Global Health Electives: About the placements
Combination electives
Students who opt for the combination placement will be based at the Tribal Health Initiatives rural hospital. Students will be supervised by medical staff working at the project.
The hospital element will feature a clinical rotation in different wards and bedside teaching sessions. Students will be supervised by the college's medical staff.
Community-based electives
Students who opt to be based in a community, will be placed with the Tribal Health Initiative project - a community outreach programme run by Tribal women. Students will be supervised by a part-time medical doctor working in the community.
About the Tribal Health Initiative
The Tribal Health Initiative was started in 1993 by Dr. Regi George and Dr. Lalitha Regi. Today, the registered charitable trust established in the small village of Sittilingi of the Dharmapuri District in Tamil Nadu, has more than 30 employees and works to improve the lives of the region’s Tribal people through a variety of programmes. THI's vision is that the people of Sittilingi valley lead a better quality of life. THI seeks to work with Tribal people in a spirit of peace, understanding, trust, and justice. Find out more at https://www.tribalhealth.org
About the rural hospital
The base hospital has 25 beds in two wards for surgical, medical and obstetric patients. It also has a labour room with a small attached neonatal unit. The operating theatre has appropriate sterilisation, monitoring and anaesthetic facilities. There is also a diathermy and a defibrillator. A recent valuable addition to aid diagnosis is an ultrasound scan machine.
A separate building houses the offices, X-ray room and laboratory where there is an auto-analyser enabling THI to conduct a range of blood tests. The facility can also do microbiological tests including testing for TB and HIV. The out-patient clinic is in a further building. The facilities use solar power for water pumping and street lighting. Three jeeps, one of which is fitted as an ambulance, helps the safe transfer of patients.
Health outreach programme
THI runs a health outreach programme in 21 villages in the Sittilingi valley. Each village has nominated one married woman to be trained as a Health Auxilliary. They offer advice on good nutrition, hygiene, birthing practices and simple ailments, maintain records on important health events in the village and act as facilitators for all community development work.
Every month, the Health Auxiliaries gather at the THI campus for two days, to meet with each other. At these meetings, they discuss the health of their villages, reporting births and deaths of village members, and other relevant information. These meetings also allow for their continuing education opportunities.
Health workers conduct monthly mobile clinics for all pregnant women and children aged under five years. This has been an essential factor in significantly bringing down infant and maternal mortality in the area. The village's Health Auxiliary coordinates with the hospital regarding when the mobile health team will next visit the village. She notifies the village members of the appropriate date, and when the team arrives she gathers the patients for treatment.
In addition the THI also runs an ambulance service for the 21 villages. Patients can be transported to the Tribal Hospital or referred to tertiary care centres in Salem and Dharmapuri.