Sevak Foundation held 11th seminar of Sevaks in Vadodara

Sevak Foundation is now concentrating to identify anaemic women in Gujarat and help them to lead a healthy life specially during pregnancy. They aims to spread the project in the states of Odisha, Bihar and Tamilnadu from this year focussing on women health.

Sevak project started in 2010 and conceived by Dr. Tkakorbhai G. Patel, MD, MACP, FRCP, retired navy medical officer and is based on the US Navy's Independent Duty Corpsman. The Primary mission is to create access to health care in rural villages by screening for diabetes and hypertension and collecting data on portable water, sanitation, stoves (chulas) and education.

Till date the Sevaks work in 250 villages in Gujarat, Bihar, Odisha and Tamilnadu and working towards rural health specially women. So far the prevalence of diabetes is around 4.6% and hypertension 8 % among 120,000 people screened. Predominantly farmers and laborers are in the group and a PHC or a private doctor then sees the identified.

The hard water in many villages lead to kidney stones problem in people. In partnership with Wheels Global Foundation USA Inc., Sevak project established 12 reverse osmosis plants and people get 20 litres of water at minimum price of five rupees. It leads to minimise the patients with kidney stones.

Another initiative in partnership with Win foundation of India was to screen females between the age of 11 to 40 years for anaemia with TouchB machine which is non-invasive. Women with anaemia are at extremely high risk for maternal/ child morbidity/mortality during and after pregnancy. The females found to have HB of 10 or less are referred to PHC, Asha workers or private doctors for treatment. Sevak project is now identifying ways to provide Iron supplements in cooking to sustain and improve whole family levels.

To counter serious problem of female hygiene, Sevak foundation established sanitary napkins factory at Mota Kalavad in Dev Bhumi Dwarka. They employs local village women badly need jobs. Sanitary napkin dispenser has been placed in girls hostel in Bhanvad Dev Bhumi Dwarka.

In Agiya Sabarkantha 110 toilets created under this project, Navalgadh, Surendranagar and Dhodhalpada, Dang, sewing centres are established to teach females of all ages to create future jobs.

During Covid 19 pandemic, sevaks took the Indian government online course and got certificate. They screened people with oximeters for oxygen level and thermal gun for temperature. The sevaks provide rations and other essential things during this time.

Every year since the start of project, there has been a Sevak seminar to provide refresher training and teach current topics. The project is funded through friends, family members and classmates of Dr. Patel.

In future they need to introduce telemedicine as need of hour and connect the rural areas to medical needs through cell phones.