Monthly Newsletter- December 2014
Healthcare Project in Korail Slum
Marking the last month of the Gregorian year 2014, Good Heal Trust has given service to a total of 286 patients, including regular clinic patients, advanced consultancy services, follow-ups, referral cases and GHT Health camp patients. GHT’s Telemedicine Services, consultancy through Skype was provided to 6 patients. The doctors who provided his services for the telemedicine service were Dr. Apurbo Kumer Saha (from the Medicine Department)- 1 patient and Dr. Aynul Kabir (from the Medicine Department)- 5 patients.
The GHT team arranges referrals for patients every month in order to give access to the patients to get the medical treatment they require. This month 18 patients were referred to different hospitals such as BSMMU, Sorwardi Hospital, Dhaka Medical College Hospital (BMCH), Gulshan Seba House, TB Hospital, Society for Assistance to Hearing Impaired Children (SAHIC), BRAC, Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) and the GHT Camp.
For the betterment and further education of patients on medical issues that most of them are unaware of, Good Heal Trust presents health awareness sessions twice a week on general health to patients of the Korail Slum. These sessions continue to be much needed for many of the families as these are the only sessions they have access to when it comes to medical advice. Advice is given pertaining to personal hygiene, family planning, common diseases amongst women, common diseases present in households and many other issues are discussed. Focus Group Discussions (FDGs) were held with 505 people within the slum. Senior nurses along with the help of team members help to conduct the sessions. We hope the families will benefit from the discussions and invite others to join.
There was only one health camp held this month, held on the 14th of December, 2014. A total of 26 patients were given health services. The doctors who provided service at the camps were the same from last month’s health camps, Dr. Apurbo Kumer Saha (from the Medicine Department) and Dr. Farhana Khatun (Senior Medical Officer), Gulshan Diabetic Center.
The health camps are the only time doctors are present and so many patients are asked to come in during the camps.
16 of the 26 patients registered as newly registered patients. 10 of them were registered from before. Good Heal Trust provides a health card to each new person. A mere Tk50 is charged as the card registration fee. Each card holder patient is also given a registration number. With this card patients are able to avail the health care services that the trust has to offer.
In addition to the above, as always, special healthcare screening was given for the following: breast -oral -cervical cancer screening, blood sugar monitoring, health education and diet counseling, pregnancy tests were given for both adults and adolescents and special heath education sessions were held at the slum clinics.
We look forward to providing our healthcare services in the upcoming year in addition to further improving our services.
GHT Okaidi Health Clinic
GHT is delighted to continue its health program for Grameen Shikka’s ten schools in Mirpur, sponsored by and in collaboration with Okaidi. The team has been successful in doing awareness sessions in addition to starting up basic medical care to the students of these ten schools.
December focused primarily on awareness sessions at these schools. Several health awareness sessions took place this month. The topics covered were: Facial Risk, Mosquito born diseases, Personal Hygiene, Risks Related to Teen Years and Importance of Balanced Diet. The objectives of these sessions were to reduce the spread of diseases, to improve the health of children and to transfer the good practices and knowledge to their family.
The team met with some of the parents of the students on the 28th of December. Progress reports were given and GHT’s objectives/present health services were discussed. Parents were given the platform to ask any questions they had pertaining to the team’s activities.
So far the project is being appreciated by the parents, schools and children. They are finding the initiative important and creative. We hope to continue the good work in the upcoming year and to further establish such initiatives at other schools.
The team is working with Bangladesh Institute of Health Science (BIHS) to get essential medical care for the children. It is also looking forward to starting up Skype sessions (telemedicine services) for the children in the upcoming months. We look forward to continue bringing this project to greater heights.
If interested in working with us or if you simply want to find out more information about what we endeavor to bring to the over-all healthcare system, current/future projects and much more, please visit us at: www.goodhealtrust.org