After our move to India, we started attending Sri Satya Sai Samithi in  Guntur, once a week. Apart from participating in the Sunday Bhajans, we also started getting involved in their Free Clinic Seva activity.

On every Wednesday and Sunday, eminent doctors come there to treat the  poor and the needy, free of charge.  A few local devotees have been donating for free medicines too, but this was not covering all their needs. 

So we started working with some of our seva-minded friends to raise some extra funds to supplement the effort already taking place in the Free Clinic. As a result of this additional contribution, the doctors have been able to prescribe special medicines, especially expensive skin ointments etc and supply them freely to the needy patients.

They have also been able to install and use modern and sophisticated stethoscopes and BP instruments in the Free Clinic.

 In the mean time, Vijaya also started counseling patients about nutrition and health related topics. She has been gathering information from health columns in Telugu news papers and making brochures out of them. Each week she has been counseling the patients on one particular topic like blood pressure, diabetes, anemia etc and also informing about the kind of diet that helps control those conditions. Then she has been distributing free samples of fruits, vegetables, milk, grains etc to reinforce the same point. For example, on the week when she counseled them about blood pressure, she gave them free samples of oats, advising them on their health benefit!

 Over the last three years, many patients have been getting information  this way and been making positive changes in their diet and exercise to improve their health. We have been getting wonderful feedback from them about how this kind of information has been helping them. But most of all, they have been appreciating the fact that somebody was there to care about  their well-being and take time to  counsel them!

 Here is another touching incident:

 One week, Ram was busy dispensing medicines and suddenly Dr. Sitaram,  the skin doctor at the Free Clinic, asked all the volunteers in the clinic to come to his desk together. He then called Ram by his name and then asked him to shake his hand. Ram was a little bit  surprised but extended his hand. The doctor congratulated Ram heartily and told him and everybody else  that ever since we (and all our friends) started supporting this seva, he has been able to provide  special and expensive medicines/ ointments and cure many poor patients who were suffering from chronic  skin problems. In fact he was able to give them high quality medicines that he usually prescribed  for his regular patients at his own private clinic. While saying this,the doctor was visibly moved and had  tears in his eyes. He then conveyed his best wishes and heartfelt thanks to all our friends who  have been very kindly supporting this seva since more than two years.

 When Ram heard this tribute from him, he felt very emotional and he started to cry too. It is spontaneous  experiences like this that make this seva so rewarding!

Pictures  of  Health Counseling and Free Medicine Dispensing

Free Eye Clinic

In Jan 2017, we had the opportunity to help start an Eyecare wing in the free clinic that we have been supporting at the Guntur Sai Samithi. Now the poor and the downtrodden have access to free eye care too, along with the other existing specialities like ENT, skin etc. Thanks to our family and friends for their encouragement and support on this project!