Sahaita organized eight medical camps in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
Pictures from the Medical Camps in India
The team of Sahaita Inc based in Fremont, California, USA visited India from October 4th to October 22nd. The members of this team included Dr. Arthur Swislocki who is Chief of Internal Medicine at Dept of Veterans affairs clinic in Martinez, his wife Ann, Dr. Wafa Samara, Dr. Joy Meier, Dr. Carol Bowden, JJ Nicholas (Sports medicine) Deloris Mensini R.N., Upkaar Mangat R.N. and her Husband Lachman Mangat. Team from USA was joined by team from Canada under leadership of Dr. Upninderjit Singh (Dr. Jogi) along with Jaspal Singh, Paramjit Sanghera, Mr and Mrs Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, Mr and Mrs.MP Singh, Mr and Mrs Tiwana, Chamkaur Singh and Mr and Mrs. Resham Singh. Both Sahaita teams worked with team of Sahaita India under leadership of Dr.Rajinder Singh (Ophthalmologist). Sahaita teams were able to hold 8 medical camps during this visit and 6 of them were full medical and eye camps. Six camps at Kishan Garh Channa, Hassanpur, Mujara, Jhabelwali, Burj Dunne ki and Padialla were in Punjab. One camp was organized at Chanaur, Dist Kangra in Himachal Pradesh and last camp was organized at Adarsh public school in Karnal, Haryana.
The response at these camps was very overwhelming and great experience for all these foreign dignitaries who were able to see what Sahaita does and how much need is there for such things. Our day started from 5AM and each day had to drive long way to reach our destination and on average each camp attracted 700-800 patients ( even when we expected 200-250 pts) and usually we finished around 7-8 PM. Usually we reached our night stay destination by 11pm. This was a very hectic trip and we found lots of illnesses, poverty and illiteracy regarding the medical problems. Hypertension and Diabetes along with joint diseases were very prevalent. Dr. JJ Singh as they called him was kept busy all day along and like the trip in 2006 we had to at the end rescue him everyday. From the 6 medical camps over 350 patients were identified who will be getting Free Intra ocular Lens implant by Phaco- emulsification technique at Dr. Rajinder’s clinic in Ludhiana.. At each of these medical camps people were screened and tested for Diabetes, Hypertension, Cholesterol, obesity and Anemia. ECG’s was done for anyone who was found to have some heart ailment. Free Medicines and Sehatnama was also distributed during these camps.
The team also celebrated Dusherra festival at Bal Bhawan with the Children and Seniors of the Bal Bhawan Complex. It was wonderful experience to see these children showing so much love and affection to these team members who did not know if the kids will understand them. Language of love is so unique that it can cross all barriers. The children put up a cultural show and danced with the members of Sahaita Inc teaching them all the moves. We also visited Bal Ghar facility on the 10th October and had dinner with the children and enjoyed their cultural activities. Children at both facilities were given gifts like Basketball/Soccer Balls. Shirts /pants, Clothes, Bennie babies and other stuffed toys beside Candy, which the team members carried with them from USA. For some of them it was first toy of their life and were jumping up and down and giving hugs all around. All the foreign dignitaries never thought they will get such warm welcome and hospitality everywhere they went.
What was also important was the curiosity and eagerness to know about India culture and Punjabi way of life among our guests. They loved visiting the Taj Mahal, Gurdwara Fathegarh Sahib and the reception by the Gurdwara committee and knowledge imparted was great. After our camp in Kangra team visited Dharamshala and Mcleod ganj area where the spiritual leader Dalai Lama temple was an interesting place. Returning back to Punjab we visited Golden Temple at night with its awesome images and next day Dr. Swislocki delivered a lecture on Controversies in Diabetes at The Government Medical College in Amritsar. We also had the opportunity to watch the ceremonies of change of Guard at The Wagha Border, which in itself was a very exciting event. The team also got a chance to see an Indian wedding on the last night stay in Ludhiana and they all dressed in Indian suits and had lot of fun at that wedding. The trip was marred by a Bad experience due to cancellation of our flight back to USA and then stranded for night at LAX airport due to the Security laws and it was a sore spots in the near perfect successful tour of India. The team hopes that all those we saw or touched will benefit from this trip and in future we will be better equipped to the needs of the people. We hope Sahaita Inc will in Future be able to get help from other foreign healthcare workers to go with us to India.
Locations and Dates:
October 8th : Kishangarh Channa- Near Raikot, Dist Ludhiana
October 10th: Hassanpur, Near Mullanpur, Dist. Ludhiana
October 11th :Channaur, Dist. Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
October 14th: Mujara, Near Sahnewal, Dist. Ludhiana
October 15th: Jhabel wali, Dist.Mukatsar
October 16th: Burj Dunne ke, Dist.Moga
October 18th: Padialla, Near Kurali, Dist. Roopnagar
Click here to see Pictures from the Medical Camps!!
