Datom, Jharkhand – India
Our current project is the construction of a clinic in a remote village of Datom in the state of Jharkhand. This clinic will provide affordable and much needed healthcare to many villages in the area.
Co-founders Tom Connor and Natasha Sproat visited Datom during a volunteer trip in 2007 and treated hundreds of people, many walking up to three days to see them. Yet many missed out on medical attention. This was the inspiration for Traditional Healthcare – and the location of its first clinic.
Our main contact in Datom is Bishwanath, an acupuncturist in the village. He wanders from household to household treating those in need. His service makes a huge difference to the community as there are no healthcare facilities within 100km. But this also limits the number of patients he can treat each day.
Project Updates (Quick Overview)
- Currently we have Britta Van Dyk in Datom working for us for few months setting up administration and finance structures/procedures. She is also writing a blog which you can see at: http://brittavandyk.wordpress.com
- We also have one of our new CEOs, Estelle Donse, visiting Datom for 2 weeks to get a better sense of the project and see the progress of the work onsite, meet the key personnel, and continue our engagement with our project partners
2012:
- January – 5 large market garden beds and the world’s 2 largest mandala garden beds incorporating outdoor ‘showers’ complete
2011:
- December – Mozzie free kitchen, roof prep and a drink with the police
- February – Banana circles complete
2010
- October – Construction continues and treatments documented
- August – Construction begins with the laying of foundations
Map: Datom Clinic
Google map – Datom clinic and surrounding areas
View Traditional Healthcare Datom clinic in a larger map
Our new clinic will change this situation. It will improve the lives of thousands of people for many years. And it will provide a blueprint for more clinics in rural India and around the world.
Clinic plans
Plans for the Datom clinic include:
- an education hall (Near Completion)
- spaces for training locals to become skilled practitioners
- accommodation for the volunteers and employees
- a health clinic with room for 14 beds and an emergency room (Near Completion)
- a dispensary for herbs and homeopathic medicines.
The facility will be built with a focus on renewable energies using wind power, bio gas generators, water turbines, solar panels and Fresnel lenses for converting sunlight to energy. This will provide the people in Datom with the knowledge and tools to sustain themselves environmentally, economically, and socially.
Photo: South view plan of the completed Datom clinic.
Once each clinic is operating smoothly, the local community will become the primary caretakers and managers moving forward, allowing TH to move on to planning and construction of the next project.
The greater outcome of this is that the knowledge and tools that are part and parcel of each clinic are integrated with the local way of life. With a blueprint at their disposal, this knowledge can then be spread within the community, removing any dependence on outsiders and affecting truly substantial and long-standing change.
Contact us
If you’d like to volunteer or collaborate with us in any way, we’d love to hear from you! Please contact us.
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