Trip to Manavya(shelter for HIV-afflicted children)

   On 15Th of July 2012, 41 medical cadets of Prayas visited Manavya. It is a shelter home for nursing, caring, & rehabilitating orphaned and destitute children afflicted by HIV/AIDS. As we arrived there, the happiness on the faces of children was inevitable as they welcomed us with warmth and joy.

  The Prayas members were given a tour of the entire shelter home. We visited the dormitories, classrooms, handicraft section & the medical wing. Then, several gifts were given to the children from the members of Prayas. We indeed had the time of our lives there along with the children as they performed several songs, played musical chairs, & other games with us. As we waved them goodbye, we learnt that those children having so much to worry about are not at all affected by the hardships, & get contentment from any little means of pleasure they get. One definitely needs a big heart for it!

Fund Raising For Patient

  An enormous feeling of compassion and sympathy was shown by the medical cadets of AFMC when they collected money for the treatment of a patient suffering from 'rheumatic heart disease' with 'mitral stenosis'.
Mr. Sagar Gaikwad works at the AFMC CSD. Little did he know that the life of his family would be disrupted by his illness as he could not afford the costly treatment of valve replacement. He had left all hopes as was extremely dishearted as he was the only earning member of his family.

 At this point "PRAYAS" came to his rescue. The PRAYAS members collected a huge sum of Rs. 40,000 for his surgery. This effort was highly appreciated by The Dean who sent 4 medical cadets to witness the surgery at the cardio-thoracic center on 17th of March. 

  

PRAYAS members along with Mr.Sagar Gaikwad

Cancer Screening Camp at Tulapur village

Cancer Screening Camp at Tulapur village

On 2nd of March, 2012, 33 medical cadets along with the faculty of Community Medicine AFMC, visited the remote village of Tulapur to conduct a cervical cancer screening camp for the villagers. It was a great occasion for the cadets as they got to learn the methodologies involved in conducting the screening program.

Also, a school health survey for children was held in which their BMI, level of nutrition, growth & development were noted. A health quiz for school children was also conducted to educate them about public health standards & the need for maintaining a clean environment for a healthy living. These efforts were highly appreciated by the villagers.

Prayas club activities during Silhouettes 2012

Several activities & programmes were organised by the prayas club during Silhouettes 2012 which is the annual festival of AFMC. This year the event was special as it was held to commemorate the golden jubilee of the undergraduate wing of the college.

•    Blood donation camp: A blood donation camp was organized on Feb 21st & 22nd. What we saw was an enormous zest in the people for this noble act. As many as 50 people donated blood within these 2 days. An exceptional act of compassion was shown by our very own HOD Community Medicine Air Commodore Ajoy Mahen when he arrived at the camp & donated blood to set an example for the rest.

                      

•     Poster-making competition: It was held on 23^rd Feb with an idea to generate awareness among people about organ donation. Creativity could be seen at its peak with exquisite work in poster-making done by students from AFMC & also several other colleges.

•      Eye-donation drive: Conducted on Feb 20^th & 21^st. A great deal of concern was shown by the cadets as 30 of them pledged to donate their eyes, so that the greatest gift of vision could be provided to those who need it.  

Medical Camp

There has been a long gap of several months between the medical camps now due to bad weather and university exams. So there were two medical camps this month in quick succession. On 11th and 25th of Feb, at Mohammadwari. From previous posts you already have an idea of what we do in there. So this is a special picture gallery for you, about the things we learnt at the medical camp this time.

I bet this man will make some serious efforts to improve his hand-writing, especially after he has seen a few extremely bad ones now. You can't afford to give alprazolam instead of atenolol twice.











When the only medicine you know about is paracetamol, working in the medical van can be an eye opener. And yes, you are supposed to give paracetamol when the doc writes PCM.

There is no need to look so confused. Just refer him to CH. That's the only thing you can do except giving him b-complex. The liver doesn't fails itself. Even if the patient tell you that he "just started drinking last year".

This is Rani. Her picture is given here for future reference. Please don't give her the same medicines twice. Even if she brings two prescriptions from two different doctors. Or if she says, "it's for my twin sister".

Special thanks to Hota sir, Souvik Nandy, Avijit S Chauhan, Anirudh Sahoo, Anshul Srivastava, Prabhjeet, Chandan, and Kapil Patsariya for being a part of the team. We hope we get more such chances to serve the community.

Patient Helped

 We are happy to announce that the patient for whom we were raising funds in November has been treated upon and is now doing well. We would like to congratulate the cadets, the faculty and all other people who contributed for this cause. Your noble intentions have saved somebody's life. We are proud to have you as our friends, colleagues and teachers.

