Chennai
Vivekanandapuram First Street Residents Welfare Association has been undertaking various welfare activities for its residents. Soon after Cyclone Vardah hit the city, the association organised a blood donation camp in association with HDFC bank with the assistance of Hindu Mission Hospital. “The camp was inaugurated by Dr J Balasbramaniam. Many residents participated in the camp. We anticipated a lot of demand for blood around that time and we wanted to do everything from our side. We plan to organise more such camps in future,” says S Murali, president of the association.
The members of RA Puram Residents Association have been organising free medical camp once in three months. “Each time, we come up with a theme. We have touched on topics like ‘Role of diet in obesity’. We tie-up with different hospitals in the locality and organise the camps. Since there are many doctors who are part of the association, it is easy to hold such camps. We organised free diabetic and obesity camps and the participants got free consultation,” says Srinath V, a member of the association.
Similarly, Veg Council of Nungambakkam avails of a pool of doctors from Apollo Hospital to organise free camps. “Our fo cus is on the residents of the slums and tenements from the neighbourhood. Though the health camps are free for all, we undertake a door-to-door campaign one day before holding the camp. These camps start from 6.30 am and go on till noon. The first set of visitors are the morning walkers, but as the day progresses, many people from nearby localities drop by. The general checkups are done here and if anything of a serious nature is found, doctors at the camp recommend the patients to specialists,” says Amrit A of Haddows Park Association.
Some Associations chip in by donating their space to hold the camps. For instance, members of Jeevan Bhima Nagar Flat Owners Welfare Association opened up their Community Hall to the volunteers to conduct a blood donation camp. “Along with the Royapettah Blood Blank department, we organised a blood donation camp where we collected 100 units of blood from the volunteers. The residents not only gave the space but also donated blood,” says Angelin Prince of Candles NGO that organised the camp.
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