Project Kamal hum mm. Sounds cool but what does this
means? Are you doing any research or building chain of hospitals? Many people
asked me this question with lots of curiosity. Well project Kamal is a gift I have
dedicated to my grandmother Mrs. Kamal Gopal Palekar aka Nani. She is the dearest
person for me on mother earth.
She is a hypothyroid patient from past
30 + years and underwent two major operations in past. She is a true fighter
and a jolly lady. With many good and bad qualities she passed on her
hypothyroidism to me. With God’s wish at young age of 28 years I got diagnosed.
I was expecting this but not at such an early age. I know the pain of taking
daily tablets, regular blood checkup, weight fluctuations, mood swing etc but I
was determined to fight back and win this battle.
I always felt that females especially are not comfortable in discussing
this disease in public. There is lot of unawareness about this, no one voice
much about this one as we are more busy in educating people about diabetes, hypertension
etc.
I did
my CCMTD course from Chellaram Diabetes Institute in association with PHFI and learnt
a lot more about hypothyroidism than what I already know. During my practice of
2 years in area of Sankeshwar I managed to diagnose many hypothyroidism
patients. They all were classic cases missed by many physicians.
It
used to be a lengthy session to counsel the lady about the disease, its
progression, compliance to the drugs, regular treatment, follow up etc. Few
used to come back few never turned up. There was a strong need to educate the
community about this disease and remove the stigma of being a hypothyroid
patient. Need of an awareness campaign was there. So one fine day I was thinking
about this cause and it clicked me - a name for my dream Project Kamal. Yes it was the most apt name I can think of. It was
working as dedication to my Nani, was catchy and having lot of meaning wrapped in
it.
Kamal
means lotus. Lotus is a flower with lots of importance in various ancient
mythologies and cultures. In Hindu/Buddhist/Egyptian mythology lotus is a
symbol of love, fertility, beauty, spirituality, prosperity, wealth and peace …
in short symbol of life. This symbol was reflecting the kind of work we wanted to do.
So we locked the name project Kamal- Early screening of hypothyroidism
and its treatment. Now was the time to take next step promotion and awareness
campaign. I happen to read about world thyroid awareness week celebration in
month of May every year.as I was near to this month I planned an awareness lecture
for common people in my area. This year time frame was 23 may -29 may 2016 so
we choose 26 May for our celebration and that’s how our journey started. On 26
May we conducted a lecture in a temple and addressed common people. Told them
about thyroid gland, how it is important for body to function normal, what are
common diseases of it, what is basic relevant treatment etc.
For
lecture nearly 60 town people came and were amazed to listen to us as it was a
new topic for them to learn. Crowd has few ladies who were already suffering
from disease. At the end of session we cleared their doubts or myths too. The stress
was on hypothyroidism and its treatment compliance. We gave them nice insight
that they are supposed to consume thyroxine tablet till they go the heaven. It
worked so well that new patients know there status as whether they are
hypothyroid or hypothyroid, what is best treatment for them and how they are
supposed to take care of themselves. It was a really satisfying day in my life.
Followed by lecture we arranged screening camp of thyroid disorders for which 7
patients enrolled and utilize our services.
To
improve adherence of patient to the treatment I planned a package Project Kamal
membership. We kept nominal fees for this of Rs 50/-. As if kept free no one
realize its importance. After membership patients will get 20/- concession in fees
for 10 visits with Rs.50/- concession in thyroid function test results and one
additional concession to the baby’s TFT if mother is pregnant and delivered
baby in our set up. Like this many more rewards patient will get via their
membership.
We are also in process of starting a Project Kamal thyroxine bank where member
patient will get thyroxine drug at a reasonable cost or discount rate. This
whole activity is to make treatment patient friendly, cost effective and
improve compliance of patient especially my rural community. In future we are
aiming to arrange more awareness camps, screening camps, improvement in case
detection rate etc.
So far
we have successfully helped 25 + ladies with hypothyroidism and 4 members to Project
Kamal. Numbers are small but this is just beginning. I hope almighty will give
us courage and strength for successful implementation of this activity. Thank
you.
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