The said patient was one of our own retired employees, an asthmatic in the need of an oxygen concentrator. His son Narendra still works at AFMC. We have seen a lots of such people suffer,  who have been working for us on contract basis. Take the example of Mr. Nair, who used to accept our mess bills. When he died an unnatural death after an accident, the then Col Adm made arrangements for his family with the help from cadets and faculty alike. To make things easier in such cases, there has been a proposal by the W2 batch to start an alumni-fund. We plan to involve all the AFMCites to establish a source of monetary help for the workers in AFMC when they are in need. An institution is made by the people who belong to it. It is the duty of all the AFMCites to take care of it's own people. We hope that this plan will soon take shape. Your ideas and criticism on this topic are required more than ever. Please add them as a comment after this post. Thank you.

Walk for Cancer

From now on we are extending the scope of this website to include articles from all the members about their experiences. So this is the first one of such posts by Souvik from U2 batch.


Today was a memorable day for me. Going for a Cancer awareness walk early in the morning was a visual treat. So many people who had either fought the devil of cancer and overpowered it and many others who lost their near and dear ones to cancer, participated in the event. Seeing them and hearing to their life experiences was heart-touching. So much enthusiasm and zeal was really commendable. Good job by the NGO Highways Infinite. Felt lucky to be a part of it.


Souvik Nandy

26th Jan at the Blind School

Today we visited the Technical Training Institute of The Poona Blind Men's Association. We too joined in their festivities, and it was a really pleasant experience. First of all there was the flag-hoisting ceremony after the morning prayers.  

 There was a musical show in their auditorium in which some of us performed too after a little nudging and persuasion.

 We shared meals with them along with some intimate moments too. (You just have to put a few girls of the same age together, and they instantaneously connect as if they are long lost sister. That's what i learn from these pictures.)

 And then there was this very cute little kid who was the center of everyone's attraction.

We were highly impressed and motivated by their CEO Dr. Homiyar Mobedji, who worked in his office like  any other professional despite being visually challenged himself. You can contact the organozation at this address if you wish-

109, Dr. Helen Keller road, Ramtekdi,

 Hadapsar, Pune 411-013

Phone: 020 26870609/0986 * Email: pbma.tti@gmail.com

Prayas Farewell 2011

As the T2 batch completes it's journey in the college, we bid them farewell today so that they can move on to bigger and better things in life. We hope that this spirit of kinship will grow stronger with time. We wish that wherever they are, their time with Prayas always stays as a guiding light which gives them the hope and the strength to do good for others even in the darkest times. Goodbye !

Diwali at the observation home

Today we celebrated diwali with the children at the observation home. It's a well managed place in the traditional sense. But you can't call their living conditions ideal, they more of like 'meet the minimum official requirements'. That's not the kind of childhood you would wish for your own kids. Somewhere between neglect of the society and the shortage of such observation homes in India, the condition of the inmates has been deteriorating over the years.

We wanted to take them a gift. They specially asked us for crackers instead of sweets. Every rich 'seth' tries to compensate for his sins at Holi and Diwali by distributing ladoos. Feeding them something nutritious for the rest of the year isn't that glamorous. So crackers it was. They weren't allowed to light those by themselves. Safety reasons I believe. We organized a magic show for them too. Had a good time, sang some songs, made them dance, danced with them. And came back with a heavy heart..

Diwali with a purpose

This year, the diwali celebrations by the Care India Medical Society were held at our own Dhanvantari auditorium. We had a chance to interact with the Congress MP Ms.Priya Dutt. She also announced that the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation will support Vishranti Hospital from now on. (click here for the newspaper article). 

It is always an extreme (if not happy) experience to listen to the families of the patients who have either survived or succumbed to cancer. It helps a lot. It's not something a patient will say to you when you are taking his history at the bed-side. It takes lot of courage to cry in front of a hall full of people. It's like laying bare the innermost core of your emotions. No amount of palpation or auscultation can help you elicit it in clinical practice. We are thankful to Care India and Vishranti to make us a part of this experience. We hope that all of our Diwalis have a purpose from now on..

Skit on female foeticide at Sainik Sammelan

Today we had the chance to reach out directly to the jawaans through the sainik sammelan at Dhanvantari Auditorium at AFMC. We presented our skit on female foeticide in front of the audience which was very lively compared to our previous encounters. It is probably the last repeat of this skit as we are working on new stories and means of communication. But we will always remember the months (yes, you heard it.. months!) of hard work put into the making of this 10-minute performance. It gave us experience for the future and the strength to work for our purpose. We hope that the legacy continues forever.

