Phew, it really feels good to be back home! Not that we didn’t enjoy the trip; in fact it was one of the most memorable experiences of my lifetime. It’s just that having been away for more than a week in India did we start to realize how much we actually miss the orderly traffic, clear air, safe drinking water and clean streets that we’ve been taking for granted all along.

The experience was beyond what anyone had expected. We left Singapore for Delhi on the 10th of December, 2009, 6 days before the main medical team was due to arrive. The next few days were spent touring Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.

The main team which included doctors, nurses and volunteers from Singapore joined us on the 16th. Met up at Chennai Airport and set off for Vellore, approximately 3 hours from Chennai by road. At Vellore, we split up into two teams. The first team lead by Prof Fong Poh Him assisted with surgery for cleft palate at the Sri Narayani Hospital.

The second team ventured out of Vellore to a small village to set up a free clinic. With the aid of a local doctor and a team of local paramedic students, we were able to see over 250 patients within 2 days. Most were run of the mill cough, colds and body aches, but there were occasional interesting cases that we had to refer to the tertiary hospital to follow up on. We also did screening for hypertension and diabetes, and referred for follow up when indicated.

SMSV managed to raise a total of SGD$1,220. All funds raised was donated to the Sri Narayani Hospital to acquire medical equipment and medicine. We would like to thank everyone for their generosity!

Jeffery has written about the trip on his blog too: http://jeffreyleow.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/vellore-mission-trip-2009-with-smsv/

Pictures are worth a thousand words…