Health

AMAN, with assistance from the Charities Aid Foundation has been conducting its activities at its Community Based Health Care in a remote village of Mattipora in Baramulla district since February 2012. The project has seen active participation of the local community in not only mobilising people of the district to take part in the programme but also in providing voluntary labour and services in running the centre. The Centre is the only quality medical facility for 20 surrounding villages.

The highest number of patients range from the age group of 20-50 with 60 per cent of the patients being women. In the last three and a half months the centre treated almost 1000 persons and carried out 50 laboratory tests during the same period. Approximately 44% of the patients came from Matipora while other patients come from villages as far as Habang Tango, Tangnarg, Nowpara and Magam. Presently the centre is housed in a five room building.

The Team and Facilities at the Centre — the medical team comprises of eleven people, including one programme coordinator, four doctors (General Physician, Gynecologist, Ophthalmologist and Dentist), two lab technicians, two nurses, one warden and one helper. Laboratory facilities include tests for urine, blood, LFT, CRP and pregnancy.

Frequent Illnesses — the most frequently reported illnesses are fever, diarrhea, bronchitis and RTI. Other regularly reported illnesses include UTI, hypertension, Eczema/Vitiligo, bleeding gums, decayed teeth, leucoria, dismenorrhea, metrorrhagia, hair loss and scabies. An abnormally high number of patients were detected with jaundice, leading to many serum bilirubin tests. Other frequent tests include ASO and CRP for skin, GT for pregnancy, HCG for hormones, and HBB for hemoglobin.

AMAN Trust conducted a TB awareness camp in the village of Mattipora in the Baramulla district of J&K. The camp is part of a year-long awareness campaign on TB prevention, conducted in collaboration with the Government of J&K and the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI). Nearly twenty participants attended, including Asha workers, the village Sarpanch, ICDS workers and village elders. AMAN conducted four more such camps in the following months.

The AMAN Health Care Centre, supported by the Charities Aid Foundation, has been running in the village of Matipora in Baramulla district, Jammu and Kashmir since 2003. This six-monthly report covers activities from 1st February to 31st July 2012.

The total number of beneficiaries who came for treatment and consultation at the health centre was 2,636 — 860 male, 1,214 female and 562 children.

Consultation at the Health Centre: over 2,000 people visited the centre for consultation and laboratory tests, with the majority being women. The most common illnesses reported were respiratory diseases, urinary tract infections, skin infections, gastritis and hypertension.

Laboratory tests: a large number of tests were conducted, related to urine, hemoglobin, ESR, TLC, blood groups, viral infections and HIV.

Camps with Government and Advocacy: four camps were conducted in collaboration with the government and three with the community, in the villages of Arampura, Nawpora and Kirpal Garh, each attended by 50-60 villagers. One camp was held in Mattipora with village elders, local health workers and government representatives including the Sarpanch, Asha workers and Anganwadi workers — focused on government health schemes and TB prevention and cure.

The project has good recognition and appreciation from both the community and the Kashmir government, with a steady increase in the number of patients visiting the centre.