quite looking forward to it.
As Shivamani taught us, there are three essential hurdles to health care. Acceptability, Affordability, and Accessibility. Tamil Nadu is a proud land, with an ancient language. Being so, it is quite difficult even with educated individuals to have meaningful conversations if you do not know Tamil. Luckily for us, Kartik K. was the state’s prodigal son. He was our guide and translator. The village was basically a farming village, nestled amongst acres of towering coconut trees.
The first thing we noticed was the accessibility problem. There are very few proper roads for these villages, only 20km away from Coimbatore, to travel upon. One bus comes in the morning, returns sojourners back home if they chose to make it out to Coimbatore. So I saw the dire straits these villagers are in if they become sick. It is quite obvious they won't rely on hospital care, but will rely on their own common sense.
As we started to interview some of the villagers, it struck me as odd that in their assessing their needs, they felt as they had none! One individual we asked said that his life is almost perfect, and perhaps the one thing he wishes for is a water tank!! The villagers have almost nil education, roads as mentioned are non-existent, and they make less than a dollar a day. I guess when you can't read a newspaper and you never go further than your village your whole life, you would never expect that life can get any better than living in a run-down hut with no water, little food, and even less education.
As we were leaving, we received the most telling sign of the REAL anguish these people faced. In a little, shady hut lay a woman with a wooden plank tied to her entire right leg. It was tied with the thick rope we used to climb in gym class--definitely did not look too comfortable. When we asked her what the problem was, she said she was an 80-year-old widow with no children and had just recently fell and broke her hip. She couldn't afford nor move enough to go all the way to Coimbatore, so she just had her neighbor tie this wooden plank to support her in her dying days.
And so it is experiences like these that didn't dishearten me, but it encouraged me learn as much as I could about the issues of these people, to learn as much as I humanly could of medicine and life. I hope that one day when I come back to this village as a doctor, I can help the man see the magnificent world around him, I can help educate his children to aspire for more than just half-clean water, and I can alleviate the suffering of that woman piteously tied to a plank!
Shrinivas Hebsur, Med 2 (Class of 2007)
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