The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Over 1,000 benefit from special medical camp

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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Over 1,000 benefit from special medical camp

Staff Reporter

Held in C Nachipattu under “Varumun Kappom” scheme

— Photo D. Gopalakrishnan

Health camp: Patients attending a special medical camp at C-Nachipattu village near Chengam in Tiruvannamalai district on Monday.

CHENGAM: Over 1,000 people from several villages were screened for various diseases at the special medical camp organised under the “Varumun Kappom” scheme at C Nachipattu Village Panchayat Middle School near Chengam on Monday.

Due to lack of bus facility connecting C Nachipattu from villages Amarnathapudur, Manmalai, Kolanthangal, Ammanoor, Kariamangalam and Melanaimangalam, C Nachipattu village panchayat president K.Nallamuthu arranged for private vehicles including mini tempo vans to bring the people to the camp. The response to the camp was tremendous.

N.Vijayakumar, Joint Director of Medical Services, Tiruvannamalai district, said it was the 169th camp being held in Tiruvannamalai district. A total of 1.68 lakh people have so far been screened in various rural villages across the district. Out of them, 6,000 to 7,000 people have been referred to the Government Hospitals at Chengam, Vellore, Chennai, Tiruvannamalai and Puducherry for further diagnosis and treatment. Such camps mainly benefited people living below the poverty line (BPL).

R.Ganesan, Medical Officer, Arattavadi, Primary Health Centre, said that a total of 150 staff attached to various PHCs and health sub-centres including nurses, village health nurses, lab technician, health inspector, pharmacists and sector health nurses attended on the patients who were screened for various health related problems in the camp held at C Nachipattu. “The camp proves fruitful as the people belonging to the interior villages find it difficult to go to the government hospitals at Chengam and Tiruvannamalai,” he said. One of the main reasons was lack of bus facility.

He said that a total of 1,050 people, including 123 children, were screened at the medical camp. Various modern medical facilities including ECG and ultra sonogram to detect cervical cancer were available at the camp. The villagers were screened for hypertension, blood pressure, diabetes and various sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. Even eye tests were done. Most of the people to the camp suffered from cataract. In the case of detection of major diseases, the patients were referred to the Government Hospitals at Chengam, Chennai, Tiruvannamalai and Vellore.

Dr.Ganesan said that in addition to normal screening sputum test was done on some of the patients to detect tuberculosis. Pre-natal check up was done on pregnant women. Diabetes was also found to be common among the patients.

The Medical Officer said that out of the 14 cases tested for cerebral vascular disorders five of the cases were reported to be positive. Interestingly there was no prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV among the patients who attended the camp. Some of the children below eight years of age were detected to be diabetic. A total of 31 people have been referred to the Government Hospitals for further diagnosis and treatment. Pointing out that two to three camps were being held in the district on a monthly basis, Dr.Ganesan said next camp is scheduled exclusively for villagers of Pudupalayam Block. The camp would be held on May 30.

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