Month: November 2022

Bangalore, 22nd August 2018: Ravaged by heavy rain followed by floods distressed the normal life and caused havoc damage in Kerala. Reacting to the pressing needs, the disaster response team of Smile Foundation, a national level development organisation, has actively started aiding the immediate relief efforts. A severe calamity, the Kerala floods have already claimed the lives of more than 300 people and displaced over 2, 30,000 people. The team assessed the immediate needs of the flood-affected people, and an early relief effort was initiated, with the objective of reaching out to over 10,000 families. In the first phase, distribution of relief kits, food and other necessary supplies have stated along with a focus on providing essential health services.

The team is working on Ground Zero to mobilize volunteers, procure relief material and reach out to stranded survivors. A distribution system (for food and other relief material) is devised and basic infrastructure is used for the shelter of the survivors. The work began in the tribal pockets of Waynad and Kozhikode, where more than 250 families have been reached with food and hygiene kits so far. Dasanakara, Eruluam , 73 colony, a tribal forest area have been covered so far.

Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-founder & Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “These are moments when the strength of the civil society is under question, but also the time when exemplary stories of humanity shine through. It is not enough that we put our hearts out to those affected by the floods in Kerala. We need to continue to put together all the resources that are available to us – be it human or capital and provide Kerala with all that we can. Smile Foundation’s Disaster Management Team has already started working on the first phase of relief operations; and aim to reach 10,000 families with food and other necessary supplies.”

Smile Foundation intends to provide comprehensive healthcare aid to the flood affected victims. The health vertical of Smile Foundation – ‘Smile On Wheels’ program will start providing healthcare services and will also conduct health camps once the water levels begin to recede. The main objective is to prevent the outbreak of any water borne diseases. “The Smile on Wheels” – the mobile medical unit will consist of a medical team (comprising of two general physicians, two nurses and one pharmacist), a medicine vendor, and a warehouse to stock supplies. A rehabilitation plan will be created and executed to ease the process of recovery. This will be an immensely difficult task as several people have lost their lives, their families, homes, their source of livelihood and much more.

The healthcare sector in India is booming in terms of revenue generation and employment creation. In India, healthcare is divided into two segments – public and private. The public healthcare segment is responsible for maintaining the primary health requirements in rural and urban areas and is funded by the government. The private healthcare segment in India is mainly focused in urban centres.

The healthcare market is expected to increase about three-fold by 2022 and result in `8.6 trillion. This growth is to be augmented by a surge of 20-25% in the medical tourism sector in India. The number of medical tourist arrivals in India increased to 1.07 million in 2018 from 0.98 million 2017. However, the rural healthcare sector still faces a plethora of challenges and needs focused policy-level interventions.

Urban versus rural healthcare

In India, 75% of the healthcare infrastructure is concentrated in urban areas where only 27% of the total Indian population is living. The remaining 73% of the country’s population is lacking proper primary healthcare facilities. Private healthcare has been witnessing steady growth whereas there is a serious degradation in the quality or infrastructure in the public healthcare sector. The rural healthcare in India is characterised by under-staffed facilities with bad infrastructure and low availability of medicines. According to a KMPG report, “74% of Indian doctors are catering to the needs of the urban population.”

Dr. Anup Sadhu, a radiologist, told BE, “The situation of rural health care in India has not changed much during the past decade, though it is difficult to gauge from it from outside. The patients are still in the hands of quacks and unscientific medical practices. The villagers have to travel a long distances to the nearest hospital in case of emergencies and their only viable transportation is private transport which many cannot afford.”

Shortcomings

Most people in rural India opt for government healthcare facilities because of monetary issues and as transport options to the urban centres are not very affordable. Despite that, only 11% sub-centres, 13% Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and 16% Community Health Centres (CHCs) in rural India meet the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS). Only one allopathic doctor is available for every 10,000 people and one state run hospital is available for 90,000 people.

Dr. Sadhu said, “The most important factor is turning a deaf ear to the patients or their relatives. Their innocence is exploited and they are not allowed to know their rights. Poor literacy is a factor. The doctor in the rural set up is rarely available; most of the centres are run by unskilled or semi-skilled paramedics. In a situation which is beyond control, the patients are sent to the tertiary care hospital where they get more confused and get easily cheated by a group of health workers and middlemen. Non-availability of basic drugs is a persistent problem of India’s rural healthcare. If there are two or three doctors in a rural hospital, they usually share their duties on mutual basis for 1-2 days per week and the rest is managed by a pharmacist or a nurse. In many rural hospitals, the num-ber of nurses is much less than required.”

