My last week in India

Last week at CMC was spent at their CHAD (Community Health And Development) department. In some ways a very separate part of the hospital, as it is not based at the main hospital site but at the college campus about 7 km away. The most succinct way of describing it is as a "super GP practice", the main activities of which are to visit the people in their own villages and provide Outpatient services. They currently also have a small number of in patient beds, mostly in the labour unit but they also have an increasingly small leprosy unit, which will soon be closed as leprosy patients will be treated alongside other medical complaints. Community Health has always been an interest of CMC ever since its inception due to the experience of its founder Dr. Ida Scudder.

The story goes thus:
Ida Scudder's parents (her father was a doctor) were missionaries in India during the late 19th century, based about 20 km from Vellore. Ida was born whilst they were in India but she didn't enjoy living in India and left as soonas she could to attend university in the United States to study science. Every year she would make the 6 week boat journey to India to visit her parents for 2 weeks and then return. If was during one of these visits that a dramatic event occurred. One night after dinner there was a knock at the door of the Scudders' house. A man from one of the local villages was there, asking for help as his wife was in labour. Ida explained that she couldn't help but her father and he could come. This was unacceptable tothe man and kept insisting that it should be Ida. After a further heated discussion (commonplace in India!) the man left, disappointed. Later on the same evening a second knock and similar incident, again the husband leaving disappointed. At this point Ida was starting to be concerned and a 3rd incident took place. Worried, but feeling helpless Ida retired to bed. The next morning there was a sound of a loud commotion coming from the village. The butler was dispatched to find out what was going on and returned with the news that 3 women had died overnight whilst in labour. This deeply affected Ida and she returned to the US to complete her degree, determined to start medical training as soon as possible. After a further 4 years she became a doctor and returned to Vellore to set up a hospital and training facility for women.

Over the years this grew and expanded into the hospital it is today, accepting male students in the 1950s. The CHAD department itself was initially only for students to learn from the symptoms and signs of the locals but developed into a fully fledged part of the work CMC do during the 1980s. Alongside the healthcare they run various development projects including providing jobs for the women of the families, welding, sewing and embroidering.



Also visited the swimming pool a couple of times during week, realising how bad I am at swimming; oh well, at least I don't sink.