Perhaps all of us have heard of the term “Red Cross”. According to the Wikipedia “The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, sex, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.” But let’s take a look closer to home. “The Indian Red Cross Society is an organization having a network of over 700 branches throughout the country, providing relief in times of disasters/emergencies and promotes health & care of the vulnerable people and communities. It is a leading member of the largest independent humanitarian organization in the world, the International Red Cross & Red Crescent Movement (In Muslim countries it is called Red Crescent).” Now that we know what it is , the question that comes to mind is whether this organization exists in our very own city of Kolkata and how can we become a part of it? The answer took me to the 300 year old dilapidated building, at 5 & 6 Govt. Place, North Kolkata-700001. It is the office of the Indian Red Cross Society, West Bengal State Branch.
Entrance to the building There, a long exhaustive conversation with the General Secretary, Shri Shyamal Kanti Sarkar, taught me all that I needed to know about this movement.Interview of Shri Shyamal Kanti Sarkar,
General Secretary- I.R.C.S. West Bengal State Branch
Member Managing Body- I.R.C.S. National Head Qtr. New Delhi
Shri Shyamal Kanti Sarkar at his officeQ.1. Tell us something about the structure of the West Bengal Branch of Indian Red Cross society.In India, the National Headquarters of Red Cross Society is in New Delhi. The Indian Red Cross society was formed in the 1920 under parliament act. There is a branch of Red Cross in all the states. Like in West Bengal, it is the West Bengal State Branch. There are 18 district branches in West Bengal. There are ex-officio members in each body. The Chief Medical officer (Health) of that district is an ex officio member. Ten Red Cross minded people are sent to us. Among them we select seven to be the members of the Red Cross Society. These seven members include the chairperson and the vice chairperson. Similarly, in the districts the BDO by virtue of his post becomes the chairperson. In this state branch we have 14 members. Out of them eight are the ex – officio members and six are nominated members. The ex-officio members include the Director of Health, the chairman of the St. John’s Ambulance. Here we have four chambers, Bengal Chamber of commerce, Bengal national Chamber of commerce, Indian Chambers of commerce, Bharat chambers of commerce. The presidents of these chambers are the ex-officio members. The vice – Chancellor of the Calcutta University, the Commissioner of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation are also a members. Apart from them, the Governor, who happens to be the president of the State Branch, also appoints two members. One of them is the Chairperson and another is the Treasurer. The District appoints three other members and the last member is nominated by the State Health Department. The management body selects the General Secretary. All these posts are honorary.Q.2. How much does the Government help you in your activities? Actually what happens is, the Government has a setup of hospitals- primary hospitals, districts hospitals, block hospitals etc. Apart from that there is a need for the medical help to the needy people. So those who live in the far flung areas, like the interiors of the Sunderban, where the Government has no machinery or setup to help them, we the Red Cross society hold camps. Regular camps are organized in these areas to provide medical help as well as relief materials with the help of govt. In the direct control of the state branch there are nine OPD`s (Out Patients Department) which are charitable medical centers.Q.3. What are the various activities of the Red Cross Society?· The First activity is on health. There are nine OPD`s in Kolkata. In these nine medical centers we treat the patients free of cost. Medicines are also given free of cost. They only have to pay ten rupees registration fees,- hardly Rs 10 from the general patient and Rs 5 from the BPL patients. We have a lot of specialist doctors who are Red Cross minded. They are very eminent and dedicated doctors. · Then if there are student who need financial help, we give them money for their education. · We also give vocational training to poor women and we teach them sewing, so that they can earn their living. We charge a nominal fee that is 10 rupees per month. · We also give ambulance facilities to the needy people. · We give First Aid Training, both theory and practical, through camps in office, factories and similar organizations· At the School level we have the Junior Red Cross (ages8-16) and in colleges, the Youth Red Cross. (17-25 years) We give training to these students by first motivating and teachers and making them aware. The teachers then create groups JRC groups and we train them at a nominal fee of Rs5 per head. They are taught how to protect themselves and the society. You know, as they say “catch them young”. We have similar YRC groups in colleges.