Medical Camp

Activity Started - 9:30 am

Activity Ended - 2:30 pm

Approximate Time - 5 hours

Criteria of CAS - Service

“Next us” a group of young men who always volunteer to help the poor, this guys are not rich by money but by heart, organized free Medical Camp for poor people which was sponsored by no one but them and we students of D. Y. Patil International School volunteered and participated to help them for organizing the event and assisting doctors.

“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, 'What's in it for me?'” - Brian Tracy

The Camp was set-up on Plot no. 07, Sonegaon, Nagpur; I reached there by my cycle. As everybody got there “Next us” members divided us and gave us our duties, my job was to assist Dr. Preeti Meshram she is an Ophthalmologist (a doctor specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases). First I helped her to set-up clinic for her by keeping chairs and table and pasting eye-check charts on walls and keeping all things she need for check-up. We started and there was a long queue of people holding forms, waiting for their check-up. The first patient we got his problem was Farsightedness, he was not able to see objects from a distance so we check till what extend he has spoiled his eye sight for that vision correction problem she gave him eye-drop Tobra D and wrote him the lens number then I guided him to Mr. Irfan who was writing names and lens number of people who need spectacles, which will be distributed on 14/10/13.

This went for a while patients came and went but soon we met with man who is suffering from cataract (a clouding of the lens inside the eye which leads to a decrease in vision. It is the most common cause of blindness and is conventionally treated with surgery.) So we did the check-up and finally Dr. Meshram decided that his problem is very big and he need an operation or otherwise he is going to be blind so I added his name in list of operations he was first in that list, I felt very bad for that poor old man because I knew he didn’t have money for operation but soon my tension was released after I heard that “Next us” group has organized free operation facility for poor and needy.

I also had job of guiding patients to clinic and introducing them to Ma’am. I and Ma’am attended many patients with Farsightedness, Nearsightedness, Cataract, Night blindness, Lazy eye, Red eye and Color blindness. Commonly people had Farsightedness and Nearsightedness. Some patients’ vision was so bad that couldn’t even see the chart on the wall. But after so many patients we were visited by a teenager who had Scotoma also known as blind spot (an area impairment of vision surrounded by a field of relatively well-preserved vision.) so Ma’am recommended her for operation but after that also she will not have full vision just she will have some more clear vision. This was going-on and-on and I was tired and thought of giving up but then I saw the “Next us” guys working without a sweat, I got inspired from them and gathered all my strength and started working. One more thing inspired me was face of those indigent people who were waiting and asking for help which they are asking from 66 years to our government, I thought somebody has to stand up for this people so why not me.

We were also visited by many children of age 3-10 having different eye diseases I was mournful but Ma’am was looking focused and clam might because it is her day-to-day job if it is so she is doing great as an Ophthalmologist. Some visits were of old-aged people who were argumentative, restless and sometimes irritating keep on asking same question but it is not their fault because they are not educated.

This was an awesome and never before experience I have learned many things like helping people, showing responsibility towards the needy, medical treatment should be free, vision is one the most precious things in life. Through this activity I engaged with issues of global importance.

“If you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things.”