Every single day, 3000 Indian children die – due to curable diseases
Delivering health through mobile clinics and medical teams
Participating in school and leading a productive life relies on maintaining a good health. In order to reach this goal we need to address the extensive need for healthcare. The purpose of our Health Program is thus to improve health and reduce mortality among street children in Kolkata. Every single day, around 3000 Indian children die of diseases due to malnutrition, poor hygiene, unclean environments and unsanitary drinking water. These diseases could easily have been cured. However due to extreme poverty, lack of information and degrading treatment at public hospitals, they do not receive the essential help in time. We wish to change that with two mobile health clinics. Our mobile clinics offer free health checks, medicine and vaccines. Our medical team provide an average of 1400 health checks and treatments every month. In some cases they also refer patients to public hospitals.
Our medical team also provide information about healthcare in general, infectious diseases and treatment of wounds. This is done, not only to equip the parents with knowledge, but also to prevent diseases and epidemics among the children, so no one should risk hovering between life and death.
Finding the root cause
The clinics are on the road 8 hours every weekday from 9 Am to 5 PM. Operating in a country where resources are already limited, it is crucial for us to invest in precautionary matters. By addressing the root cause of the problem, we also make the most of our resources.
In order to avoid all side effects of unsanitary living conditions, we are in the process of installing biodegradable toilets, and developing garbage solutions in two of the slum areas – Khaldhar and Bakkri Patti. 80% of the most common diseases could have been avoided with access to clean water and sanitary facilities. Inhabitants of the slum areas currently have no access to toilets. Constant exposure to bacteria, causes a lot of serious diseases such as cholera, hepatitis A and E, typhoid and tape worm. It is thus impossible for the children to gain a healthy body weight, no matter how much food they eat. 48% of all children in India under the age of 5 years are moderate to severely malnourished and underdeveloped.
An Extended First Aid Kit
In July 2019, our first Mobile Health Clinic went out on the street. It works as an extended First Aid Kit, from where we treat minor wound injuries, burn wounds, infections, viruses, skin rashes, boils and diarrhoea, which is the biggest killer amongst Indian children, with 400.000 victims a year.
The clinic is active between 8 hours every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in various slum areas and is run by an intensive care nurse from Denmark, with more than 10 years of experience. She is assisted by a local nurse, a local interpreter and volunteer nursing- and medical students from Denmark. Twice a week our local doctor is present, to attend to the children and prescribe medicine.
Our Mobile Health Clinics have capacity to offer 40 health-checks or treatments to children and mothers to-be
- in each clinic every day.
In 2023, a single mobile health clinic provided 9,792 treatments.
The Ambulance
In January 2020 we expanded our Health Program with yet another mobile unit, qualified to give vaccinations and treat critical injuries in sterile surroundings. Therefore, the clinic is staffed full time by a local doctor including two local nurses.
The unit is an ambulance totally restored inside, to make space for the doctor and the nurses to have consultations and do treatments. Hence, we have put in, two couches, a chairs, lockers for medical charts, medicine etc.
Even though this clinic makes it possible to conduct more comprehensive and advanced treatment, there will always be cases needing more extensive treatment - so in some cases, admission to hospital is necessary.
To minimize hospitals expenses, we dream of one day being able to open our own small hospital, where our team can offer immediate treatment.