https://csim.in/conversations/ConversationsToday-February2014.pdf

Rani was waiting to meet the duty doctor at Thirumalai Mission Hospital. She was cheerfully chatting with her daughter Priya while she awaited her turn. Noticing me with my camera, she spontaneously engaged in a conversation. “I was suffering from knee pain for over three years. It was tough for me to carry out the household chores and the pain was getting unbearable. It was then a lady who worked in this hospital visited my village. She asked me to consult the specialist in this hospital and undergo treatment. I have now come to tell the doctor that I am feeling much better.”

Rani hails from Ammapudur village which is 18 kilometers from Ranipet. She has to change three buses to reach the Bharti Nagar bus stand which is located two kilometers away from the hospital.

After enquiring about her family, I asked her if she could walk the distance from the bus stand to the hospital with ease. Moving her head from side to side she said, “I called the hospital as soon as I reached the bus stop and within a few minutes the hospital van picked me up. I was tired and so chose the van service.”

As soon as the nurse called out Rani’s name, she sprang from her seat and went to meet the doctor. I looked around and noticed that several patients were seated at the waiting hall.  This is a similar scene every day at this Hospital that has been started by Thirumalai Charity Trust (TCT)  in 2010 to offer accessible, affordable and quality health care.

Started 43years ago, this NGO works in 315 villages in Vellore District, and providing services in community health care, women empowerment, disability, de-addiction, and village development.

Dr. Bhooma Parthasarathy, the Director of Thirumalai Mission Hospital welcomed us and took us around. A social worker, she has been instrumental in establishing this hospital. “Our Founder Shri N.S. Iyengar believed that Social Responsibility of Business is not Optional, but Obligatory”. He set up the Thirumalai Charity Trust in 1970 to put this belief into action. Since then, we have implemented and supported a number of projects in Health, Education and Rural Development,” she said.

“Villagers had to travel some 25 kilometers to access health care services. We conduct awareness camps in villages around Ranipet. Women screening camps are organized every Wednesday and Hindu Mission hospital conducts eye camps every month and cardiac camps every alternate month. On World Diabetes Day, the hospital organized camps in two villages where people were screened with the help of family care volunteers. It was found that a majority of them had blood sugar in the range of 400 to 500,” she added.

The lab is fully equipped and technicians were busy. Talking about the lab, Dr. Bhooma said: “Cognizant Foundation has donated few equipment. We take a conscious call on what we need to invest our money in. We have recently added an auto analyser; hormone analyser; automatic analyser, and Vitamin D analyser. Most of our staff are from the local villages. We offer training to our technicians to enable them operate the equipment effectively. The lab has been the focus of our Medical Director right from the day he joined in. It is something that he felt is a must of the hospital.”

She took us to Dr. Seshadri who was busy with his patients. It was our turn to wait.

Speaking about the support offered by Cognizant Foundation, he said: “All equipment provided by Cognizant Foundation has been put to good use. I feel that we need to upgrade the equipment in the laboratory. Osteoporosis is a common problem amongst our patients and we have a Dexa machine and we carry out free dexa scan for our rural people. Our objective is to provide services on need basis. We have not gone for a CT scanner or MRI, because that is not our priority. We do need an immune assay analyzer for the lab, laparoscopy equipment, ophthlamic equipment, a c-arm  and intensive medical equipment at the right time as these are in our list of priorities. “

TCT created the cadre of Family Care Volunteers in 2009, recognizing the need to have close contact with the families to ensure access to health, awareness for early detection, and seeking health care. These community selected volunteers are the first point of contact for social and health care needs and they are offered a 2-day training programme every month on Health and Development.

Topics for Training include Hygiene & Sanitation, Water borne & Air borne diseases. Safe drinking water, Nutrition & Nutritional disorders, Alcoholism, Dowry, Domestic Violence, Legal rights of Women, Mother and Child care, HIV / AIDS, Mental illness, Disability, and Suicide. They carry the messages given to them in the training to the families in the villages and give feedback to our staff on the problems in the families. As a pilot project this was implemented in 30 villages, training 100 volunteers

Thirumalai Mission Hospital networks with Hindu Mission Hospital, TTK hospital, Rotary clubs, Andhra Mahila Sabha, WORTH Trust, Sundaram Medical Foundation and several other organizations to ensure the benefits reach those who deserve them.

In June 1994, in response to a long felt need of the Ranipet and Walajapet community, TCT established Vedavalli Vidyalaya, a co-educational school affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education, at Walajapet. Two more schools were added on in 1999 with state syllabus in Walaja  and in  2003 with CBSE to meet the growing demand. With the belief that a child-friendlyatmosphere is essential for learning, the school’s teaching methods and procedures blend the traditional with modern ideas that provide for the all-round development of the child, preparing him for responsible adulthood.

Thirumalai Mission hospital conducts regular medical camps for the school students. “This is one of the hospitals which is closer to our home. They have the best facilities and offer 24 hour service.  My parents also visit this hospital for treatment as this is the biggest hospital here,” said Vijay who was studying in tenth standard.

As the village volunteers provide local support to mobilize the people, TCT’s projects are now functioning in 40 Panchayats, 315 villages at Walaja and Katpadi Taluks of Vellore District to serve a population of about 1,60,000 people.

“While looking back at our own journey, we realize that we have been able to deliver our programmes only through networking. The mission for the participating hospitals is also very clear wherein they also want to reach out to the poor. If doctors feel that the patients can’t afford to pay the treatment costs, they are recommended for concession. As much as possible we try to establish links between the need and the resources available. We make sure that people who need the most are reached in one way or the other,” concluded Dr. Bhooma.