ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS (Asha Sagar Project)
Action and excitement continues in the islands. The Government finds in EHA a sustainable and professional partner. This was evidenced by the invitation to conduct a training program on Disaster Management, Mitigation and Preparedness for graduating teachers in Government College Port Blair.
SUMMARY OF FEBRUARY & MARCH WORK
Clinics: Regular Clinics & Hygiene surveillance were conducted in the following camps/settlements:
Five Camps in GREF barracks, Port Blair having more than 5000 inmates
Five Camps in South Andamans, and one each in Obraganj, Lalpahad, Badmashpahad, Loknatpahad, Dundees point, Namunanagar. This takes the total to 800 families (About 3200 people)
One Nicobari tribal boys hostel & one girls hostel in Port Blair having 500 students
Health Kits: More than 800 health kits distributed in the camps where DCC is providing food. These health kits consist of soaps, brush, tooth paste, washing soaps and mosquito repellant coils which were added to prevent the spread of malaria. Sanitary napkins where given to all women in these families for a period.
Nutrition Supplement: The contents were finalized after consultation with the communities and according to SPHERE standards.. ½ Kg soyabean nuggets, ½ kg chana dal, ½ Kg black dhal,1/2 Kg Chikki would give adequate protein supplementation for 2 months for one family.
Pilar Health Centre is running still "house full". Many tribal and other camps inmates come to Pillar Health Center for treatment and treatment is given free of charge to the Tsunami victims (others are charged nominal rates). Three EHA doctors and one lady doctor from the Missionaries of St Anne congregation operate this hospital. The Outpatient and inpatient departments have been seeing unprecedented increase in patient numbers. Malaria and lower respiratory tract infections still continue. Services where upgraded by the Pillar Health centre.
Patient Statistics:
1725 Patients seen in camps/settlements in Feb& Mar
2135 Patients seen in OPD of Pillar health centre in Feb & Mar
338 Patients admitted in Pillar health center in Feb & Mar
151 Under five Patients in Pillar OPD in Feb & Mar
44 Under five Patients Pillar IP in Feb+ Mar
Total number of patients treated by EHA/ Pillar docs in Feb & Mar: 4451
DCC has started building 530 intermediate shelters in Hut Bay & South Andamans.
MARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Training: 100 graduating BEd students of the Government Tagore teachers training college were trained in Disaster Management, Mitigation & Preparedness by EHA team. It was held in April 1st week.
Distribution of Kerosene stoves: The settlements in the Lalpahad and Badmashpahad areas (literally Red Hill & Crooks Hill) are isolated and criminal settlements where the relief materials had hardly reached. Here the community kitchen is being run by the Government. But it starts only at 7.30 Am. The children had to leave for school by 6.45AM and most went hungry. If we provided the material the women agreed to prepare food. Since this was a clearly defined geographic area and a specific need, the team decided to intervene and distributed 19 kerosene stoves, one each to every family with school going children. Now the children go to school smilingly.
Psychosocial Support: The arrival of Ms Jubin Verghese added a new dimension to the work. She interviewed 113 girls in the tribal hostel and 32 had symptoms related to Post traumatic stress disorders. To lift their spirits, Jubin arranged for a community birthday party to celebrate the birthdays of 18 girls whose birthday's fell between March 1 and 19. Each girl cut a cake and received small gifts. Jubin & Siju were inundated with phone calls which was an indication of their genuine appreciation. We intend to continue the birthday celebrations of these students.
TAMIL NADU
EHA's work in Tamil Nadu consisted of the distribution of 3500 health kits each worth Rs 250 to the families identified by EFICOR in their project area. It had contents of daily use and vitamin/Iron supplements. Another 5000 similar kits were planned for March but not yet distributed.
SRI LANKA
Dr. Mallika and Sis. Tamil Selvi are back from a very exciting and often "frightening' trip to Tamil Tiger Territory in Sri Lanka. They worked with a team from North West Medical team and local partner LEADS. It was our response to a specific request from Sri Lanka to send Tamil speaking staff to work in the rebel-controlled areas.
Present EHA staff in the Islands
Mr Sunny Jacob - Project Director
Dr. Jeevan Kuruvilla - Field Coordinator
Dr MuthuKumar - Medical Officer
Dr Tony Biswas - Medical Officer
Dr Siju Seena - Epidemiologist
Ms Jubin Verghese - Clinical psychologist