TURA:
Hundreds of patients from Garo Hills descended on Jengjal town, 32 kms from Tura, to avail medical services from a team of specialist doctors and surgeons from Penang Adventist Hospital, Malaysia and Christian Medical College, Vellore for the three-day health camp, which began on November 14.
While one camp for screening and counselling is being held at SMELC campus in Dakopgre, Tura, surgeries are being conducted at Jengjal Sub-Divisional Hospital.
As news spread about the arriving medical team, people in need of medical checkups and surgeries have been visiting the venues.
With free consultation, and sugar, blood, heart and lung checkups at the SMELC centre, people have been streaming in since morning hours.
At Jengjal, the surgeons began their operations at the break of dawn.
Speaking to The Meghalayan, lead doctor from Jengjal hospital Dr Denyl Joshua, expressed happiness with the huge turnout of people keen to utilise the medical services being provided to them.
Terming the response as “overwhelming”, he said, “They are conducting operations from 6:30 am in the morning to late evening. We have had surgeries for hernia, appendicitis and gallbladder on day one. Tomorrow we begin surgeries for haemorrhoids and other complications. The surgery section is fully booked since the first day.”
Among the seven members team of visiting doctors are two international surgeons who have flown in all the way from Malaysia to participate in the camp. They are backed up by another team of medical students from CMC Vellore including a pulmonologist.
At the health screening camp currently underway in the SMELC campus in Tura, patients are being provided with free services across eight booths for blood glucose monitoring, blood pressure, heart and lung assessment, healthy age assessment, body fat and BMI monitoring, importance of nutrition, stress relief, benefits of exercise and simple home remedies for ailments.
Meghalaya Health Minister James Pangsang K Sangma, who has encouraged the Adventist Mission to take over and run the government hospital at Jengjal will visit the venue on Wednesday, the last day of the health camp.