Aboli Foundation Hosts 2020 Annual Health Camp
By Rajvi Patil, Aboli Foundation board member
“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.” – Hippocrates
It’s 9 AM on the 2nd of February. It is a beautiful, crisp morning at the Temki Paada ZP school. About one hundred and fifty children, eagerly waiting with their teachers, are bursting with pride for their school is all clean and decked up to meet their favourite annual visitors: the doctors!
Children are the foundation of our future. To make this foundation strong we need to work towards making all children strong and healthy. In rural India, children’s healthcare is left to natural immunity in addition to basic vaccinations. The common cough and cold, skin allergies, dental health and eye defects often go untreated. The biggest elephant in the room is the problem of malnutrition. Extreme deficiency of calcium and vitamins in the children can become a big health issue later in life.
Aboli Foundation, under its “Arogya” initiative, has been steadfastly doing its bit to get the ZP students one step closer to being healthy. This year Aboli Foundation held its third annual health camp at Temki Paada, Mahim (Palghar). This year we added a new school to our camp. Thus, the participating schools were – Temki Paada, Das Gao, Tal Paada and Dhavange Paada.
Our doctors team included Dr. Vivek Bhortakke (paediatrician at Millenium Children’s Clinic, Thane), Dr. Aakanksha Vartak (Dentist at Astra White Dental, Boisar) and a team of technicians (Ms. Rajshri Jadhav, Kalpesh Gurav, Kalpesh Bhoir and Mehul Patil) from the Infigo Eyecare, Palghar. We were assisted by volunteers Mr. Manish Patil, Ms. Samiksha Bhortakke and Mr. Anand Vartak.
Dr. Vivek and his wife Samiksha have put in extraordinary efforts for the camp since its inception. Aboli is forever indebted to this wonderful couple for their time and love for the children. Dr. Vivek tirelessly took care of checking all the children. He meticulously made special notes for the cases which needed attention. The supply of medicines he brought along with him has helped many children to get over coughs, colds and fevers. He also gave vitamin and calcium supplements to the children who needed them.
Our dentist, Dr. Aakanksha Vartak, runs her own clinic, AstraWhite Dental. At the health camp, she took care of the dental check-up of the children single-handedly. With her help, we were able to undertake dental treatment for children with crucial cases. Dr. Aakanksha is helping Aboli to implement preventive measures to improve these children’s dental health.
For the health camp to be successful, it was crucial for us to have the school teachers’ support. Without their efforts, it wouldn’t have been possible to get such a good turnout of children on a Sunday. The teachers ensured that all the children’ data was handed over to Aboli to update in the medical record books in advance. The enthusiastic participation of the teachers was commendable. Thank you, Mrs. Poonam Churi, Mrs. Sangita Raut, Mrs. Lalita Bhoir, Mrs. Supriya Save and Mrs. Ranjana Patil.
A big thank you to Mr. Manish Patil (Director Packaging, L’Oréal India) for taking time out to help in conducting the camp. Explaining the prescription to the parents and children was no easy job but he had the knack of connecting with them and ensured they understood it clearly. Mr. Anand Vartak (Director, VAA Technologies) made sure that we had no problems in arranging and setting up the stations and handled photographing the event. We look forward to your continued support!
A few of this year’s volunteers after a successful health camp.
Aboli Foundation’s health camp has become a well-appreciated program in these ZP schools. This was evident by the presence of many parents this year who actively discussed their children’s health with Dr Vivek. Even many young mothers came to get their new-borns checked by the “Child Specialist from Mumbai.” The best proof of health check awareness was when an eighty-year-old grandpa approached Dr. Vivek and started describing his back problem!
Yes, there is a huge gap in terms of infrastructure, professional advice availability and resources in remote rural India. But as Rumi once said, “You are not a drop-in ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” This is a philosophy Aboli Foundation has tried to embody.