As part of Telipot Medical's Centre CSR, decided to help out at an asnaf clinic in Masjid As-Salam, Pengkalan Chepa last weekend. Well, its a long story, sort of. Sent many whatsapp to friends about this weekends "Makan untuk kurus" session, and Teacher Lilyn, an old friend from MRSM replied that BSMM (Bulan Sabit Merah Malaysia) was short of a doctor.
Same like the IMARET banjir medical clinic last time, I joined because they could not find any doctor volunteers. Actually doctors who volunteer memang ramai, I know so many who do all kinds of NGO and other volunteer works. Tapi tu la, at times everyone is busy so ended up, me volunteering in Pengkalan Chepa.
Even the night before I wasn't sure what to bring with me but made a quick mental note:
Paper (plain A4 white)
Pen
Stethescope
My stamp
There were nurse volunteers from another organisation, so I thought no need to bring glucometer and sphygnomanometer. Just asked CEO to bring:
Hand sanitizer
Face mask
Gloves
And of course other marketing material like the poster and flyers...
And that was pretty much all we needed. But I would add another one item that I saw the other booth had:
Alas meja
Would anything else be useful in hindsight?
Perhaps some anti-hypertensive meds
What happened was, since our booth only had a doctor and no nurses, the other booth that had nurses would see most of the patients first, and then refer the abnormal ones.
So I saw mostly hypertensive and diabetic patients.
The other booth seemed busier. I saw in total 9 patients, and most had some degree of hypertension. Several I referred to hospital, others to Klinik Kesihatan for further management. Some just needed counseling and medical advice.
The nurse from the other booth, at the end said, yeah, these patients had poorly controlled hypertension, we may think that's bad, but these are the poor who are mobile and can come here for treatment. If we go out and meet those who are unable to come out, then we'd the worst.
There were several NGO's involved and each brought with them a certain number of asnaf. There were other on-goings, free clothing which plenty remained afterwards too, although many took what was offered, free hair cut, goodies and I think monetary gifts too. During the peak of the activities, I was also busy seeing patients so could not walk around to see other happenings.
Would certainly love to participate or even organize something similar in future, insya Allah.
There were several NGO's involved and each invited a certain number of asnaf with them.
I just thought I should make notes about this event in case I ever need to refer to them in future.
Let's have better healthcare for the poor.
