Reduce Infant & Maternal Mortality in the Himalaya

HEALTH CASE STUDY

Aam, a village located in the remote interiors of Okhalkanda block, has no access to road or mobile phone connectivity, as a result of which access to medical facilities is limited.  Most deliveries are conducted at home as getting medical help is a big challenge.  On 19 November 2015, Bhavana, a health supervisor at Aarohi received information that 23 year old Ganga had delivered a baby at home. Her blood pressure had fallen drastically and she was unconscious. Preliminary diagnosis revealed that her placenta had only been partially delivered, part of it visible outside the body.  This lead to a lot of blood loss. Ignorant of her medical condition, the family attributed it to the ‘’devil’’ and were administering traditional medicine (‘Jhad-phook’). On persistent counseling by the Aarohi health team, the family was finally convinced to take her to the hospital. After almost 24 hours of this ordeal, she was administered proper medical care. Today, both mother and child are    doing well. Timely intervention, helped save a life!

Clinical Hospital Data for the Period July-December 2015

• Total patients seen - 5362
• Number of patients treated in hospital - 836
• Number of Female Patients Treated - 352
• Number of Male Patents Treated - 453
• Number of Children Treated < 5 years -  31
• Indoor patients seen - 32
• Home visits/Emergencies - 0
• Laboratory Tests - 352
• X-Rays - 52
• ECG - 7
• Total villages covered - 130
• School children screened for Health problems- 0
• Specialist camps held - 6
• Total patients screened in camps - 314
• Plastic Surgery- 19
• Eye check-ups - 43
• Gynae check-ups - 25
• Physician visits - 203
• Total  surgery done - 26
• Dental camps held - 6
• Total screenings in Dental OPD - 209
• No. of dental extractions done - 64
• Total dental filling done - 42
• Total scaling - 13

Data for Medical Mobile Unit (MMU) Camps for the Period July-December 2015

• Total camps held - 62 
• Total pateints registered - 3465
• Total antenatal check-ups - 877
• Total Lab Investigation - 3710
• X-ray - 79
• ECG - 27
• Total ultrasound - 738
• Total ANC Ultrasound - 516

 Antenatal coverage has reached 98% and this can be attributed to the Medical Mobile Units (MMU).  The women from remote villages are getting antenatal check-ups and essential tests and investigations done in MMU.

In the last 6 months the number of villages covered has increased to 130, almost a 38% higher reach than the period from January to June, 2015.  The reasons for this could be attributed to the following:

• The MMU route has been changed, and it now visits a village called Kodar instead of Jhadgaon, this provides access to more remote villages that are availing services at MMU.
• Local doctors in the villages are also referring patients to the MMU for essential lab investigations.