Visit to Deep Griha Society- Ramtekdi Slums

  On 29th August, medical cadets of Prayas visited Deep Griha Society at Ramtekdi slums which is an NGO working for the welfare of the people in the slums. This was the first occasion for the freshers of Y-2 batch to participate in the activities of Prayas.

  Deep Griha Society has taken initiative to work in several fields for the people of slums. These works include:

               *Women empowerment project

               *DISHA (Deep Griha's Integrated Services for HIV & AIDS

               *Medical & Healthcare Programs

               * Child Care & Child Development

               *Youth empowerment

It was a good opportunity for all Prayas members to know about how this NGO works & also about its various programmes. We learnt that there is a section of society even in developed cities like Pune who need our care & empathy. If we can take out even a small amount of time to help them, it would make a tremendous impact in someone's lives.

Informative skit on Eye Donation

An informative skit on eye donation was performed by the X-2 batch medical cadets of Prayas on 25th August. It was held on the occasion of "Prakash Purab" at the Gurudwara, Command Hospital- Southern Command. The skit was very well appreciated by the audience who asked questions about eye donation & also filled up voluntary eye donation cards. It is said that a good skit really has an impact on the audience which was evident from this skit.

Independence Day celebration at Ayodhya Charitable Trust's school for the deaf & mute

 

   31 medical cadets of Prayas celebrated the Independence day this year at the Ayodhya Charitable Trust's school for the deaf-&-mute children. Various events were organised there & everyone had a really great experience interacting with the children. Sweets were distributed after the flag-hoisting & national anthem. Also several sports goods were donated to the children. It was a joyous occasion for both cadets and the children to interact with each other.

End of charity week

This post is dedicated to all those people who came forward during the charity week and blessed us with their moral support and donations. We are deeply and truly thankful to you. You made a difference in somebody's life today. 

We were able to collect more than Rs.12,000 and objects like old clothes, eatables and other items which would be used to help those who are in actual need for them. And we hope that in future too, you will show the same spirit of kindness and generosity. Thank You.

Prayas Club is organizing a 'Charity Week' from 6th Aug to 13th Aug. Please send all your love, affection, wishes, goodwill and if possible dry rations, toileteries, and monetary donations to those who really need them. Please contact the people mentioned in the poster for more information. Thank You !

Tree plantation drive at AFMC

  In today's era of rampant industrialization & deforestation, even our city is witnessing the wrath of global warming in terms of climate changes & reduced rainfall in the city. With disappearing forests in and around Pune, not only the mean annual temperature has risen, the rivers are regressing & there has been an increase in the respiratory particulate matter(RPM) concentration in the air(source: The Times Of India).
 
  The members of Prayas took the initiative to start a tree plantation drive at AFMC. 60 saplings of peepal, teak, banyan, mango & several other species were planted in the boys' hostel area. The drive was symbolic and displayed that the cadets are interested in investing time and effort for a better tomorrow. It also addressed the environmental issues that have been causing concerns, by creating awareness about importance of trees; they aimed at having a cleaner and greener city.

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