Med Camp

Test specimens in the 'hepatitis tent' at the medical camp.

Saturday a week ago I was invited to a medical camp. My friends Fahad, Hassan, Roomi, Warzah, Irfan, Awais, Saad and Mohammad Anis (among others) thought it was time for action. The plan to help the poor and marginalised with medical treatment started on the back of a Hero Honda motorcycle (like so many plans do in Pakistan) and has led to so-called 'medical camps' in Rawalpindi (near Islamabad) and Tando Mohammad Khan (rural Sindh, about an hour southeast of Hyderabad). Next month there will be one close to Lahore, and if I heard the organisers well, that won't be the end of it.

(Picture: volunteer Roomi at the medication stand and some trees on the plot that I liked.)

What does it take to organise a medical camp? First of all a group of inspired volunteers who are willing to raise money and medicaments, to enthuse doctors to take part and to manage the event. Second, you need general practitioners and specialists, so that you have knowledge to offer to the community where the medical camp is held.

Last week about 4 general practitioners, 1 eye doctor, 1 gynaecologist, several nurses and a small army of volunteers made it all happen. Boxes full of medication were unpacked and distributed to people with a doctor's receipt. Those in a particular bad condition got a referral to one of Hyderabad's hospital for surgical treatment. This was the case for 7 patients, of which 4 will undergo eye surgery to get a new lens. Free of charge.

(Picture: one of the doctors with a patient.)

Free medicines are nice, but if people don't know how to use them, they often do more harm than good. Guidance is needed, especially in a country like Pakistan, where medicines are widespread and cheap. I think we met this need.

All too often people take refuge in medicines, when in fact it is lifestyle habits that need to be changed.

(Picture: banners are put up outside the 'hepatitis tent')


(Picture: one of the nurses in the 'hepatitis tent' takes a blood sample.)

There was quite a bit of publicity to make people aware of the camp, and not without success. Hundreds of villagers turned up. We heard of the massive turnout in the car to Tando Mohammed Khan, and a slight sense of panic took over the group of volunteers. How are we going to help all of them? One by one was the answer. It wasn't easy to get everybody to register (in an orderly fashion), but once people had their patient slip things went relatively flawless.

(Picture: tea time in the doctor's practice.)

An event like this is not just a visit to the doctor; it's a happening. Within no time ice cream and sweets 'wallahs' (meaning sellers) show up, offering their treats for a couple of rupees to the people in the queue.

(Pictures: home-made ice creams and a tower of Babylon made of sugar and sesame seeds.)

It wasn't only those that normally don't get to see a doctor that bothered to come. Close to a big tent near the entrance all the 'very important people' of the district made their attendance. Many of them had heard of 'the stolen bicycle'. Roomi tried to warn me, grating his teeth: "They all want a piece of you.. Or a picture." so I smiled and smiled and shook hands and more hands for the camera.

(Pictures: children in the camp.)

After the camp, Irfan, Awais and Saad, sons of a landowning farmer in the area, invited us for lunch at their farmhouse. Afterwards, we filled up a 'tube well' close to their sugarcane fields. A tube well uses an engine to pump up ground water that is led into a basin, which supplies the canals and distributaries with water. This one was approximately 3 by 3 metres, enough to fit 10 guys that are looking for refreshment. (As this is a prudish place, I'll spare my Pakistani friends the shame, although I know many people back home would like to see some images of this part of the day too : ))

(Picture: children in the village.)

(Picture: boy under a mango tree close to the tube well.)