Accessible medical care saves lives, fights discrimination, and improves living standards.
Saved Lives
There are six doctors and nine hospital beds per 10,000 people in India. Compare this to 27 doctors and 30 hospital beds per 10,000 people in the U.S. India’s hospitals are overcrowded and understaffed, especially in Calcutta which is bursting at the seams with 22 million residents.
Diarrhea is still a number one killer of children in India. Infant mortality is very high due to limited or unavailable newborn care. Those who survive childhood have an average life expectancy of only 65 years. With accessible and well-staffed medical care, people can seek medical treatment for preventable health problems and avoid premature death.
Fair Treatment
Some of the most needy people in Calcutta are refused treatment due to their gender, caste, or economic status. It is not uncommon for hospitals to turn away the dying poor who cannot pay or the prostitute’s daughter who carries a social stigma. Parents abandon their deformed toddlers in trash heaps because they can’t bare the shame of the ‘curse’ they had born. A widespread preference for male children means daughters are often delayed or refused treatment for treatable illnesses.
Unbiased, compassionate medical care weakens cultural biases and discrimination, reaffirms the inherent value of every person, and encourages families to help instead of harm their children.
Increased Standards of Living
70% of India’s health care resources are located in India’s cities, yet nearly 70% of the population lives in rural India. Health issues among rural people are many and diverse – from cleft palates and infected wounds to uncontrolled diabetes and leukemia.
Doctors are largely unwilling to work in rural areas. When the poor get sick, they have little recourse but to sell their homes or land to afford travel and treatment in the city. The majority forgo medical help altogether and live out their entire lives with debilitating illnesses and injuries. An increased in rural clinics would provide the care and health education necessary to see a significant rise in India’s living standards.
When A Village Benefits From A Medical Project
A mother wakes up to her child holding his stomach in intense pain.
She carries him to a small, local building where a doctor and two nurses attend to a line of patients.
The doctor invites the mother to take a seat while he takes the boy’s vitals and inquires about his symptoms. Diagnosis: stomach virus.
The mother and son return home with a two-week prescription and three bottles of electrolytes. Cost = Free.A nurse invites patients to a class about good nutrition and hygiene in the home. Attendees receive a booklet of helpful guidelines.
35 patients receive medical help before sundown. One family is arranged transport to the hospital for their child’s cleft lip surgery. Cost = Free.
Mortality rates drop in the village. School attendance is up. Unemployment is down. Good health has brought peace, and with it, optimism.
"When it comes to global health, there is no 'them'... only 'us.'"
- Global Health Council
Save a life with $35 a month.
$35 a month is all it takes to treat a child diagnosed with leukaemia or thalassemia in India. $35 covers the hospital stay and monthly blood transfusions necessary for the child maintain a high quality of life. It’s a small price tag for what it delivers: the stamina to stay in school, strength to help the family, and energy to run and play with friends.
