Taking Healthcare to the People Who Need It Most
For a waste picker, a visit to the doctor can mean a day without pay. For families living next to a fly ash dump, the air itself is a health risk. Both groups often go without care until a problem becomes serious. CFSD’s health camps bring doctors, tests and medicines to the places where people live and work, so that getting checked doesn’t cost a day’s wages.
Health is one of the core areas of CFSD’s work, and these camps are how we put it into practice on the ground.
Program 1: Health camp for waste pickers
Bhandewadi Dumping Yard, Nagpur | With the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) Medical Department
Waste pickers spend their days handling waste, which exposes them to respiratory conditions, skin infections and musculoskeletal problems. Because they earn by the day, they rarely have time to visit a clinic.
So CFSD took the clinic to them. In collaboration with the NMC Medical Department, we organised a health check-up camp right at the Bhandewadi Dumping Yard, where a team of doctors and medical specialists examined waste pickers at their worksite.
150 waste pickers were screened. Chest X-rays were done to assess lung health, eye check-ups were carried out, and essential medicines were given free of cost, so people left the camp with treatment in hand. CFSD also distributed protective gear, including masks and gloves, to reduce everyday exposure to harmful materials.
CFSD holds regular camps like this in the Bhandewadi and Chikhli waste picking communities.
A health centre for Chikhli
Chikhli had no Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC), leaving residents without a nearby place to go when they fell ill. CFSD helped establish one, so the community now has lasting access to medical care close to home.
Program 2: Fly ash health camp
Nandgaon, near Nagpur
Nandgaon is home to an ash bund where fly ash from a nearby thermal power station is disposed of. People living around it have reported lung problems and asthma, skin irritation and itching, eye problems, kidney stones and hair fall.
CFSD organised a health camp for the community. Lung tests, blood pressure checks and blood sugar tests were provided free of cost to people living around the area.
In collaboration with AIIMS, we also carried out a door-to-door health survey, where residents received lung tests and basic height and weight check-ups at home. This helped reach people who might never have come to a camp.
