8/5/2018 0 Comments Bringing Care to the PatientThis morning we hopped in a van and held onto each other tightly as we flew down the roads of Madurai. Passing all the fruit stands and morning commuters on motorcycles, we quickly arrived at a town 20 minutes away from our hostel. In this particular town, Aravind hosts an eye camp once every month. The amazing thing about Aravind is that 50% of the care they give is free. The paying arm of the hospital helps to fund the free arm. All patients who come to the eye camp don’t have to pay a dime for the diagnosis and testing they receive. The camp was held inside a beautiful Hindu temple and we removed our shoes upon entry. Inside was a miniaturized patient flow pathway which began with registration and ended with specs dispensing or surgery consultation. As this was a cataract-focused eye camp, much of the surgery consults involved what was necessary for cataract surgery preparation the next day. Aravind hosts eye camps on Sunday so that patients can be transported back to the hospital that evening for surgery on Monday. All of the travel and stay is free to the patient. By removing these barriers to surgical care, Aravind has been able to successfully treat 7% of the town’s population. We also met some ophthalmology fellows at the camp who were there delivering care and took a photo with them. We were able to talk to them about their experiences at Aravind and other training sites. We hope to continue to talk with them throughout our time here to gain feedback on our clinical needs. -Brittany
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AuthorsJHU CBID Team India 2018-2019 ArchivesCategories |