5. Tribal Care

To reach out to patients and provide accessible health care – A hospital at their doorstep!

Whilst the patient turn-out at the medical camps organised by the SRH is very good, there are still thousands who cannot make it to a camp because:

To reach out to these underprivileged and needy people, to take care of their basic health needs and to improve their health conditions, the Shrimad Rajchandra Rural Health Project (SRRHP) was initiated in August 2006.

Three teams, each comprising of a doctor, a paramedic (for dispensing medicines) and supporting staff, make daily visits to the remote areas of Dharampur, Valsad, Vansda, Chikhli and Kaprada to provide basic health care to the poor, at their doorsteps. Currently, 90 outreach centres are visited once a week, on a fixed day, from Monday to Saturday. In a sense, these villages, which have no medical facilities, have been 'adopted' by the Shrimad Rajchandra Hospital. Patients are given quality treatment and the required medicines, free of charge.

Annually, more than 51,000 tribal people have benefited from the Outreach Programme. Totally, more than 1,40,000 patients have benefited till date from the Outreach Programme.

Lack of education and skills – both vocational and technical, have left the tribals either unemployed, or working with meager wages, making it difficult to make both ends meet. This results in many, particularly the youth, falling prey to antisocial elements. Vocational training is vitally important for these tribals to increase their work efficiency and sharpen their ability to adapt to social, economic and technological changes, thereby making them self-sufficient.

The project involves providing training at Sanand to tribals in 22 diverse skills such as Automobile technical training, Industrial tailoring, electrical training, mobile phone repairs, video and photography, furniture making and metal fabrication, to name a few. Hundreds of students have been trained so far. This training is conducted by Dalit Shakti Kendra, Sanand. Essential aids like sewing machines, video and photography equipment are provided to them to enable them to pursue their chosen professions and earn a livelihood for themselves and their families.

Cattle from the Shrimad Rajchandra Gaushala (cowshed) and other rescued cattle are rehabilitated to the farmers and villagers of Dharampur taluka. The cattle thus provided for farming greatly help to raise their level of prosperity as they would otherwise be unable to afford cattle on account of the high costs. Apart from farming, the cowdung (gobar) is useful for cooking, as a covering for their houses etc. Thus the cattle help to increase the standard of living and their income also increases.

This initiative aims to promote creativity amongst tribals and preserve their traditional handicraft skills. These traditional handicraft skills which have been carefully honed and passed down over to generations are beginning to recede at an alarming pace in this age of automation. Traders exploit the poor, uneducated but very talented rural populace only to usurp their actual remuneration in return of a pittance. The 'Tribal Care' programme realises that an entire culture is slipping away from our fingers and thus aims to provide new opportunities to the affected rural artisans and craftsmen, thereby ensuring their financial freedom.

Greeting cards are made under "Cards for a Cause" initiative of this project. Over 5 lakh cards have been sold to retailers and corporates like HDFC, Standard Life Insurance, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, JP Morgan Mutual Fund etc. Another project has also been launched with the divine name of `Raj Kruti’, under the Tribal Care initiative. Beautiful products such as pen stands, tissue box cases, visiting card holders etc are hand painted by them in their traditional Warli art. Several tribals have gained considerably by putting their gifted skills to meaningful activities through these projects.

Click here to view card designs and purchase cards.