· India is a vast country. Suppose if there are foreign soldiers or people from other countries have been detained in jails or correctional homes here, but there family is in their native country, we try to reunite them. We try to give all relevant information to their family via the New Delhi Branch who then forward to the Red Cross of that particular country. Similarly, when the reply of the families comes to us, we convey it to the detained persons. This service is known as the Family News Service.· We also hold blood donation camps. We motivate people for donating blood as unlike other misconceptions, donating blood actually keeps one healthy.10% of the total blood that is given to patients in India comes from the Red Cross. In India there are 131 blood banks with direct control of the Red Cross Society. Thus, we create awareness among the people. · We also help victims of different disasters like the Tsunami in 2004 and also during the Aila. We have a disaster management groups to impart training in every district. So that at the time of disaster they can help the district administrationQ.4. Is there any age group for blood donation? No, there is no age limit but the only thing is that, if there is any person who is HIV+ or suffering from any other such diseases , we do take the blood from them but test it properly before preserving and giving it to the patients, so that the patient is not affected.Q.5. There are nine OPD`s in West Bengal, so is there any initiative taken for expanding these OPD`s? Definitely, we are trying to expand it. Actually, in some OPD`s the technical staffs are not available. In some OPD`s we don’t have physiotherapists, in some OPD`s we don’t have dental sergeons. We are trying to open another dental check up facility in the Dattabad OPD. The facilities will definitely increase but gradually.Q.6.:- Red Cross Society gives help to poor students, so how they apply for getting this help? Is there any eligibility criteria? One has to apply through the Head of his/her school. Apart from that, he/she has to get approval of the local Municipal Commissioner. We give financial assistance like Rs2000 or Rs1500. We cannot give them any major help but we do give minor help to all the eligible candidates. Q.7.What is the eligibility criteria? One must be a BPL (Below Poverty line) card holder. Only they can get the facilities. There are no other criteria. We do not discriminate on the basis of religion, caste, creed, sex or color. Red Cross treats all human beings as equal whether they are Hindu, Muslim, and Christian or of any other religion.Q.8. Do you face any practical problems while propagating the Red Cross movement, especially in the rural areas? No not really. Actually, no other organization goes so far to provide facilities to these people. So they gladly accept our help. Moreover, Red Cross has a very good reputation all over the world. So we do not face much problem.Q.9. There are many volunteers of the Red Cross Society, so how is the recruitment done and how can join them? In Red Cross we have different memberships. We have patrons, then vice-patrons, and then we have life membership, annual membership and associate membership. Patrons and Vice patrons membership is given by the president of India, who is also the President of Red Cross in India. And the Minister of Health is the Chairman of the National Red Cross Society. Here if any person applies for the patron or the vice patron then, he/she should have well reputation and very good integrity. One should be Red Cross minded. This is the primary criteria and then the state committee should approve it and after that it is send to the president of India. In respect of Life member anybody can apply. In case of patron membership one has to submit Rs. 20000 and in case of vice patron one has to submit Rs. 10000, in case of life member one has to submit Rs. 500. 70% of this amount will go to the District HQ and 30% to the State HQ, of which 50% will be sent to the National HQ. None of these bodies can withdraw this amount but it is liable to interest. Similarly, we have annual member, it is for one calendar year and one has to pay Rs. 100 for the annual membership. We also have associate membership and institutional membership, i.e., through clubs and other institutions.Q.10. If a school student wants to join Red Cross what will he/she have to do? Actually we cannot cover all the schools in Red cross. If any student wants to form the Junior Red Cross then we would definitely help them to form the group. He/she would have to approach the teacher first. Actually, this is done under the leadership of the Director of Schools. But if any school is interested to form the JRC we definitely help them, by training the teachers first, helping them form the group, and then training the students. Q.11. Tell us something about the origin of the Red Cross Day. We