COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE PROGRAMMES
As of now, quality healthcare is the privilege of a well-off minority. Semi urban and rural settings still have problems of accessibility to primary healthcare check-ups and follow ups, awareness of lifestyle disorders, lack of counseling about menstrual healthcare, non-availability of medical infrastructure, among others.
Deepalaya aims to restore healthcare as a universal right by targeting the grassroots. With this goal in mind, we launched the Community Health programme, a multi-faceted project that focuses on establishing sustainable practices and spreading awareness regarding preventive and primitive health among the rural masses.
It was born out of an attempt to reduce dropout rates among children due to unhygienic environments, lack of proper nutrition or healthcare. From immunization programs for children and provision of nutritious food, Deepalaya expanded operations from 1980 onwards to cover prenatal & postnatal care, supplementary nutrition, curative treatments, deforming, and family planning. We also started health camps for seasonal diseases like malaria and dengue, and for chronic ailments like TB, AIDS, leprosy, and cancer detection. Deepalaya has also run sanitation drives for clean toilets, hygienic homes, and potable water. In addition to this, we hold regular health education and awareness camps in the community regarding illnesses like cataract and diabetes.
Deepalaya addresses the healthcare needs of poor and underprivileged members of various communities through projects like the Chameli Dewan Memorial Rural Health & Mobile Clinic in Gusbethi, the AP Dewan Memorial Clinic in Kalkaji, the Sanjay Colony Health Clinic, and the Integrated Rural Community Health Centre (IRCHC) at Gusbethi. Established in 2005, the Chameli Dewan Rural Health &Mobile Clinic is a mobile van that travels from village to village, providing health check-ups and basic treatment to almost 80,000 individuals living in the region of Mewat. The health unit at Sanjay Colony holds regular health camps like immunization camps for children and pregnant women in collaboration with MCDs. IRCHC caters to the medical needs of people in and around Gusbethi through community meetings, health camps, counseling, dental treatments, and more.
Deepalaya has also set up a Vision Centre in partnership with AIIMS and holds regular eye check-up camps for members of the community in Sanjay Colony, Dwarka, Janakpuri and Gusbethi, Haryana. The eye camp caters to a vast demographic in both urban and rural locations, through tough weather conditions and minimal infrastructure. A dedicated team of ophthalmologists work tirelessly to correct issues due to refractive error, cataract formation and diabetic retinopathy. In remote rural areas in and around Gusbethi, patients are referred to AIIMS for cataract surgery and transported to and from the facility. Patients can get their sight examined, get spectacles for heavily subsidized rates, get diagnosed for cataract and be provided fast tracked surgical treatment, and even have professional counseling for vision problems and blindness due to lifestyle disorders like diabetes.
Menstrual healthcare is still a rarely talked-about avenue within general healthcare. Hundreds of women living in semi-urban and rural areas are at risk of infection due to using unsafe alternatives to sanitary napkins and other menstrual hygiene products. Deepalaya recognizes the importance of lifting the stigma around menstruation to be able to provide proper healthcare to girls and women. Menstrual healthcare to young girls has also been recognized as a key catalyst in reducing dropout rates for secondary and senior secondary education.
Our Impact
As of 2019-20, Deepalaya has been able to reach 65116 people through its healthcare programs. In total, in the Community Health Programme, our Mega Health Camps have touched 4291 people. Over 6000 women were provided essential menstrual and pregnancy healthcare services.