Medicare has
been high on the agenda of social activities of Sri Sathya Sai
Seva Organisations worldwide, ever since Bhagawan has
constructed a small model hospital in Puttaparthi way back in
1960s to cater to the needs of Puttaparthi village. Over the
years this small act of service has grown in gigantic
proportions to come up with two world class Super Speciality
Hospitals, one at Puttaparthi and the other in Bangalore.
Inspired by Bhagawan’s message of providing free medical care to
the poor and downtrodden, Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations,
Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, East & West
Godavari, Kurnool, Anantapur and Krishna districts) recently
organized Preventive & Primary Health Medical Camps in selective
villages surrounding Puttaparthi on 16th 17th, 19th & 20th July
2005 as part of Guru Purnima celebrations.
Pre-camp
door-to-door survey was conducted in these selected villages and
awareness was created among these villagers on the importance of
keeping their houses neat and tidy, to take proper care about
health and hygiene and were advised to get expert counseling by
specialist doctors on various faculties of medicine who were
visiting these villages on an appointed day. The villagers were
also intimated that poor patients requiring operations and
specialized treatments would be taken to the concerned places
and provided with free medicare, boarding and lodging facilities
free of any charge.
Medical check
up was done on these villagers by a team of specialists with the
assistance of paramedical and sevadal volunteers on 16th, 17th,
19th and 20th of July. Patients were advised to strictly adhere
to the dosages prescribed and some of the patients were
identified for operations and some were issued spectacles etc.
Hearing aids were distributed to some of the identified
patients.
Simultaneously
Bal Vikas camp was also conducted in these villages as Bal Vikas
teachers gathered children from these villages, arranged classes
and enlightened them about healthcare and hygiene. These
children were also examined by the expert medicos. Relevant
patient details were stored in computers and special identity
cards were issued to all the patients including children to
enable smooth follow up action in future.
Inspired by the
service activities of Sai Volunteers, some youth, four girls and
five boys, all B.Ed. students from Anantapur district joined the
force to render their might. The following were the villages
benefited by this exemplary service done by Sri Sathya Sai Seva
Organisations, Andhra Pradesh. Vengalamma Cheruvu, Kambala
Parthi, Bonthalapalli, Narsingapalli Tanda, Diguvacherlopalli
and Bandlapalli. Yes, these volunteers had imbibed the great
lesson from Bhagawan’s life that human life is most precious and
should be handled with utmost care, love and reverence.
Source: Sri
Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust Website
http://www.sssbpt.org/Pages/Trust/FreeMedical_Camp.htm
July 21th, 2005