The Auroville Health Centre

In 1969, the Mother allocated Rs. 5,000 to start a dispensary in a thatched hut in Douceur, mainly to serve the villagers from nearby Kuilapalayam. In 1972, the Auroville Health Centre was established in Kuilapalayam as a primary health care unit for people from the surrounding villages. One year later, a permanent structure, designed by Piero and funded with donations from donors, the Government of India and Auroville, was constructed.

Many people have helped in developing the Health Centre, but four doctors deserve special mention: the late Dr. Satyabratha B. Sen, Dr. Kamla Tewari, Dr. Assumpta and Dr. Lucas. While Dr. Sen, at The Mother’s request, started the Centre, the latter three raised funds to expand its activities and extend the building. In the eighties, when besides Dr. Kamla no qualified doctor could be recruited from amongst the Aurovilians, various alternative or complementary therapies were introduced to the Auroville Health Centre, including osteopathy and acupuncture. In 1999, Albert joined the team, taking charge of administration, nursing care and the village programmes. In 2012, he had a severe accident to which he subsequently succumbed.

Over the years, the Health Centre extended its facilities to include, among other things, an X-ray unit, a medical laboratory, a ward for in-patients, a 24 hour ambulance service, and an enlarged pharmacy to provide allopathic, homeopathic, ayurvedic and veterinary medicines. It also extended its activities into the larger bioregion, establishing sub-centres in local villages.

Auroville Today spoke to Dr. Uma, who is presently in charge of the Health Centre, to assess the health of the Centre today.

Are the activities of the Health Centre contracting?

The Health Centre treats about 20,000 patients a year. Its activities are not contracting, but there is an alteration in them. For instance, it is true that less patients visit the Health Centre today and we have reduced our outreach activities. This is because now there are so many private clinics and hospitals in the area to which the villagers can go instead of coming here. It is also true that we have stopped the child growth monitoring programme.

We have also closed two of our sub-centres and stopped the Health Workers in these villages. This is, firstly, because the Dental Rural programme is now being dealt with entirely by Jacques and the Auroville Dental Centre. Secondly, we do not have the financial means to keep these activities running. Our main donor, a German organization, has severely cut back on our funding. We still have a buffer from previous years, but I am hesitant about unnecessary expenditure which we will require for final settlements of all staff. Only three of our Aurovilian staff are on maintenances. The Health Centre itself is not supported by Auroville or the Government.

Despite the difficulties, our activities are not contracting. In fact, new activities have emerged. The Aravind Eye Hospital opened a Vision Centre, or eye clinic, at the Health Centre last year. This is a great help in screening and treating eye diseases at an early stage.

Now we have an ENT specialist from Pondicherry providing monthly consultations at reduced rates and we hold periodic bone density and orthopaedic camps. We have held annual cardiac camps in the village centres and occasionally a special camp like the recent diabetic camp.

We are also happy that the Health Fund is operating. It is a good service for Aurovilians and a financial help for their treatment.

Do you think anybody in the bioregion has fallen through the cracks as a result of the closing of sub-centres?

A few villages are more disadvantaged now as the government bus service has been stopped. However, we still run six sub-centres in local villages. Our Health Workers are there daily to provide First Aid, and once a week a doctor and a lab technician from the Health Centre visit each sub-centre to give consultations and test for diabetes, typhoid etc. The villagers pay Rs 30 for registration and a small amount for blood tests, but everything else, including the medicines, is provided free. For the very poor, everything is free. I am very happy about this.

Is the treatment provided at the Health Centre essentially allopathic?

No, we always had allopathy and homeopathy consultations. Now we have allopathy and ayurveda consultations, and the medicines are easily available in the pharmacy.

Do Aurovilians still use the Health Centre?

Yes, of course, they have always come here.

But don’t most Aurovilians prefer alternative healing modalities to allopathy?

Aurovilians use both alternative and allopathic treatment as needed, unlike the villagers who prefer allopathy.

Do you ever refer your patients to other Auroville therapists?

Very occasionally, for certain chronic injuries, where a follow-up is needed, I have referred patients to Quiet Healing Centre.

What about the health education aspect, the preventive part of your work? Is that still happening in Auroville and the bioregion?

Yes. We are still running the Child-to-Child programme that we started in 1996. At present, our doctors and nurses conduct yearly medical examinations in 22 government schools in this bioregion. Trained health workers give classes in these government schools, teaching the children the basis of good nutrition and proper hygiene. The health workers make it fun – they do skits and puppet shows – and the children love it.

We are also doing reproductive health programmes in our sub-centres for adolescent girls, because there are a lot of cases of teenage pregnancy and abuse. We talk to them about things like contraceptive methods, menstrual hygiene and healthy food.

In the Auroville Technical School in Irumbai, we provide health education classes for 17-20 year old boys and girls, including some information about anatomy, physiology and reproductive health.

We also do medical examinations for some Auroville schools and yearly medical examinations for food-handlers in all Auroville units.

Is there any health education for the parents?

We have done programmes which are more food-related for older women since there is so much diabetes. We want to urge them to go back to cooking and eating the old grains – millets, varagu etc. – because these are much healthier than eating white rice.

Do the children pass on to their parents what they have learned in the health education classes at school?

It happens. But in rural Tamil households it is not generally accepted that the child educates the parents. This is why we started talking to the older women.

Is there any evidence that health in the local area has generally improved over the years?

Yes. Generally health in the area has improved, partially because of the care and treatment we provide them with regularly, and partially because of an increase in general awareness about things like diet. There is a lot about diet on television these days, although not many follow it because a better diet is often more costly.

An important change has occurred: earlier, when we did the child monitoring programme in the villages, girls of the same age as the boys would be grossly malnourished, severely anaemic and underweight. Now this is uncommon.

The challenges you are facing in your work at the Health Centre appear to be huge. What keeps you going? What motivates you?

My parents as well as my grandparents have either served in the army or as doctors and are prime examples of energy and courage. So I have a family history of service to others. It’s in my genes!

Other than that, there is always the hope that things will change, improve; there is always the aspiration for something greater that keeps you going. The Health Centre was tasked by The Mother to maintain the health of the population in the Auroville bioregion, and that is what we must continue to do.

Then again, I am not doing this work alone. I have a wonderful team at the Auroville Health Centre; it would not be possible without them.

Does the Auroville Health Centre have a future?

Yes, definitely, we will continue because we are fulfilling a great purpose. When we ask patients who have come from distant places why they come here when our facilities are limited and rather old, they tell us that here they feel they are treated as “people”. Here, in the Health Centre and the Pharmacy, we take the time to explain things to them, and everybody needs answers. This is why we must continue.

The visiting consultant doctors also enjoy coming here because there is a different atmosphere. Here they feel they want to give something back rather than just wanting to charge people for their services.

Recently we organized a diabetes camp at the Health Centre. Many people from the surrounding villages came. We were able to provide them with free blood tests. And many also got free medicines because the suppliers donated them free. In the end, it is all about how you relate to people, whether or not they feel that you care.