Educational Skit at Wanowrie Bazar

We presented a repeat performance of our skit on female foeticide in front of the residents of Wanowrie Bazar today at an event organized by the PSM dept. AFMC. It was taken with enthusiasm even by the non-hindi speaking people of the community. The event was graced by various dignitaries, notably the Comdt. of Armed Forces Medical College, Air Marshal GS Joneja, VM. We hope that next time we would be able to do some educational event in marathi so that the local population can appreciate it better.

We would like to appreciate the hard work of the participants:

• Prabhjeet Singh Bathla
• Anurag Seth
• Kamesh Gupta
• Shivani Handa
• Juhi Varshney
• Jyotsna Sharma
• Akshay Mishra
• Tooba Mariyam
• Paridhi Gupta
• Prerna

Skit on Female Foeticide

The Gurudwara Sahib, CH(SC) recently celebrated the 407th प्रकाश पूरब of श्री गुरु ग्रन्थ साहिब जी. We made full use of the opportunity to spread our message to the masses by presenting an educational skit in front of the devotees. We would consider this effort to sensitize people against female foeticide successful if it leaves some impact even if small, on the minds and hearts of the audience. You can see the recording here if you have missed the live performance.

We would sincerely like to thank The O i/c Gurudwara Sahib CH(SC), members of the Organising Committee, all the actors, the audience and all those people who contributed even in the smallest manner to make the event possible. We hope that we would get more such chances to reach out to the masses in the future too, so that we can contribute to the dream of building a country that we can be truly proud of. Jai Hind.

Independence day at Mamata Bal Sadan

Today we had the pleasure of visiting a wonderful organization ममता बाल सदन, located in Pune. It is run under the flag of 'सप्तसिंधु महिला आधार बालसंगोपन एवं शिक्षण संस्था ' founded by 'Mai' Mrs. Sindhutai Sapakal. Her life and struggles have already inspired numerous people. She was refused shelter at her husband's home after she had a clash with some landlords over women's right to wages. She left the home and gave birth to a daughter at midnight all alone. This situation brought the turning point in her life. She now gives her own surname to every orphan that comes to her organization.

The organisation tries to fulfill all the needs of orphan children including education and emotional support. It was an awe inspiring experience to see the social structure of the place. Instead of an over-disciplined or over-controlled formal institution, the place struck us more as a closely knit extended family. The elder children took active part in the care for the young ones, just like a family. We had a good time listening to their poems and jokes (though we needed lots of translation to understand the marathi ones). They were very enthusiastic about the cricket kit that we brought them. So we ended up in their little playground. We played with them, shared jokes, and well.. some people were even able to find their younger selves in these kids. The picture given below is dedicated to all those 'Judwaa' moments that we encountered during the day...

The day came to an end with a special lunch which we had sponsored for them on the occasion of Independence Day. Some people out of us had a little trouble eating without spoons though.. but the small papad chips make quite a substitute for spoons in times of needs.

We bid farewell to them in late afternoon in the hope of meeting our newfound friends again..

You can support this organization and know more about it by visiting www.mysaptsindhu.org . Mai now spends most of her time travelling to all the corners of the state and motivating people. In words of 'Mai' herself...

देवा ... आम्हाला हसायला शिकाव ...

परन्तु... आम्ही कधी रडलो होतो...

याचा विसर पडू देवू नकोस..

God ! Teach us to smile..

But let us not forget,

we had cried some day.. !

Symposium on addictive substances

Today we conducted a small educational lecture in front of the children of a nearby school. The symposium was meant to spread awareness about addictive substances among the school children and encourage them to stop the use of such substances if they are already involved with them. This was based on various reports which indicated that the use of such substances has been on a rise among the students. The topics discussed included alcohol, tobacco, cigarettes and inhalants like correction fluid, etc. We hope that in the future we get more such opportunities to spread awareness in the community. (And ofcourse, to interact more with children. I guess, Prayas club just loves children... that's why most of our activities mainly revolve around the young-ones !) 

It was a very intense experience for all of us. We entered the school in the middle of the lunch break, with the heavy projection equipment and a white bedsheet in place of a screen. The audience were getting more and more impatient as the teachers tried to control their hue and cry. And thanks heavens, for the first time in a very long time, everything worked as it was supposed to work... but trust me, after this day i have abandoned all hope of becoming a school teacher. Now i have decided to be a college professor, they are paid much more for much less trouble...  :) 

Place: Mhadaji Shinde High School, Wanowrie

Time: between 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm on 3^rd of August, 2011

Audience: School children of ages between 14 years to 18 years and the teachers.

Participants: Medical cadets Aanchal Singhal (V2), Souvik Nandy (U2), Avijit Singh Chauhan (U2), Om Panda (V2), Tanuj Madan (U2)

Special guest: Air Cmdr. Ajoy Mahen (HOD,  Dept. of PSM, AFMC)