Health Screenings in rural Gujarat, 2009
Tejal Pandya, co-founder of PFF, started her education in
Medical School at the Temple University in the fall of August 2008.
Since Temple University School of Medicine (TUSOM) encourages students
to go abroad to learn and experience health services delivery in other
countries, Tejal requested the school's permission to encourage some of
her co-students to go to India for a health related project. Once the
School supported her idea and three of her peers showed interest Tejal
and Gaurang Pandya worked to develop a formal program for the four
students to work with two separate rural clinics in different parts of
rural Gujarat, one in Shivrajpur in the Panhmahal district of Gujarat
and one in Shamlaji clinic in the Sabarkantha district of Gujarat.
For one full week the Students from TUSOM and the students from a
medical college in Gujarat worked with Dr. Pandya and the trustees of
the Shivrajpur clinic screened the residents of five villages
surrounding Shivrajpur for some health conditions like hypertention,
diabetes. Additionally, women screened for breast cancer with the use
of portable ultrasound machines, clinical breast exam by the students.
The women were also instructed in the technique of self-breast exam to
identify breast lumps and cysts with the help of silicone breast
models. At the end of each day, if the students had identified women
with suspicious breast lumps, those women were transported to the
Shivrajpur clinic for ultrasound -guided biopsy.
The following week, similar screenings were performed at the Shamlaji
clinic. The administrators of Shamlaji clinic had sent out flyers
regarding the screening camp at the clinic, which allowed the team to
stay in one place. There was a steady flow of people all day long.
In all, about twenty five hundred people were screened and the findings
were tabulated and analyzed.
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