Mobile medical unit in COHAJ Hospital
Kameswaram
As a result of the tsunami that hit south Asia in 2004, the sisters of the Catholic Congregation of Sta. Ana in Tiruchirapalli were responsible for giving health care to victims.
Objectives
- Attend the primary basic needs and the medication of some villages extremely poor in southeast of India.
- Sensitize the rural population in these villages about health and hygiene.
Location
The town of Kameswaram, it is located in the district of Nagapathinam, in the state of Tamil Nadu (India).
Results
- At least 480 people that live in villages near Kameswaram have a medical citations once a week
- At least 300 people that live in villages near Kameswaram have adequate medication to attend their pathologies in a week.
- People that live near Kameswaram receive information in health and hygiene.
Beneficiaries
- Directs: 480 people in a week, about 9.000 per year.
- Indirects: Relatives of these people, and the communities of the three attended villages and around. It is estimated a minimum of 30.000 people.
As a result of the tsunami that hit south Asia in 2004, the sisters of the Catholic Congregation of Sta. Anna in Tiruchirapalli were responsible for giving health care to victims. The Foundation helped by buying an ambulance and a mobile medical unit while supporting the dispensary the congregation had at that time.
After the first emergency, it was important to build a hospital. Thus in 2009, the Foundation inaugurated the City of Hope and Joy Hospital (COHAJ), in the town of Kameswaram, in order to provide medical and surgical care to about 30,000 people who inhabited this region and lived in extreme poverty.
To facilitate access to minimum medical care to all people of the area- many of which for economic reasons, health and long-distance could not reach the hospital- the doctors of the congregation split their health care between the hospital and home visits, three times a week, performed with the Mobile Medical Unit, taking care of the sick that live in remote towns from the hospital. During these visits, the sisters have medical consultation, facilitate the medicines the sick need and raise awareness in the population on issues related to health and hygiene.
The Foundation pays the maintenance of the Mobile Medical Unit: costs of visits and medicines. Maintaining this Mobile Medical Unit provides health care and medication to hundreds of people without resources and prevents their health from being an added problem in their struggle to overcome poverty.
It is noteworthy that around this project, the Foundation also contributed to the construction and equipment of a house for volunteers, next to the hospital, with the aim of providing accommodation for professionals and volunteers that will help this center.
