## **Annual report of The Himalayan Health Initiative for period 02-02-2023 to 1- 02 2024** We organised a health camps in the village of Kharsadi in remote parts of Himalayas. The camp was held from 20.5.2023 to 3.6.2023. Camp was attended by threeTrustees of HHI from UK and volunteers from India. The Trustees went to India and attended the camp at their own cost. The focus of this activity was health care provision for patients and parents. We also did health education activity for local health care workers. Camp was attended by three trustees and volunteers from India including an optometrist. Full Camp report is attached below ## **CAMP REPORT FOR KHARSADI FROM 23.5.23 to 1.6.23.** ATTENDEES UK TEAM KANTIBHAI MISTRY (OPTOMETRIST) Prashant Mistry ( optometrist) Dr VINIT SHAH Dr Hannah Mistry Dr Dhirubhai Mistry Mr Kiran Patel INDIA TEAM HANUMANT (OPTOMETRIST RK MISSION HOSPITAL) Ashwin Parekh (OPTOMETRIC WORKER) Ajoy KHARSADI TEAM VIPIN CHAUHAN (MANAGEMENT LEAD) PUSHPA RAVAT (PHARMACIST) ROHANI NEGI (AUXILLARY NURSE MIDWIFE) PRIYANKA PANN…. (AUXILLARY NURSE MIDWIFE) SEEMA RAMA (ADMIN) ## 23 .5.23 VS took the opportunity to look at the medicines available in stock in our Pharmacy. It was remarkable that lots of medicines which were purchased for May 2022 camp were still not used and many of them were nearing their expiry dare or had expired. All staff joined to identify the expiry dates of medicines and put those medicines which were about to expire in places where they would be readily used. VS also took the opportunity to emphasise that not all patients who come to the clinic need medicines. Medicines were arranged according to the system for which they are used. i.e. skin, antibiotics, analgesics, respiratory, gynaecology etc.. patients seen Total 9 patient s were seen on this day. ## 24.5.23 As there were not many patients today, VS did question answer sessions with nurses and other staff. PP presentation about family planning and breastfeeding was shown to staff. Vs took the opportunity to once again go through all the medicines in our pharmacy. Tota;l10 patients were seen today. ## 25.5.23 Today evening the remaining team from UK arrived. It was raining heavily from late afternoon. In the morning a 55 year old lady was brought urgently with severe abdominal pain, she was in agony and screaming with pain. she was a known patient of renal stones. She was treated with Injection diclofenac and buscopan which relieved her renal colic within minutes and was encouraged to get herself well hydrated and advised to have surgery for renal stones. She is already under a specialist clinic in Dehradun. **Total 17 patients were seen** today. Arrangements for eye camp were made at the Gaddugard school which is just 2 minutes away from our clinic. ## 26.5.23. Today whole team was in full swing with optometrists, gynaecologist, paediatrician, GP and nurses all working flat out. Kiran bhai helped out with translation for non-Hindi speaking people from UK. **Today Total number of general patient were 46.** ## 27.5.23 Today there were few emergencies today. A 20 day old new born baby with jaundice was seen and was treated. Staff were given a quick tutorial in management of normal new born babies and how to identify sick babies so they could be urgently referred for correct treatment to higher centre. Today VS did a training session for Asha workers and Anganwadi workers. The aim was to identify what their needs were. It transpired that Asha workers do not have commonly used medicines for simple illnesses like cough, cold, fever etc. VS agreed that we would be happy to provide these medicines free of cost but there should be proper accountability for the use of medicines. It was identified that that many anganwadis workers were not able to give nutritious food to under 5 children because of change in the way anganwadis were now working .They are now integrated with primary school. We need to explore if Mori Swasthya Foundation can provide high protein diet to children of selected anganwadis.it may **Today total number of patient seen in general clinic were 40.** ## 28.5.23 **Today we saw total of 35 patients** . many of the patients were our chronic conditions patients with hypertension, diabetes, COPD etc. We had intended to do a debrief at the end of every day but this was not possible for many reasons. One possible reason was that eye unit and general medical camps were at different sites mad people were finishing the day at different times. ## 29.5.23. Today there was more teaching for the staff by Dhirubhai and VS. Hannah modified the ANC PNC excel sheets and explained to ANMs how to use it. A 3year old child was brought with history of Diarrhoea and vomiting. He was mildly dehydrated and was given ORS powder and asked to contact us if he became unwell but he never contacted us. **Total number of patients in general clinic today were 44, 15 females, 24 males and 5 children.** ## 30.5.23. Today we had arranged with Mori PHC staff for blood collection for our chronic patients. The phlebotomist from Mori PHC came and we collected bloods for 15 patients.3 ANC patients were also invited for blood tests. VS has seen the results of the tests and appropriate action has been taken. Main issues identified were iron deficiency, and high cholesterol in some elderly patients. **Total number of patients seen today were 56** . ## 31.5.23. Today morning Kantibhai ,rest of the optometry team, Dhirubhai and Hannah went for their Yatra to Kedarnath. While VS,KP and Staff with 2 ANMs from Mori PHC headed towards village of Dhoni. This was part of our experiment to explore if mobile van could be useful for remote villages like Dhoni. Unfortunately it was raining very heavily and I trained whole day and by the time we reached Dhoni weather was so bad that school where we were supposed to do our work was about to send the children home. But fortunately we managed to have a very useful 1 hour session with children. I t was an interactive session with pupils about how to remain healthy. We also examined some of the staff in school. We wanted to go the village centre to meet the villagers but because of poor weather the plan was abandoned.I think we should still try to explore the possibility of hiring a mobile van next time and go to one of the remote villages. ## 1.6..23. Today the weather was good and we saw 8 patients before heading for our trekking in Sankri area. ## Summary It was a successful camp where we **saw total of 265 general patients.** Did some training for our staff and local health care workers. Experiment with mobile van was limited by poor weather. Actions before and for next visit - 1) Try to build a training centre in the room below the clinic - 2) More IT training for our staff and buy a new lap top for their use. - 3) Once again hire a mobile van and go to another village and pick good weather! - 4) Consider a permanent Eye unit in our clinic which can have visiting optometrist. Kantibhai will provide a separate report for the eye camp. ( 248 eye patients seen, 21 patients with cataract were identified) Vipin to add photos to this report. I would like to express my thanks to all the participants in the camp. Dr Vinit Shah 18.6.23. **In addition to the above camp activity we work very closely with our colleagues /partners in India. We work with an organisation called Mori Swasthya Foundation (MSF) which is a registered charity in India. MSF runs a nurse and pharmacist led primary health care clinic daily (Monday to Saturday) in a remote village of Himalayas ( Kharsari Village, Uttrakhand state, India) We have a weekly zoom meetings with them when we get the report about the activities they have carried out during the previous week. During the weekly meeting we also provide education and guidance to the staff to manage the patients. Staff of the clinic will also call the Trustees who are doctors in UK for advice on ad hoc basis during the week. Trustees also see the patients on zoom to make diagnosis and provide treatment to patients during weekly meetings or on ad hoc basis. Trustees visit this clinic in India twice a year at their own expense and hold camps to provide health care to local population free of charge and provide health education to local health care workers and clinic staff.** ## **Accounts:** **Income during annual report period £14315 and expenses is £14677 No money has been paid to Trustees or Volunteers in UK.** **DATE REPORT PREPARED: 26/10/2024**