A medical check-up for 350 women in Ahmedabad city was conducted to identify their specific health problems. Forty doctors donated their services for one day, and the Trust spent about Rs. 500/- for related expenses. The organisers played an important role in linking up members with existing health services available in Ahmedabad. Women were accompanied to tuberculosis clinics, hospitals and other centres where appropriate health services were available. Although members from many trade groups participated in medical check-up camp, follow-up was limited. At the same time, women and their children continued to suffer from various health problems and often articulated the need for a health programme. Thus Community Health Programmes were initiated.

The programme has now been active for many years and expanded many fold. In early years, it was committed to providing simple, safe and low cost primary health care, both preventive and curative, to poor women and their families. It also disseminates information on health to communities where they live and work. The approach is to train community health workers by sharing and consolidating healthcare knowledge and skills through a series of intensive trainings. These community health workers than provide health-care services in their own areas. Referral services with Government hospitals are facilitated.

The Child-Care

Poor self-employed women often express child-care as an important need. Every women hopes that somehow she will be able to contribute to her child’s health development, despite all the difficulties and struggles that she has to face every day. And yet there are very few options and facilities for poor women and their children. Thus women vendors sell their wares with their children beside them on the street and hand–cart pullers tie a little hammock under their carts and rock their babies in this through the dusty streets. Similarly, bidi and tobacco workers children play with the piles of tobacco that lie around the workplace. Infants and children of workers, therefore, are exposed to the most unhygienic and unhealthy conditions, hardly conducive to their grown and development.

Responding to this important need, MST has been exploring alternative methods of providing child-care for women workers for several years now.

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