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75 Year old blesses the entire SOW Team

Sharjhan Begum is a 75 years old resident of Hajistar Ni Chali in Ahmedabad. Around 5000 people live in this community and most people earn their livelihood through casual labour, selling vegetables and picking rag. The hygiene and sanitation condition of this community is very poor.

Sharjhan Begum lives with her husband here. They had two daughters who are now married and live with their in-laws. Sharjhan and her husband are really old now, and have a very poor family income. She visited Smile on Wheels complaining that her right hand had become totally unworkable. During her examination, the doctor found out by talking to her that she was diabetic and was also suffering from high blood pressure. She also mentioned that this problem in the hand had been bothering her for the past 20 years. The doctor also found out that she had spent a lot of money getting it treated by local doctors, who were actually untrained.

The problem with Sharjhan’s hand was diagnosed to be an acute fungus development. She was given medicines and ointments and within 3 weeks she had shown 75% recovery. She says that she can now do her own work and thanks the SOW team for their services and prompt treatment. She is now completely healed. She has given her blessings to the entire SOW team and wishes that the programme grows bigger

 

with leaps and bounds and is made available to more and more people like her.

Not just fighting diseases
but warding off evil spirits too

Premlata’s family in Lucknow believes that Smile on Wheels not just medically treats people but also wards off evil spirits.

Premlata, 25 years old, had a normal delivery at home and soon after that she developed behavioral problems. Her situation kept worsening day after day, as she started running away from home and stopped even holding her new born baby.

Her family members thought that she was possessed by bad spirits and started treating her at home. Their treatments mainly consisted of hitting her with iron rods and burning her with hot iron. It was when her condition worsened further that they brought her to the Smile on Wheels. On examining her, the SOW team diagnosed that she was suffering from post partum psychosis which needed proper care and support. Premlata was then referred to St. Mary’s Polyclinic (referral hospital) where she was given proper treatment and support.

She has improved now and is taking care of her new born too. Her family is obviously relieved and happy to have their beloved back. The entire family, including Premlata, are very grateful to the Smile on Wheels team.

Programme launched in Varanasi

Smile launched its mobile hospital programme

 

‘Smile on Wheels’ in Varanasi. The mobile hospital was flagged off by the popular actress and TV presenter, Ms. Roshni Chopra.

With this new unit the Smile on Wheels programme will be covering a population of 9,24,467 in 138 slums and villages across India. It will operate in Varanasi in association with Prayatn, a non-government voluntary organisation engaged in upliftment and welfare of youth, women, laborers and farmers.

The project will be implemented in 12 slum areas of Varanasi district. The mobile hospital unit will visit locations namely – Bagwanala, Doulatpur, Bhim Nagar, Shalil Putri, Koniya, Choti Maldahiya, Nagawa, Sonbarasa, Navada, Khojwa, Dasawamegh Ghat and Sankat Mochan. It will be covering a total population of over 25, 800 in these locations. The mobile hospital will be attending each of these locations 4 times in a month.

 

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Health Awareness Camp with Barclays

A health awareness camp was organized in Tughlaqabad, New Delhi by Smile Foundation in association with Barclays Bank. This camp was organized for the underprivileged children and people living in the slums in the area. 22 employees from Barclays Bank participated in this initiative. This camp has benefitted over 1000 households in the entire community.

Mobilization, general health check up, eye checkup, session on health and hygiene, fumigation and a street play addressing the issues related to water borne diseases were among the activities which were conducted in the health camp.

Mobilization work was done in the community with the help of local community members and the information was spread among the people of the community through posters, banners and pamphlets. On the day of the event, employees from Barclays along with Smile representatives took part in the initiative and reached around 150 families thus directly benefitting approximately 370 people.

A session on personal health and hygiene was conducted by Barclays employees in two community based schools. Over 340 children participated in this session and were

 

given free hygiene kits too. They were also shown movies and given pamphlets to explain the significance of hygiene and sanitation.

The street play was conducted at 4 spots of the community and saw a gathering of over 800 people. The event was brought to a close with a fumigation activity, where government personnel, volunteers and local people came together and fumigated the entire area which has more than 1000 households.

Free Health Camp in Jaipur
with Amway

A free health camp was organized in Jaipur in association with Amway Foundation. The camps were put up between 22nd and 26th November in multiple locations of Jaipur namely Bhatta Basti, Jagatpura Kacchi Basti, Kalakaar Kacchi Basti and Jhalana Kacchi Basti. Free health services and medicines were provided to all the people of the community here. The health camp was implemented by SRKPS – the implementing partner of Smile on Wheels in Jaipur.

Over 380 people received various kinds of health services in this camp. The community members appreciated this effort a lot and gave their feedback saying these camps were very helpful for them.

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Smile on Wheels is currently covering a population of over 8.7 lacs in 131 urban slums/rural villages through 10 operational mobile hospitals. Between November and February alone, 22, 337 beneficiaries were treated.

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