KMCH Coimbatore sets up Chennai flood relief camp

Sends a team of doctors, nurses and pharmacists to help people affected by the floods

Medical needs of the people arise in two ways; 1) In the form of immediate or intra event damages like cuts, bruise and fractures due to hit by moving heavy and sharp objects, 2) local epidemics caused air borne infections (large number of people are accommodated in relief areas), water borne diseases due to contamination of drinking water sources with unclean and sewage water. It can lead to increasing cases of ailments like leptospirosis as people are likely to come in contac t with infected rats’ urine through the sludge.

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Recently, Chennai experienced a major calamity in the form of massive flooding due to heavy rains recently. Hence, Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH) Coimbatore, to serve the health needs of the community in Chennai, sent a team of 52, consisting of 23 doctors, 23 nurses, four pharmacists and two assistants.

The team, under the leadership of Dr V Ganesh and Somasundaram, started from Coimbatore on December 7, 2015 and initiated their work on December 8, 2015. The relief efforts by the KMCH team continued for a period of five days, post which they returned to the station on December 13, 2015. During their stay at Chennai, the team held medical camps at Kotturpuram Police Quarters, Kotturpuram Slum Board, Jafferkhanpet, MGR Nagar, Nesapakkam, Cholai Pallam and Kannamapet. These areas are situated on the banks of the Adayar River. The victims in these areas were locked on the second floor of their houses during the flood as the floodwater entered the first two levels of the buildings. The team witnessed that the people in the area had lost their clothes, medicines, medical history, documents, money, food stores and other belongings. The people were walking bare foot as they were frightened of slipping in the sludge while walking. This was an additional health risk as it increased the chances of contracting diseases such as leptospirosis and other fungal, bacterial and protozoal infections.

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Dr Nalla G Palaniswami, Chairman, KMCH Hospitals, equipped the relief team with medicines worth Rs 15 lakhs. The medicines ranged from antipyretic, antiallergic, antifungal, antibiotic, antidiarrhoeal, ulcer protective, hypoglycemic agents, suture materials, dressing materials and tetanus toxoid vaccines. The team received additional support from the health ministry in the form of medicines such as antifungals to reach to a wider population. The camps were located very close, i.e. 50 to 100 feet from the bank of the Adayar river. This made it possible for the team to reach the most needy people. Reportedly, the KMCH team served 5127 people in the mentioned areas during their five-day stay. A team member, speaking on the experience, said that he was very moved on seeing the plight of the affected people in the area. He said that his team was glad that they were able to offer highest level of care with the minimum resources they had. He also informed that the team receive a memento with the image of Mother Teresa on it.