Camps & Collaborations Lead the Way to a Health Transformation in Communities

Several Challenges, Health Remains at the Forefront

When conducting outreach work within communities, team RCI comes across myriad concerns that continue to stunt the physical, emotional and mental growth of children. Stressors such as their families’ financial situation, the lure of a paid labour opportunity, bad influence of their peers and older children are among some of them them. However, one fundamental issue that recurs in their lives time and again is the children’s poor health.

Stories such as 9-year-old Vishal (name changed) complaining about his notebooks looking blurry, and 15-year-old Harini (name changed) missing school during her menstruation are aplenty within these bastis. When suppressed and neglected for a long time, these health concerns pose a bigger, often non-reversible, condition that stands as a massive hurdle to their development. Railway Children India’s outreach team and program managers realized that this menace needs more than door-to-door intervention, and that’s how the initiative of setting up health camps came into being.

Crisis Reveals an Opportunity

The complaints and concerns had piled up for long; it was the eye-flu outbreak in Delhi, however,  that set the ball rolling for the planning and execution of these health camps. “Increasingly, children had begun visiting the Child Activity Centers with eyeglasses on, many others were rubbing their eyes and complaining of itching. However, they were all unaware of what was indeed unfolding,” explains Program Manager Sandip Jha.

Setting up the eye check-up camp during this time not only allowed for timely intervention with the spread of the eye flu, but it also revealed major underlying vision defects in several children. When the diagnoses were shared with parents, they pieced the puzzle together by revealing how their children had been complaining about blurry notebooks and hazy cricket balls, but their inhuman working hours stopped them from attending to their complaints. For children who required more than a health-camp intervention, treatment plans were initiated and conducted at nearby public hospitals.

Identifying Potential Areas, Expanding Initiatives

Assessing the tremendous impact delivered by these health camps, team RCI began to identify potential areas in child health where these camps would prove more helpful. This led to the setting up of an oral-hygiene camp to diagnose dental health issues. Followed by the camp, team RCI went on to strengthen the support by distributing a toothpaste-toothbrush kit and useful guides of do’s, don’ts and how-to’s.

DLSA and ABHA to the Rescue

The impact of these timely, widespread health camps cannot be stated without acknowledging the role of the District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) and Indian Medical Association (IMA). Specializing in public health, the IMA collaborated with DLSA, allowing RCI to deliver wholesome camps, wherein in-depth checkups were conducted, medical and medicinal assistance were provided and due follow-up was conducted as well.

Collaborating with DLSA also proved vital in providing residents of the communities with ABHA cards. For those uninitiated, ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) card/ID is a health card that issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India. Comprising a unique 14-digit identification number called ABHA ID, this digital health card holds vital health information that makes it possible to quickly and easily access treatment history and medical data. Holding this card allows members of the community to avail benefits under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana and receive sound financial coverage as well.

Leaving a Lasting Impact …

Railway Children India’s health camps in bastis have received astoundingly positive response. Parents are happy to know their children’s health is now taken well care of, while adults are content with the knowledge that their health is someone’s priority too. Every step of the planning of these camps, right from announcements in the gallis and distributing informative booklets to consultation with doctors and prompt medical intervention, receives a grand welcome! Most importantly, these health camps helped tremendously in the early detection of cataracts in senior citizens. Such diagnoses are duly followed-up with free-of-cost surgeries—a cause of great relief and assurance.

… Planning for More

Team RCI is in the works of setting up special camps to detect and treat urinary tract infections among adolescent girls and women of the community. These camps will not only check hemoglobin levels of the girls and women to detect anemia but will also spread much-needed awareness about personal hygiene.

For children below 6 years, our team is plotting BMI checks to gauge the whether the child is underweight/malnourished and plan a tailor-made nutrition support from them as well. A special camp dedicated to busting myths and checking for sexually transmitted diseases is also in the pipeline.

Railway Children India is deeply grateful to our healthcare partners—Mahavir International Hospital, Dr. Shroff Eye Hospital, District Legal Services Authority and Indian Medical Association—for lending their valuable resources and professional strength to bring these impactful camps to fruition.