HOT!!!

SMS Hospital, Jaipur- India

Below: Emergency Room Stretchers

Below: Clients/family waiting for services

Below: Condom Dispenser

Today we headed off for our site visits...first of which was at SMS Medical College Hospital. It was extremely busy and clearly not Apollo Indraprastha. And why would it be? clearly this hospital was not for the elite but rather for the common man...so many people everywhere...so many people sleeping/waiting outside. We headed to the HIV-ARV clinic only to find it just as chaotic with people waiting in the halls to see the doctor. Inside the clinic room we met a young lady doctor (funny part is none of us know her name) and a female counsellor who was assisting her. She took out time from her busy schedule (she works Monday-Saturday from 8-2 pm and sees approximately a 100 patients a day) to talk to us about what she does and what services are provided.

The clients served at the clinic are all HIV+ and many of whom are on ARV therapy (anti-retroviral). The client population is a mixed match as both genders are served but among the males truck drivers/masons are the most common. The clinic has approximately 2100 clients in their files that come to receive services. She made clear that for the time she has been working there she has come to realize that what is most essential is to continue working towards raising awareness about HIV-AIDS. It is only with this that behavioral change is possible---family referral is also encouraged during the counselling sessions and she told us (surprisingly) that many in fact do bring their spouses and/or children in for testing. While sitting there a sense of guilt did creep upon us because we realized that the time she spent talking to us was otherwise very valuable time for her and in particular the clients...so many people and one doctor to serve them. Apparently SMS is on a lookout to find a junior medical officer for her but as of yet no one has been found and so she has been handling the case load on her own.

Post clinic visit we had a change in schedlue and headed off to the Jeevan Jyoti center where HIV+ pts are provided a safe-haven when suffering from opportunistic infections. The center currently has ten beds which are available to both men as well as women. The max time that any client can spend at JJ is fifteen days. It was somewhat similar to SAHARA Michael's but much smaller. One thing that I loved was outside in the driveway on the wall was a condom dispenser---the same one Dr. Gupta showed us yesterday as well as we have researched about back at 'SC :):):) Yes it's sad that a condom dispenser excites me but anyway.

Just finished up lunch at the institute and came down here for some net time before a 3:00 (or 3:30 who knows) lecture w/Dr. Goyal...