Apart from these, there are certain other constraints that work impede the rural healthcare sector:

Infrastructure: The biggest concern for the rural healthcare system is the lack adequate infrastructure. Satnam Singh, AGM, Smile Foundation, told BE, “The existing healthcare centres in rural areas are under-financed, uses below quality equipment, are low in supply of medicines and lacks qualified and dedicated human resources. On top of it, underdeveloped roads, railway systems, poor power supply are some of the major disadvantages that make it difficult to set up a rural healthcare facility.”

Doctor: Patient and Nurse:Doctor Ratio: Both these ratios contribute collectively to the inadequacy of the rural healthcare system. Every doctor needs a nurse to cater to their patients. Singh says, “The rural healthcare infrastructure is three-tiered and includes a sub-centre, a PHC and a CHC. PHCs are short of more than 3,000 doctors, with the shortage up by 200% over the last 10 years to 27,421 as per a report by India Spend.” A patient is not always treated on time in rural India since the doctors are less in number.

Insurance: Insurance is something that is severely lacking in rural healthcare. India has one of the lowest per capita healthcare expenditures in the world. The government has only contributed to about 32% for the insurance in healthcare sector in India which is sufficient.

Affordability: This is a constraint since people cannot afford the upmarket health services when they need to visit private hospitals. With the advancement of technology, healthcare is also becoming increasingly costly. The cost of diagnostic facilities is also going up. Along with that, there are commissioned charges that most people don’t understand.

Lack of Awareness: Awareness about proper healthcare is insufficient in India. Singh added, “The population needs to be educated appropriately on basic issues like the importance of sanitation, health, nutrition, hygiene and on healthcare policies, importance of medical services, their rights, financial support options, the need for proper waste disposal facilities. It is very important to inculcate a health seeking behaviour in them.”

Lack of Medical Stores: Medicines are often unavailable in rural areas. Dr. Sadhu also said, “Supply of basic medicine is irregular in rural areas. The fair price shops (PPP model) are located in tertiary care and secondary care hospitals. These fair price shops charge differently in different locations. Discounts vary from 50% to 70% by the same provider on the same medicine.”

However big a fame and popularity one attains, he or she should not ever forget the roots of humanity. Paulson Thomas is one such personality who has achieved a lot at a very young age yet understands and values the *struggles* one has to go through to reach those heights. His gesture of constantly wanting to help needy ones and celebrate happy times with them is quite commendable.

Celebrating his birthday with the children of Smile Foundation was something Paulson wanted to do for a long time. It was not his first time though. It was his mothers teaching to him that one should always help the needy if he is capable of doing it and there should not be a stop to it ever. Isn’t it a wonderful thought? Paulson always believed in charity and has done a lot of donations and social service in such organizations before. It was amazing to see how he interacted and tried to keep all the beautiful children from Smile Foundation confortable and well attended to. He was with them and for them all the time. With this event he intends to support the education of this amazing kids.

Hailing from a non-metropolitan city of Kerala, Paulson faced a lot of difficulties to sustain his passion for dance and entertainment. But his never give up attitude assured his progress and eventually he got his break with Dance India Dance Season 1. Immediately after that Remo D’souza cast him in the movie ‘F. A. L. T. U’ . He was also a popular face in the show ‘Dance ke Superstars’ and acted in India’s first 3D dancing movie ABCD (Any Body Can Dance). Paulson became a face to be recognized with his witty and funny performances in both. No wonder he absolutely adores Remo Sir. “If there is anybody after my parents whobhas supported and encouraged me always, especially in Mumbai is Remo Sir”, says Paulson. And why not. Being an amazing down to earth person, there is no wonder in Paulson attributing his achievements to his idol.

When asked about his views on Remo Dsouza’s upcoming movie ‘Race 3’, he just has words of praises to say. He wishes the best of success to his idol as he respects the hard work Remo Sir puts behind all his projects. He wishes to meet him soon and seek his blessings for his future ventures.

And the best is yet to come. This celebration also revealed the fact that he and his team will soon enlighten us with a Music Video and the launch of his very own Production House (The dates and more information is yet to be given out). The event was smooth and Paulson ensured that none of the children from Smile foundation left without a happy face and a gift to remember him.

The event came to an end with the best of dance performances from the children, his team and Paulson himself. We all wish him the best of luck for his new progress and launches. Eagarly waiting!

‘Delhi Dreams’ depicts stories of ambition and aspiration of five underprivileged children

Source: https://gulfnews.com/leisure/movies/news/film-by-delhi-slum-children-goes-to-cannes-1.2218671

New Delhi: It is the most unlikely film crew — 14 underprivileged children from slums across New Delhi — who defied the odds to shoot a documentary showcasing their lives and aspirations. And on Wednesday, their efforts bore fruit. Their film, ‘Delhi Dreams’, was screened at the British Pavilion of the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

The 14 “dreamers” are students between 15 and 18 years of age, studying at Nai Disha, a school run by Smile Foundation, an NGO working for youth empowerment through education. They were chosen to work as “directors” during a 10-day workshop organised by the NGO in collaboration with a UK-based charity, Films Without Borders (FWB), which works to “overcome barriers” through cinema.

