Volunteer and Humanitarian Work

- from Dr Chua Ying Xian, Preventive Medicine resident

"You want to go see where I sleep? No toilet here, you follow me!"

My arms were held firmly by a prison guard and a fellow inmate, both of whom were at least one and a half times my size, with biceps larger than my legs. One could see their weather-beaten torsos glistening in sweat under the summer heat as they escorted me to their cell, where the only toilet in the prison is located - in their sleeping quarters. There were more than 25 inmates were hustled together in a space equivalent to a standard kitchen back in Singapore.

In 2011, I was part of a medical team who went to a small county in Lebanon, which was a first ever attempt to provide free medical aid and consults for prisoners at a local prison. It was indeed a life-transforming moment. I saw inmates having chronic medical and surgical issues ranging from chronic osteomyelitis of the spine due to a gunshot injury following a shootout, to poorly controlled diabetes and loss of vision from cataracts. I was even asked to treat an acute forearm fracture following a fall using a splint derived from ice-cream sticks. That day, we saw more than a hundred prisoners under the scorching sun.

During medical school days, I have had the privilege of leading teams comprising of doctors and medical students to rural areas of Yunnan. Since 2002, we have been liaising with Dr Tan Lai Yong, a familiar face in the medical mission field of southern China, to execute micro-economic projects and health-screening exercises as well as to visit the lepers in the rural mountains. In December 2011, I co-led a team of 32 to rural Chennai, India. We visited the marginalized communities, ran mobile clinics, and performed disease screening and community education. We also constructed a sanitary facility to improve the hygiene standards and reduce preventable diseases like gastroenteritis. A humbling moment included a visit to a HIV-positive shelter home for children - a sanctuary for the inflicted innocent in the midst of the rising epidemic of a cureless disease.

All these experiences helped me to realize how privileged we are in Singapore, practising medicine in the comfort of a hospital, with amenities just an arm’s length away.  It has allowed me to appreciate what we have here on a greater level and has taught me to do more with less. The passion that drives physicians to constantly improve should always be patient-centred, performed with humility, while honouring and respecting the needy.  My love for medicine has deepened and medicine, with its many facets - love, compassion, humility and honour, is indeed a wonderful profession.

The values and learning points from the experiences are much in line with what NUHS Residency is about. Going forward, I am grateful for the opportunity to share these experiences with my juniors that come on board.

 

Batam  is  an  island  in  the  Indonesian  Riau  Archipelago,  about  an  hour’s ferry ride from Singapore. In this apparently prosperous island , there are many who  have  slipped  through  the cracks  and live in relative  poverty  in the villages scattered throughout the island, unable to afford basic health-care. This need was recognized and this medical mission was established in September 2006 to provide free primary healthcare in these rural villages. We currently serve about 20 villages and rotate through them in turn. 

The mission began with limited aims but has since grown. We now run 8  to  10  missions  a  year.  The mission  extends  over a  weekend,  but  for those unable to afford an entire weekend, day-trips are possible. Each mis-sion  group  consists  of  4  teams  with  a  total  of  100  volunteers. Each  team will serve a different village, making a total of 4 locations served on each trip. Volunteers comprise both medical as well as non-medical persons (in fact more than half the team is non-medical!). We treat on average anywhere between 900—1500 patients on each trip.

While the chief function of each team is to provide primary healthcare, we also have nurses providing health education (in topics such as nutrition, hygiene, maternal  &  child  health,  dental  care  etc),  organizing  children’s  activities  (as  more than  half  the  attendees  at  these  clinics  are  children)  and  distributing  food  & clothes. Volunteers assigned to organizing children’s activities are given instruction  in  balloon  sculpting  (balloon  animals  are  a  big  hit with  the  kids).  All  attendees to the clinics are given, amongst other things, Fuji apples.

As  the  mission  is  self-sustaining  (our  medications  &  equipment  are  paid  for  by donations), volunteers pay their own way. The cost per person is $100 (for those staying over the weekend) & $80 for day-trippers. This cost includes ferry tickets, all meals, internal transport, hotel accommodation (for those staying over), travel insurance and a specially designed mission polo T-shirt. We leave early on the Saturday morning and return Saturday evening (if coming as a day-tripper) or Sunday afternoon if you’re staying over.

The dates of the missions in 2012 are : 15-16 Jan, 17-18 Mar, 19-20 May, 14-15 July, 1-2 Sep & 24-25 Nov

Do  sign  up.  We  are  always  in need  of  doctors  (we  need  at least 10 doctors per trip) & nurses. No medical mission ex-perience  is  required.  Medical  students  are  encouraged  to participate  as  well.  You  may  bring  your  families  and  age  is not an issue (our volunteer ages have ranged from 6 to 70!). This  mission  has  improved  the  lives  of  many  families  in these  rural  villages  and  it  offers  you,  as  a  healthcare  pro-vider  in  NUH,  the  opportunity  to  make  a  significant  difference  in  another  person’s  life.  Remember  that  the  “C”  in TRICE stands for Compassion.

For further information and to sign up, please email A/Prof Joseph Thambiah at joseph_thambiah@nuhs.edu.sg