Together Let Us Improve Health of our community
Dr. M L Dhawale Memorial Trust, community centre Bhopoli, celebrated Hahnemann Day for the first time on 20th April, 2018 in the new multipurpose hall donated by Shri Ramu Sitaram Devra. The title of the programme was ‘Together Let Us Improve Health of our community.’
It was the most fitting and unique way of paying tribute to our Gurus, Dr Hahnemann and Dr. M. L. Dhawale.
Dr. Hahnemann’s concept of man in his environment, the concept of causation and concept of holistic tripartite care (Prevention of disease, promotion of health and curative interventions) is directly implemented at Bhopoli with impactful results.
And our Guru Dr. M. L. Dhawale’s teaching of going back to the most needy and underprivileged community to spread homoeopathy which is very simple to administer and cost-effective apart from being most effective has also come true here.
Seeing this work done and the results produced, both the gurus must surely have felt very happy!
The program showcased the work of the entire Bhopoli Health team and the encouraging results found in the community in various fields. It highlighted the multi-pronged approach by different stakeholders to fight the hydra-headed problem of malnutrition. Title of the program is most relevant in understanding this fight against Malnutrition. Apart from the homoeopathic treatment, it needs a lot of modification in various habits, beliefs and practices which need a lot of orientation and education of the community at large.
It all began way back in 1998 when we realised that we need to create these change agents through the community itself. Today after many years of training and practice, the Community health workers have totally transformed themselves into ‘Fine Change agents’ who are perfectly bridging the gap between the doctors and the community. And the results of this process are most heartening!
It was evident that these CHVs were able to bring about change in at least a few mothers from the community, whose young ones could be saved from getting malnourished. We shared this experience and underlined the need to be together through this program. It was heartening to see the empowered CHVs- MPWs and empowered mothers talk about their experiences in front of the audience. This was enough of an evidence of the most challenging work done by the team.
The program was conceptualised by Dr. Sujata Goda who oversees the fieldwork apart from the training of these grass root workers. The program was designed for presenting the encouraging results and also to acknowledge their efforts and motivate them further to continue the good work.
The whole program was well coordinated and hosted by Mr. Naresh Dhanwa, who is the assistant manager of the centre. He presented the overall journey of the centre with the achievements through suitable audio-visuals. Improvement in the ANC registration, more than 90% institutional deliveries, average birth weight of 2.8 to 3 kgs and 65% improvement in malnutrition were some of the significant achievements.
One of the significant achievements is that the IMR in our area has come down to 14 % whereas for the whole of Maharashtra it is 24%. (Information from a report of NFHS-4)
Dr. Neena Ambekar, who works on the malnutrition project, shared her delight in seeing the empowered and confident CHVs working on the field. She also applauded the teamwork of all from drivers to CHVs, MPWs to physicians. She also appreciated the slow but steady changes seen in the community and hoped to see better results in future.
Through the programme, we acknowledged 20 such mothers with their healthy children, who were able to prevent malnourishment since birth till 1 and a half years of age and some were even able to bring their children out of malnourishment.
We felicitated 6 CHVs for their exceptional work on mother care and prevention and reduction of malnutrition in the community. The fact that CHVs were using homoeopathic medicines for small-small ailments of the community was the ultimate achievement!
The CHVs then shared their experience about the programme- the key to success lay in the friendly manner of teaching by the trainer, which was replicated with the women of the community and it helped to bring about a change.
The MPWs then shared the difficulties of individual children and the efforts taken by them to improve their health.
Seeing these results, Dr. Medha Shete, a leading Pathologist from Mumbai, promised to set up a pathological lab in Bhopoli and provide support for investigations. She also donated the mixers to our MPWs. This will help in providing a complementary diet to prevent malnutrition. Contributions of Mr. Sunil Chavan, honorary director, who takes care of providing financial support by getting enough donations and Ms. Sayali Walke who gives creative solutions to our problems were acknowledged. The program was attended by a good number of community members along with the local leaders, 70 members from MLDT Bhopoli, Dr. Manoj Patel, director of Community services, MLDT and Self- help group women. Shri Vijay Vekhande, a panchayat samiti member appreciated the work of the entire team and promised for his support in Gramsabhas. Mrs. Vaishnavi Rahane, a Zilla parish member has been closely observing the work of the organisation since last 17-18 years. She has promised to bring various government benefits to the beneficiaries. She also acknowledged the efforts of Drs. Sujata and Chandrasekher Goda in empowering the women.
The vote of thanks was delivered by Dr Chandrasekhar Goda, the Director of Bhopoli centre. The entire Bhopoli team and workforce were acknowledged for their support and hard work. He also thanked organisations like Tata Trust, Oracle Foundation, Paragon Trust, Aker Solutions, Rotary Club of Palghar and individual donors like Shri Ramu Sitaram Devra for their generous and timely donations.
