SIRD Director Visit and Medical Camp at SARVAM Village

Visit of SIRD Director

The State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) is the state-level apex body for Training, Research and Consultancy functions and works as an autonomous organization under the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department of Government of Tamil Nadu. On March 26, 2019, Dr. Manahora Singh, Director, SIRD, Chennai, visited SATYAM Centre to observe up close the rural development programmes being conducted at Sri Aurobindo Rural & Village Action & Movement (SARVAM). He was given an introduction the various projects underway in the areas of youth leadership, livelihood and education initiatives, digital and financial literacy for women.

Dr. G. Palanithurai, Former Dean—Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram, and close associate and consultant at SARVAM and Sri Aurobindo Society gave Dr Singh an overview of all the programmes that have been successfully implemented till date and the ways in which nearly 20,000 people are benefitting from these programmes. The Director was also introduced to some women coordinators and they told Dr Singh about their challenges, triumphs and progress in the villages.

Dr Palanithurai also took Dr Singh around the SATYAM and SHARANAM—National Centre of Excellence for Rural & Sustainable Development campuses. Dr Singh was highly appreciative of the entire gamut of work being done at SARVAM.

General Health Camp

Healthcare is one of the major areas where SARVAM is working and focusing intense effort and resources. Till a few years ago, there existed high rates of illness, disease and mortality due to poor healthcare facilities in the areas in and around the SARVAM villages. The situation of the rural populace in India is especially vulnerable because of lack of education, low-quality public health care, lack of health awareness and limited access to health facilities. To counter this situation, SARVAM has tied up with some premier hospitals and healthcare providers to conduct medical camps in all the 18 villages under SARVAM programme at regular intervals.

On March 30, 2019, a Medical and Awareness Camp was conducted for general health check-up and information dissemination at SARVAM, which benefitted more than 100 women of all ages. The health camp was organized in collaboration with Mother Theresa Postgraduate and Research Institute of Health Sciences, Puducherry, a government institute recognized for many specialized medical fields. Various faculties are manned by team of highly qualified, trained and renowned specialist professors.

Other than screening, diagnosing and referring people for OPD care or hospitalization for serious illnesses, the doctors and paramedic staff also advised the people to apply and take Tamil Nadu government’s medical card, which would enable all of them and their families to get subsidized or even free health care.