After the selection process, the students were trained by FWB’s Jill Samuels and cinematographer Richard Blanshard in November 2017. And the final product was ready in a month.

Films Without Borders presented a Swarovski Film in association with Smile Foundation at this years Cannes film festival and the screening was a huge success.

SIFFCY would like to congratulate all the young participants in the film and thank our partner Nai Disha school who kindly allowed us access to their fantastic young people who in turn created a wonderful film. We would like to thank both Jill Samuels Founder & Chair of Films Without Borders & Mentor , Cameraman Richard Blanshard together with the teachers & volunteers of the oganisation.

A special thank to Nadja Swarovski whose support for Films Without Borders made what was a dream for many young people become a reality.

We, are so proud to have seen this film screened at the Cannes Film Festival and we hope to be able to screen it at many more film festivals around the world.The film was a huge success in Cannes and we would like to thank all at Films Without Borders who not only came over and mentored the participants but were so taken by all the students especially with Arbaz , a young child from the workshop who through his film takes us on his quest to become a photographer.

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) may be sitting on the edge of the bottom half of the table, much to the disappointment of the fans, but their spirit to help build a better society is as strong as ever. Recently, the team has taken a significant step in contributing towards better health standards for the underprivileged in the state of West Bengal. KKR has established ties with the Smile Foundation and the Meer Foundation for this cause.

One of the constant sides in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since its inception back in 2008, the KKR side has enjoyed immense support from their fans, especially the ones in their home state. In a heartfelt gesture towards the betterment of the needy in the state, this tie-up will promote and ensure the goodness of health amongst the poor and the underprivileged. In a recently released media release, the news of the tie-up was announced to the public.

Source: https://www.crictracker.com/kkr-forges-ties-health-foundations-help-underprivileged-west-bengal/

‘We wanted to tell children that art has no right or wrong, it is about how you perceive the world around you’

Mumbai: As one walks into the sunlit classroom of Maulana Azad school in Dharavi on Wednesday, one feels it is no different than walking down the streets of the locality itself. The students have painted the walls to exhibit elements of their community and neighbourhood in the way they perceive them.

Ranging from their favourite mithaai-waalas (sweet vendors) to the grumpy old man living across the street, the room can be called a mini-Dharavi of sorts. Translating their observations of people, inhabitants, shopkeepers as well as the nature surrounding them, some 30 students have expressed themselves through the subjective nature of art, as they let their imagination run wild.

This colourful change is the outcome of The Pomegranate Dharavi Project, a three-month programme in collaboration with Smile Foundation, an art and education workshop aiming to sensitise students to the environment that they are living in. The exhibits are divided into two modules, the first being ‘My voice, my community’ which comprises an entire wall painted by the students depicting their interpretation of their community and its people.

One such painting depicts a man selling flowers, with hair similar to the shape of a flower. While another shows an old man, whose head is bigger than his body, with emphasis on his facial expressions as the children saw him on their way to school everyday. The wall also comprises self portraits of these 20 children, with the aim to make them understand themselves, who they are and where they came from, after which they moved on to their community.

Pointing at the painting of a girl sporting a spectacles and wearing a frock, Naaz Sheikh, a Class VII student giggles and says, “This is me. We did not only draw people around us, but ourselves, too. That was the tough part, actually.” She added that it took the children around two hours to complete the wall.

The corridor of the room, took on the looks of the famous 90 feet road, depicted on a sheet of black paper, where the students after having observed the entire road together, have drawn various shops, boutiques and people as they see on the roads, giving a touch of their own perception to them.

“This is their area, and is rooted in their everyday experience. These children have grown up here and hence have a lot to express. What we wanted to tell these children is that art has no right or wrong side to it, it is all about how you perceive the world around you,” Madhumita Srivastava, the facilitator of the workshop said.

The second programme, was the graphic module that comprised nine children who created a comic book, called the ‘Satuday Co-mix,’ a collection of tales created through their own ideas, either inspired by real-life incidents or completely a product of their own imagination. “The idea behind the name is that usually, comic books are associated with the element of humour but this comic book has stories ranging from the genres of horror, thriller and comedy,” the lead facilitator for the Graphic Novel module, Chaitanya Modak, a comic book creator said.

Lalit Gupta, a Class VII student and author of his story, ‘Mote ka sapna,’ nudging his friend and classmate who he occasionally made fun of in good humour said, “He was the idea behind my story. The story is about an over-weight boy who wants to lose a few pounds but cannot because he loves eating so much.”