Valsad, Gujarat

In Valsad, Gujarat we had the pleasure of running a clinic in the setting of an orphanage, mainly for Tribal Indians. With the help of an ophthalmologist, dentist, dermatologist, and cardiologist, we were able to see over 280 patients in a day. 

We learned many things, first about the orphanage. There were 91 children who lived here, all orphans from the village of Valsad. They were young but very inquisitive about the medical equipment, check-ups, and more! They also were quite creative in helping set up the camp, using blankets as our table space, their large shared room as our medical “office” space, and more! I will never forget that. I also was amazed at their work ethic, sense of sharing with others, and playfulness with no complaints despite having very little material things and mainly each other as their support structure!

Learning from them, we proceeded to see villagers from the town. What we noticed the most were high rates of HTN and diabetes. One woman was getting checked and had a glucose level of 480 and had no idea she had diabetes! Again, common theme, there was high use of salt, sugar, and oil/butter. There was a lot of chest pain and unfortunately, we did not have the resources for stress testing but given untreated HTN and diabetes, there likely was high rates of coronary artery disease as well! Many described deaths of relatively young family members. 

Ongoing Efforts:

We donated medications, medical equipment to the local doctors and hope that villagers will continue to get routine check-ups to help prevent sudden deaths from likely undiagnosed and untreated chronic medical conditions.