Report on AMAN Health Care Centre, Baramulla, J&K

The AMAN Health Care Centre, now being supported Charities Aid Foundation has been running in the village of Matipora in Baramulla district, Jammu and Kashmir since, 2003. It broad objectives are:

• Providing health care and laboratory facilities to people of 20 villages of Baramulla district

• Run preventive awareness campaigns on reproductive health and child care

• Advocacy on government health care schemes like NRHM reach beneficiaries and properly implemented

This is a six monthly report, on its activities from 1st February to 31st July 2012.

The total number of beneficiaries or the people who came for treatment and consultation at the health centre were 2636. Out of these 860 were male, 1214 were females and 562 were children. The activities conducted during this time period were:

Consultation at the Health Centre: Over 2000 people visited the centre for consultation and laboratory tests. It is noticeable that majority of the patients were women. The most common illness that were reported were respiratory diseases, urinary tract infections, skin infections, gastritises and hypertension.

Laboratory tests: Large number of tests were also conducted in the laboratory. These were related to urine tests, hemoglobin, ESR, TLC, blood groups, viral and HIV.

Camps with Government and Advocacy: Four camps were conducted in collaboration with the government. Three camps were conducted with the community. These camps were held in villages of Arampura, Nawpora and Kirpal Garh. Each camp was attended by 50-60  villagers. One camp was held in the village Mattipora with village elders, local health workers and local government representatives. They included the Sarpanch, Asha workers, Anganwaadi workers, The objectives of the camps were two-fold. First to make people aware about the various health schemes run by the government related to health. The camps were addressed by the representatives of the local government administration in Pattan block. Second, the focus of the camps was on the prevention and cure of TB. This is one disease that is taking a form of an epidemic. AMAN has collaborated with the government to create awareness amongst the people on this disease.

The project has good recognition and appreciation from not only the community but also the Kashmir government. There has been increase in the number of patients who come to the centre. The centre is well-known and widely accepted in the region.