UPDATE MAY 2006

[ See also recent photos - May 2006 ]

Dear friends,

I hope you're all very fine. I'd like to give you on update on the latest developments of the Abha Seva Sadan Multitherapy Charitable Health Centre. I'm sorry not to have sent you this sooner; various technical problems with our electricity supply, phone reception and computer as well as the amount of day to day work at the clinic have made it difficult to keep up with email over the past few months.

Following in brief the progress in our main areas of work.

CONSTRUCTION

The first seven rooms of the new clinic building (consultation rooms for allopathy and homeopathy, acupuncture office and acupunture treatment hall, general office, store room, staff kitchen) are gradually nearing completion. The slow progress is not only due to our low funds but also due to the limited availability of more skilled and reliable local labourers. After having completed the roof of the building last December, we've plastered the inside walls and cemented the floor of all rooms except for the hallway, store room and kitchen. The windows and window glass have been fitted; some doors have not yet been fitted due to the hallway floor not yet being done. Electrical wiring is nearly finished. Plumbing, outside plastering and painting inside and outside still need to be done.

The general office with a small attached bathroom was completed first including painting, so that it could also serve as a guest room for our first overseas visitor and volunteer, who visited us for 3 weeks last December/January. The acupuncture hall and office is already in use since more than one month.

These last few days we're also constructing a small brick room for our generator, for security as well as protection from weather.

OUT-PATIENT SERVICES

Over the past few months, patient numbers have gradually increased as word has spread of our multidisciplinary services, which has attracted more villagers and even people from the city of Bokaro, 20 km away. Up to 60 patients a day now receive homeopathic treatment, slightly less for allopathy (still limited to once a week) and 30-40 for acupuncture. Homeopathic treatment is especially effective for the many chronic skin, gastrointestinal and respiratory disorders affecting the local rural population.

In acupuncture less patients per day can be treated compared with homeopathy and allopathy, as for each patient a cot is needed and half and hour for the treatment session. In the smaller acupuncture room of the temporary clinic building only 4 cots had space, limiting treatments to 20 patients a day and waiting times of 2 weeks for follow-up treatments. Since shifting to the new and larger treatment hall in the new building, which can fit 8-10 cots, many more patients can receive treatment, and can come back every week for follow-up sessions.

Due to the widespread malnutrition which affects 80-90 percent of the village population, there is a large number of patients coming with neurological and development problems such as paralysis and physical as well as mental retardation, caused by cerebral palsy, polio and related diseases. While allopathy has no cure for these severely handicapped patients, acupucuncture can offer effective treatment, which can even cure completely if the patient is diagnosed early enough. It's very gratifying for us to see the weekly improvements of the many small children who come to us with these problems, and who are at first not even able to walk or perorm simple movements without assistanace.

VILLAGE EDUCATION PROGRAMS

After several more months of weekly nutritional education camps in the villages of our area, we've since one month been conducting evaluations of our programs by visiting and discussing with villagers who have attended the programs. Through this we're getting insight into how to improve our methods of educating the villagers in an effective way. Our upcoming education programs will be focussing especially on the village women, as they're the ones who do the cooking and therefore must understand best about how to provide with simple and cheap means a more healthy and balanced diet for the family.

Plans are also being made to visit local schools to teach children and youth the basics of First Aid, so that they're better prepared in the case of being bitten or hurt while playing in the village surroundings.

HERBAL GARDEN AND TREATMENT

Due to the drought and hot season, we cannot yet maintain a large herbal garden. So far we've started with two small plots, one next to the new clinic building, for better shade from the hot sun, and one next to our well, where there's shade from some trees as well as proximity to water. A total of 34 medicinal plants are now being maintained. The plots are not yet big enough for us to produce and prescribe our own herbal medicines. Therefore our trained local herbalist is presently bringing herbal medicine produced elsewhere in this area and prescribing it to patients once a week. Additonally, he can show our own herbal plants to some patients, explaining to them how to find or grow the plants themselves and apply for their health problems.

LEGAL WORK

After months of dealing with complicated beaurocratic procedures, we've now been able to complete our local NGO registration as a charitable trust. Apart from this local registration we're recognized as a project of AMURT India, which already has recognition as a charitable national NGO with tax exemption.

We've also gotten our first year of accounting audited by a chartered accountant, which is the basis for our application for tax exemption for ourselves as well as for those in India donating to the project. The application is now in process and we expect to have it granted within a few months.

ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

Not only local legal registration but also getting the government electricity connection is a very beaurocratic procedure, which we've been pursuing since last year. The first weeks of our medical services since we began in April 2005 were done without any electricity. After some time we were able to afford a generator and lead-acid battery, but these have often not been working well and need constant monitoring while in use. Now, after many weeks of visits to the local and regional electricity office regarding our application, we're happy that a "light at the end of the tunnel" (electric light, that is!) is in sight: the work order has finally been given by the authorities and the equipment is now being awaited for the installation of the connection - this is for our clinic as well as the neighbouring village. The first poles have already been erected, and we're hoping to be connected within a few weeks at the most. This will make our all our work more easy and speedy, and our facilities also more adequate for visitors and overseas volunteers.

So much in brief for now. Besides seeing the photos at the website, please don't hesitate to contact us if you like to know more details of our work, and we'll be happy to reply promptly.

We'd also like to invite you to come and see our project up close, be it as a short visit or as a longer stay - all visitors are very welcome. Whoever likes to also volunteer their service for any number of days can help in various ways, not only through any kind of medical skills, but also by helping with other tasks such as organizing children's programs, gardening, landscaping, project documentation, computer work, etc.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and thank you very much for all your support. We'll keep you upated regularly in the coming months.

Yours
Dada Devashuddhananda

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