Medical Camp at Mannar
Immediately after IBSS, I had to go to the medical camp organized by our faculty's Hindu Society. The participation to that was compulsory for every member of that society. At first I felt a little reluctance towards participating in it. But at the end I was so glad that I took part in it.
It was a two day camp. The organization of the event had little short comings and it was the first medical camp for me and I was a little bit off the charts. On the first day, we did screening to school children. As I was a first year student, the things I could were the presentation on snake bites and first aid as part of health education and checked the visual acuity using Snellen charts. As for me I sucked at the presentation. I had to do it in Tamil and luckily I had to do it only once. But checking visual acuity was okay. There were students who had 6/60 and still hadn't consulted a doctor before. And there were students, who wore spectacles but stopped wearing them. On the second day, I was assisting the Ophthalmologist. Some people who came there started crying and it was the first time experienced it. And there were people who had consulted a doctor but stopped going after a one or two visits. What were they thinking that doctors can cure them just in a visit.
People came with serious conditions there, knowing that they had those conditions. They could have just gone to the hospitals in Mannar or Vavuniya. It would have only taken about a hour or two for that. Is it the fault in the hospitals or the lack of proper knowledge in people? So the fault has to be in health system or education system. Are the public hospitals are inaccessible? Are the doctors in the country are materialistic to their core? Is the education more focused on science and mathematics and lacking in general aspects of life?
Maybe its too early for me to ask these questions with just completing the first year at the medical faculty.
It was a two day camp. The organization of the event had little short comings and it was the first medical camp for me and I was a little bit off the charts. On the first day, we did screening to school children. As I was a first year student, the things I could were the presentation on snake bites and first aid as part of health education and checked the visual acuity using Snellen charts. As for me I sucked at the presentation. I had to do it in Tamil and luckily I had to do it only once. But checking visual acuity was okay. There were students who had 6/60 and still hadn't consulted a doctor before. And there were students, who wore spectacles but stopped wearing them. On the second day, I was assisting the Ophthalmologist. Some people who came there started crying and it was the first time experienced it. And there were people who had consulted a doctor but stopped going after a one or two visits. What were they thinking that doctors can cure them just in a visit.
People came with serious conditions there, knowing that they had those conditions. They could have just gone to the hospitals in Mannar or Vavuniya. It would have only taken about a hour or two for that. Is it the fault in the hospitals or the lack of proper knowledge in people? So the fault has to be in health system or education system. Are the public hospitals are inaccessible? Are the doctors in the country are materialistic to their core? Is the education more focused on science and mathematics and lacking in general aspects of life?
Maybe its too early for me to ask these questions with just completing the first year at the medical faculty.
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