Over the course of the years, Project for People has collaborated in the construction and renovation of a clinic and six doctor´s offices for basic medical treatments while guaranteeing the access to treatment for thousand of people.

In the doctors offices about 50.000 patients are treated every year. The cost of the health services for each patient is symbolic (5 rupias, which correspond to 10 euro cents).

The treatment for malnutrition and systemic infections is carried out in the main clinic. The seriously undernourished children are admitted together with their mothers, who take part in nutritional education courses.

Recently a Maternity Centre was built and equipped with an x–ray machine and an incubator for the babies.

The project is also supporting:

The vaccination program against the six deadly diseases of the developing countries (the WHO is providing IIMC free of charge with the vaccines against polio, measles, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping-cough, tuberculosis);

the program of cervical cancer prevention;
the program of prevention of pregnancy pathologies and the ones of babies;
the program of health and nutritional education for village women both through home visits and collective meetings;

the dental and eye check-ups;
the medical camps, monthly campaigns of hygienic–sanitary and dietary information and mass medical check-ups, to educate the population and to carry out screening in villages in rural areas far away or in the schools.

In the health field, one of the principal objectives is the treatment and the prevention of malnutrition, which in India is defined by OMS as a «major and silent problem». The high rate of malnutrition is leading to a chronic intra-uterine delay of growth, to the birth of underweight babies, to a high rate of infant mortality and morbidity.

Breast feeding provides the nutritional needs of the babies till 4/6 months of life, but the methods of weaning are not standardized in India and feel the effects of religious and cultural factors.
In addition there are difficulties in finding safe nourishment from a hygienic point of view which is suitable for the baby’s needs.

Thanks to the advice of an Italian nutritionist, Dr. Sujit Brahmochari Kumar arranged some balanced dietary schemes and started a pilot project for the production and distribution of different nutritional packages according to the needs (from the 4th to the 6th month, from the 7th to the 11th month, from 1 year to 1 year and half, after the first one and half year of life, for pregnant women and for patients with chronic diseases).

The obtaining of raw materials and the creation of the nutrional packages by some of IIMC´s operators, who attended a training, allows to reduce the costs and to make the project sustainable. In the course of the years, improvements were introduced in terms of palatability of the food and of the packaging, with the result that such food has been accepted with favour by the population, which learned to request them and to use them properly.

The health project also foresees:

missions of qualified Italian staff directed towards the IIMC´s professional medical and nursing training and to the supervision of the whole project.
Courses of health education organized by IIMC, addressed to local sanitary operators.