Calcutta Kids Weekly Health Camp

The Calcutta Kids weekly health camp serves a number of purposes relating to the Maternal and Young Child Health Initiative, and it acts as a platform for many of Calcutta Kids’ activities in the slum. In essence, the weekly health camp is a mobile outpatient clinic which is set up every Tuesday in donated space provided by the Welfare Society of Fakir Bagan. Between the hours of 8:30 and 11AM each Tuesday, the Welfare Society, a small clubhouse in the center of the slum, is turned into a clinic charged with the task of bringing health services to the people. While health care in the slum is available, the costs associated with the treatment of many illnesses make that health care unavailable to many slum dwellers. Accordingly, the camp is bringing highly subsidized health care to the people, providing them with the kind of access they have not had in the past.


For a nominal fee of only 5 rupees (approximately US$0.12), pregnant women and children under the age of three (with a caretaker) go through a triage/registration process where Calcutta Kids community health workers pull out a card with that person’s medical history, or create a new one. The patient then receives a medical consultation with Dr. U.K Roy, a highly respected and deeply committed medical practitioner. Following the consultation, the patient takes his/her card to the pharmacy where the prescribed medicine is provided. The patient then meets with a Calcutta Kids staff member who provides counseling to the patent on e.g. how to take the medicine, danger signs to watch for, and the importance of finishing the prescribed medicine.


Each week, between 40 and 60 patients are seen and their registration cards are divided among the CHWs according to residential area. During the following days, each patient receives a follow-up home visit by a CHW to ensure that the patient is recovering well.


The health camp in itself is important not only because it provides access to much needed medical services within an environment in which these individuals and families are comfortable, but also because it further familiarizes residents with Calcutta Kids and our many other activities. The camp, importantly, serves as an opportunity for collaboration with the local Welfare Society and Calcutta Kids facilitating community cooperation, provides a sense of security to residents who now are assured that these services will be available each week, and underlines the commitment of Calcutta Kids to the people of Fakir Bagan.


The Calcutta Kids weekly health camp in Fakir Bagan is sponsored by the Wasyl Kotys Memorial Fund.