Babies and Temples

I am finally back in Delhi after a week long group excursion and weekend travel with friends. It feels good to be ‘home!’ So last week was our first group excursion to Aligarh, a small city home to Aligarh Muslim University just south east of Delhi. We spent four full days visiting hospitals and rural villages, meeting university students, and evading the largest mosquitoes I’ve ever seen. (Turns out this isn’t my strong suit, but have no fear, I’m being diligent about my Malaria meds!) I never thought we'd be able to experience such a close up look at Indian health care systems, but I am quickly learning that privacy in the medical world is not such an issue here. Some tidbits:

• At the Medical College Hospital we got to visit various OPDs (out patient doors). In every OPD there were at best four doctors/senior residents who met with up to 400 patients everyday. This was probably one of the most shocking aspects of the hospitals -- the number of people these doctors have to manage. 

• These hospitals are all for the extremely poor, and are thus basically free. Students at the medical college contribute to a fund to help families who cannot afford even the small registration fee (5-10 Rupees -- about $0.25) so that they can still receive care. I was really impressed by this!

• The District Hospital was the most intense for two reasons: 1. We walked through the burn unit and saw a woman with burns on her face (her story is that a lamp fell on her when she was making tea but it is possible it was a suicide attempt) and a man whose face was literally completely charred black and pussing. He was the victim of a blast. And 2. I got to watch a birth! A real live human birth. See what I mean about the privacy thing? The woman in charge of the Women's Hospital branch of the District Hospital ushered us into the delivery room saying "Hurry, you'll miss it!" What? Was she serious? Turns out she was. I walked into the room and within seconds the baby was born. So. Cool. 

Surgical table in the emergency room at the District Hospital (not where the baby was born)

Then we got to visit rural villages to see the free medical services provided to the rural people...

Village children curiously watching the group of white girls

Precious baby waiting to get his polio drops and TB shot

Village people crowding around our bus as we were leaving

Doctors distributing free medicine in a mobile health unit

Village scene

We got to visit another 'slum' that was definitely worse than the first one we visited, mostly because of the sewage river running through the middle of the street. We were with social work students from the university and they were asking community members about immunizing their children. When one student asked a woman why she hadn't given her 2 month old his polio drops yet she replied, "When the government gives us roads, I'll immunize my child." The government doesn't recognize slums as real communities and thus doesn't provide them any services. 

Sewage river -- can people really get accustomed to living like this?

We also visited a school where community health workers were performing routine check ups...

Community health students facilitating eye exams

And lastly we went to Tibbiya College of Unani Medicine (traditional Indian medicine) to see an alternative to modern medicine.

Brewing a potion. This one was for 'gynecological needs'

After this exhausting week I decided to hop back on a train to travel to Amritsar for the weekend. (This is the city I was hoping to visit on our first free weekend in Delhi but plans fell through). This is the second sleeper car train I've taken in India and it's, well, interesting. The upside is that I spent a total of $13 for a roundtrip ticket, the downside is that the sleeper cars are dirty, smelly, and lots of Indian men stare at you while you sleep. Oh well! Amritsar is a city on the border of Pakistan (gasp!) and home to the Golden Temple -- the holiest Sikh temple in the world. It was a long weekend of travel but so worth it. The temple is stunning!

The Golden Temple in the early morning

Don't hate on the flannel, it was chilly!

The Golden Temple at night

Now it's Monday evening and we have a week at home to rest up before our second excursion next week. I can't believe I've already been here a month! You all weren't kidding when you said this semester would fly by...

In other news, I saw in the newspaper this morning that Sarah Palin will be coming to Delhi on March 19th to speak at the 'India Today Conclave.' She will be the only American politician in attendance. Oh boy. 

big hugs,

katie

coming soon: pictures of my house, including the Indian style toilet! (by special request)