Nalanda, Bihar

We loved our time spent in Nalanda, Bihar. Smriti Banthia’s grandmother who is 94 years old was visiting her hometown (this inspired the India trip!). We had set up a camp originally with the local physician who occasionally comes to campus but due a worker’s strike, he felt it was too risky to hold a camp. Therefore, our plans changed radically and a local villager graciously donated his front yard!

A recently graduated medical student, her grandfather a retired civil surgeon, helped and neighbors of the villager lended tables and chairs! Voila – we managed to see over a 100 patients in a span of a few hours as word spread quickly! 

We noticed a few patterns. Women in particular were hesitant to get checked up as they were unsure of what exactly would be done and what we would find. However, after observation for an hour, they also lined up to get checked and they stated they didn’t want to find problems as this would only add to the burden of their families. We also noticed that many villagers talked about paralysis in one of their family members. What they didn’t realize is that paralysis means stroke and too many people in town were suffering from this. 

We found high rates of HTN again and less diabetes and obesity compared to Rajasthan. Again, the diet was high in salt and this was likely the underlying culprit! Due to unreliable medical care, there was also a lack of understanding of basic medical problems. 

Ongoing Efforts:

Four young villagers took interest in learning how to measure BP and glucose levels. They understand what is normal and abnormal and when to encourage the patient to see a physician. They also were well versed in the dietary changes that were needed (less salt, oil, sugar, and milk!). They now run weekly medical camps on Sundays checking glucose and BP for free and encouraging villagers to follow-up!