Ginette: From Miami to Mysore

                On June 2nd, I had the privilege of taking a small role in a Human Papilloma Virus mobile clinic with staff members from PHRII.  When I travel back to Miami and my friends and family bombard me with questions of my most memorable moment during my Study Abroad in India, I know I will tell them about my experience at the mobile clinic.  When I was told I would get an opportunity to go along with the staff members in HPV mobile clinic, I can admit that I did not know what to expect.  I could not fathom how I could help in a situation like that.  Even though I did not see a way in which I could help, the PHRII staff believed in me and found a way I could help. Our day started out with us loading the vans with supplies for the mobile clinic: tables, buckets, medical supplies and many other items.  After loading the vans, we embarked on our journey to the rural village where we were going to set up the mobile clinic.  When we reached the village, we set up the clinic in an empty classroom in the school. My role in the mobile clinic was collecting the names, numbers, age, and husband’s names for records. I worked with Satya of PHRII as well as Hector and Fabrizio from FIU who helped collect heights and the blood pressure of the participants.  

When I look back at my time at the mobile clinic, I think the thing that was most different to me was the mobile clinic as a whole. I was amazed by how the staff of PHRII was able to create a mini hospital in their limited space and in so little time.  One moment there was an empty classroom and maybe fifteen minutes later it was a working running clinic.  It is easy to think about a team of people going to a rural village and making an impact but seeing it for myself was a very humbling experience.   Seeing a  pelvic examination going on in the classroom was a surreal experience. It was not something I went on to this trip knowing I was going to get the chance to do.  So when I was given the opportunity, I was a little uncomfortable because I was going on the trip with little medical experience; seeing another person getting a pelvic exam was not in my element.  After chickening out once, I finally gathered the courage to observe an exam. When it was all said and done, I was able to recognize it as a pivotal experience. It was amazing watching the staff in action checking for cervical cancer. Dr. V. explained to me in detail what they were looking for so I was aware of what was going on.  It was life changing seeing the human body in ways I never have before.

                The best experience at the mobile clinic was the seeing the women after they went to the clinic and seeing how thankful they were to PHRII for coming out and helping them. This showed the women that people they do not know are concerned for their health and are willing to come out and expose them to things they did not know about before.  Towards the end of the day, a woman came by and kissed us all on the cheek as a sort of thanks for doing what we did for her. That moment is one I will never forget. The look on her face full of gratitude touched my heart in a way I was not expecting. Going out and seeing the mobile clinic in action was an experience I could have never gotten from a textbook or sitting in a classroom. Seeing the impact the mobile clinic can have on individual lives was something important for me to see, and it has changed me for the better.  I know I may not be able to participate in a mobile clinic in a rural village for the rest of my life but I can find a way to support NGOs like PHRII that are having an impact on global health.

                The health issue involved in this situation is not only cervical cancer but also the lack of medical access people in the rural villages have. “Cervical cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among women worldwide”  (Parimala,2016).  According to research by The New England Journal of Medicine, “In developing countries, there is a lack of effective screening programs for cervical cancer” (Sankaranarayanan, 2009). Just like with PHRII, the New England Journal of Medicine went to a rural village where women did not have immediate access to health care. Also similarly, the team set up a mobile clinic in classrooms or other points in the village that they were able to conduct their study in.  In both cases, if it was not for these research facilities, these women in rural villages would not have gotten screened.   “Regular screening for cancer of the uterine cervix is of need among people of lower socio economic status and awareness should be created on cervical cancer and its complications” (Parimala ,2016).  With this in mind, health workers need to step up and make screening for people in rural areas more available.  Although many doctors do not want to work in rural villages, the government needs to do something to convince doctors to work in these areas like higher wages in these areas.  The government can even consider half year doctors and implement a system where doctors only work in rural villages for a portion of the year and work in other areas for the rest of the year.

While NGOs are making a change in rural communities, they cannot do it alone.   More funding needs to be put into NGOs and the government should consider ways to get full running hospitals in rural communities.

 

References

 

Sankaranarayanan, R., Nene, B. M., Shastri, S. S., Jayant, K., Muwonge, R., Budukh, A. M., ... & Chinoy, R. (2009). HPV screening for cervical cancer in rural India. New England Journal of Medicine, 360(14), 1385-1394.

 

Best, M. L., & Kumar, R. (2008). Sustainability failures of rural telecenters: Challenges from the sustainable access in rural india (sari) project.