Corbett Foundation

The Corbett Foundation (TCF) is a non-profit charitable organization actively engaged in wildlife conservation and working for the communities living in and around the Protected Areas in India. Established in 1994, TCF is the brain-child of Mr. Dilip D. Khatau, the scion of the 4th generation of the powerful Khatau Business House dealing in textiles. The Foundation’s mission emphasizes commitment to the conservation of wildlife and nature, and fulfilling the ambition that men and nature must live together in harmony. The Corbett Foundation’s programs are mainly in the areas of wildlife conservation, environmental awareness, community outreach, veterinary services, watershed management and sustainable eco-development. Further, TCF believes that only a healthy individual can contribute to a healthy population, and so it is important to win over the local community regarding the need for conservation. To that end, the Foundation launched a Rural Medical Outreach Programme (RMOP) alongside its wildlife conservation work, which it thought essential both as a humanitarian response and a trust-building measure among the rural people living around the wildlife. The first step was to provide community members in 50 select villages with first-aid boxes along with the Hindi version of a very useful book: “Where There Is No Doctor.

Currently there are approximately 100 villages in the buffer zone of Corbett Tiger Reserve and at present, TCF covers about 50% through their RMOP. Consultations, treatment and medicines are dispensed to patients at a nominal cost of Rs. 10, but these fees are collected as donations towards conservation. This unique practice aims to both involve the villagers directly in the conservation work while simultaneously increasing their sense of responsibility towards their health.

An Outpatient Clinic is organized twice a week at the Foundation’s centers in Dhikuli and Rathuadhab. On the other days of the week, medical camps are held at different villages. A monthly schedule is maintained and adhered to, which makes it easier for the nearby villagers to benefit from the facility. Along with the medical camps, regular health awareness campaigns are conducted at the villages. These include campaigns about drinking clean water, preventing water borne diseases, personal hygiene, mother and child healthcare, and other priority health areas. In addition, TCF’s doctors train village healthcare workers on how to properly administer first aid, a practice that began in 2010 for 30 villages on the outskirts of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.

The Kutch part of the program was implemented by KERC in 1999. The program covers 50 villages in Abdasa taluka and 40 villages in Nakhatrana taluka. Two mobile medical units headed by qualified doctors visit all 90 villages every week. Regular eye check-up camps, Ayurvedic camps and specialized medical camps for women, children and elderly villagers are organized. The doctors offer primary treatment, while complicated cases or patients needing advanced medication and hospitalization are referred to the nearest government hospitals.

Shamlaji Hospital

AmeriCares India Foundation partners with local hospitals and clinics on an ongoing basis to help ensure that they have the essential medicines and medical supplies they need to help them treat their patients. In Shamlaji of Sabarkantha District – a poor tribal area in Gujarat – AmeriCares India Foundation partners with All India Movement for Seva (AIMS). Their mission statement says it all: “To bridge the gap between the mainstream society and less privileged people living in remote, rural & urban areas of India by following a planned program of Caring in terms of Education, Health care, Women’s Empowerment and Self-Sufficiency, Vocational Training, Environmental Initiatives, Disaster Relief and Cultural Validation.

AIMS has been managing the Shamlaji CHC – a 30 bedded hospital in the rural, remote and tribal area of Sabarkantha district in Gujarat – as a public-private partnership initiative since April 1, 2003. The organization participates in most of the government health programs i.e. RNTCP, HIV program, etc as a part of this initiative. The mission is run by Dr. Haren Joshi; a trauma, vascular, and general surgeon, and Dr. Pratima Tolat; an ophthalmologist, who together have amassed over 30 years of clinical and administrative experience in the US.

In order to achieve its aim of providing complete health services to the tribal populations at their doorstep, the mission outsources full-time and part-time specialists to provide Orthopedic, Surgical, Urology, Dermatology, ENT and Dental services. The hospital offers regular outpatient and inpatient care, including surgical and gynecological services, newborn/pediatric vaccinations and 24 x 7 Emergency & Trauma Care. Further, camps are held as a part of their outreach program for patients needing plastic surgery for cleft lips, palates and burns; cataract surgeries; family planning; and general medical assistance. Awareness programs are also run on breast cancer, mother and child welfare, and sundry other fields.

Sanjivani Health and Relief Committee

Raj Saubagh Satsangh Mandal

2001 Kutch Earthquake

On January 26, 2001, a 6.9-earthquake in Gujarat killed over 20,000 people, injured 150,000 more, and destroyed over 300 hospitals and 200,000 houses across the region.

AmeriCares responded immediately with relief supplies, including 1,000 tents, blankets, plastic sheeting, facemasks, casting and other orthopedic materials, disinfectants, water purification tablets and generators, as well as medical supplies and nutritional supplements. Through a direct partnership with Disaster Relief Cell, created by the state government in Gujarat after the earthquake, AmeriCares organized the distribution of these supplies to hundreds of thousands displaced by the earthquake. AmeriCares also provided orthopedic equipment to clinics throughout the quake-affected area.

Emergency Medicine Training in Ahmedabad