Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Day 1, October 8th, 2014

It is my first day back in Mumbai and it is like I never left.

Life here goes on.  The smells are the same.  The noise is the same.  The hot stifling humidity is the same.  And yet like returning home, I welcome it like I would a dear, dear friend.  I overlook the garbage and the molding walls and see instead, the beautiful saris, the innocent children and the flowering vegetation.  It has been raining here and the leaves are bright rather than dusty as I had remembered them to be.

I spent the morning at the clinic and was happy to meet the new additions to the Barefoot team.  I'll write more about them soon as I am still learning their names and their roles.


The morning clinic, as I call it, is located in the East Bandra slums.  It is a community style setting with up to six tables in two to three open rooms.  There is a large movement in the acupuncture field in the United States that calls the clinics, "community" style with multiple chairs or tables in a large room.  I like to think of this clinic here representative of how acupuncture is practiced in much of the rest of the world.  Most of the world does not have the luxury of single patients with the privacy of their own rooms.  This is what I feel is the true "community" style long before it became popular.

We were busy with patients and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday only women come to the clinic.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are for men. It is customary not to mix the genders in certain public offices especially in a clinic where the spaces are open and not as much privacy.


I was struck by this patient.  She had shoulder surgery one and a half years ago.  I found the scar to be quite extraordinary as shoulder surgery in the US is often marked with only one inch incisions.  Her story is quite unusual as well.  After the operation, as she was being wheeled out of the room, the door apparently had been slammed on her shoulder ripping apart the incision.  This required an emergency repair.  I can only imagine the damage that had occurred and wonder what might've been worse, the actual initial complaint or the massive amount of scar tissue.  We'll never know.

If this were to happen in the US.  There would have been multiple lawsuits against the hospital, the attending staff and the surgeon.

As it is, the care that can be provided through the team here is wonderful.  There are not many other options for followup care.  And truthfully, there couldn't be a better option.  How many other people are out there in the midst of the millions of slum dwellers who have stories like this?

According to this link, 54 percent of the population of Mumbai lives in the slums.  They are estimating that by the year 2025, there will be 22.5 million slum dwellers.  It is overwhelming to me the amount of work that needs to be done.

I'll be closing up now as it is getting late and I have yet to eat dinner.  I have more time during this trip for writing and there is lot to cover.







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