RC Gandevi implements 29 TRF grants totalling $2.7 million

In the space of just seven days, thanks to the partnership between a Rotary club in India and a team of doctors of Indian origin from the USA, a massive number of 6,200 rural and tribal people around the villages of Gandevi, a small town in Gujarat, were screened for medical ailments and over 700 identified for follow-up action. And this follow-up action required complicated paediatric open-heart surgeries, one knee replacement surgery (on both knees), nine heart bypass surgeries, eleven valve replacements, two critical spine surgeries and five angioplasties. This is not including over 150 cataract surgeries, 25 angiograms and several other medical procedures.

“And all this was made possible thanks to the magical quality of our Rotary Foundation and the speed with which it works,” smiles Parimal Naik, Past President of RC Gandevi, situated about 60 km from Surat.

The global grant for $100,200 “was approved by TRF in just 26 days, and that includes the Christmas vacation. That is the speed with which people in our Foundation work,” he says with both awe and admiration in his voice.

The club itself raised over $10,000 for this project. In the last 20 years since it was started, RC Gandevi, RID 3060, has been serving the poor and needy people in the surrounding areas, having sponsored 29 global grants worth $2.7 million.

It all began in 2010, when an NRI friend of some of the club members introduced them to a team of doctors and paramedics belonging to the Association of Indian Physicians of Northern Ohio, US, who wanted to do some service for the underprivileged in India. This is the third time a team of these NRI doctors, who include general surgeons, physicians, gynaecologists, paediatricians and a neurologist, have come to India to give their medical expertise in treating ill people in the community.

“The doctors and paramedics from the US were here for 10 days and during that time we organised nine screening camps in hospitals, wherever available, or primary and secondary government schools, ” says Naik.

The 26-member team was hosted by Swetal Desai, who is the Charter President of Rotary Club of Chikli “which was started recently. It is about 10 km from Gandevi and Desai has a large farmhouse there and he was kind enough to host the entire team.”

Once the patients were segregated for follow-up action, including major operations, four charitable hospitals, including the LG Haria Rotary Hospital in Vapi, which does paediatric open-heart surgery, were identified for surgical and medical procedures. The other three hospitals are Yashfeen Cardiac Hospital, Navsari; Gram Seva Trust Hospital, Kharel; and Jamna Ba Hospital, Bardoli.

Naik explained that barely a few beneficiaries had the Mukhyamantri Amrutum medical card given under the Gujarat Government healthcare scheme which was started in 2012 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of the State. “Under this card, which is mainly given to BPL patients, a sum of upto ₹3 lakh is available for critical medical care. But even though we have the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, none of the patients — all villagers, including tribals — had that card. So it was here that the kindness of TRF, through the global grant, helped and all these patients underwent major medical and surgical procedures totally free of cost. Without Rotary’s help there was no way these patients would have got decent medical treatment,” adds Naik.

“India is a land of pilgrimage so we have termed this project of ours a ‘medical pilgrimage’. And in this project, we have got excellent support from Rotary Club of Bakersfield, US, as well as RI District 5240, who are our international partners for this global grant. Our own district has also supported this project by contributing a handsome amount from the DDF,” adds Naik.

The club has also managed to get the support of RI District 1260 and RC Mississauga-City Centre, Canada, who have also become its partners for implementing this project. “This is the true international spirit of Rotary and I can barely find the words to thank The Rotary Foundation and our other partners, including our own district, without whose support over 700 people could not have been helped to get proper medical treatment…. and who can now hope to lead a normal, healthy life,” adds Naik.