observe Red Cross Day on 8thMay. it is the birth day of Jean Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross Society. Dunant was a Swiss businessman, social activist and a very good person. While he was young, he used to watch his mother giving food to poor people and he took inspiration from her. In 1959, the Austro-Sardinian War broke out. When he witnessed the Battle of Solferino, and saw the unattended soldiers suffering and dying, he approached Napoleon III, the King of England and the heads of other countries. Everyone agreed and the Red Cross Society was formed in 1860. All countries of the world may not be the members of the UNO but all countries of the world are members of the Red Cross Society. In Islamic countries they refer to it as Red Crescent and in all other countries it is called Red Cross. Our main Headquarters is in Geneva. Q.12. Is there any annual meeting of all the branches of the Indian Red Cross Society? Yes, we do have annual meetings in which all the state representatives, patrons, vice-patrons, annual members, even governors of the state, attend this meeting. Generally, it is presided over by the President of India but last time as she was extremely busy, it was presided over by the Chairman.Q.13.Is there any system of foreign exchange students (volunteers), from the various Red Cross Societies Across the world? There is indeed such a system but it is done by the National Headquarter in New Delhi.Q.14. How is the Red Cross Day celebrated in Kolkata? We invite all the eminent persons including the patrons, vice patrons and the life members. In every district this Red Cross Day is observed. Apart from the Red Cross Day, we observe World Womens’ Day World Health Day, World Children`s Day, World AIDS Day.Q.15. What do you think about today’s young generation? Are they aware? Actually, it is not the fault of the young generation; it our fault. We are not capable of giving proper awareness to the children. We have to motivate them and we are lacking behind in that. Young generation is like a seed it is the time to motivate them. For building a future society we have to give maximum importance to them. Q.16. Your final message to young readers and volunteers? My message
would be that they must listen to and learn from their elders, as it is they who are responsible for building a good society, a good nation and a good country.For more info visit:
http://www.indianredcross.org/
Gokul Boral Maternity and Child Welfare Centre Duff Street Maternity and Child Welfare Centre Beniapukur Maternity and Child Welfare Centre Shymbazar Maternity and Child Welfare Centre Baranagar Maternity and Child Welfare Centre Lansdowne Maternity and Child Welfare Centre Diamond Harbour Maternity and Child Welfare Centre Nabagram Maternity and Child Welfare Centre Duttabad Maternity and Child Welfare Centre
Out of the nine OPDs managed by the Red Cross, we paid a visit to the Dattabad unit.
Interview of Dr.S. Sen
Medical Consultant
IndianRedCrossSociety
St.JohnAmbulanceAssociation
Students Health Home
Q. Sir, for how many years have you been here? I have been here for the past one year. Before that I used to work for the Central Health Service.
Q. Is your service here voluntary? Yes, definitely voluntary. I had many other options but I wanted to serve here.Q. What are the basic facilities provided here? Initially it was started out as a lifestyle clinic- obesity, diabetes, general, skin etc. Now the range has become much wider.Q. How many patients do you have on average? Usually there are around 50 patients. Today it is about 60.Q. Do you have any special experience here that you would like to share with us? When I had first come here a year ago, there were 4-5 patients daily. Now the number has exceeded 50. There is a gradual increase in no of patients due to better services and facilities.Q. Are the patients charged any fees? No. They are only charged the registration fee of Red Cross i.e., Rs.10. The consultation and medicine is free of cost.Q. What kind of treatment is given here? Are the patients referred to other hospitals? We do not usually refer patients to other hospitals. We work according to the necessity. In cases of malaria, the blood is provided free of cost by the government. Lab facilities will soon be started here and a dental facility is also being built. In certain cases like tuberculosis and leprosy training is given but we recommend the patients to other hospitals.Q. Is this center open for all seven days? The center remains open five days a week. I come here on Mondays as I have to sit at two other Red Cross centers also. Apart from that there is another physician who comes here thrice a week and an eye specialist who comes here once a week. The dental department will open very soon.Q. How is the cooperation from the local people? The local people are very cooperative and so the number of patients has increased over the past year. Q. What about personal satisfaction? I am very satisfied today even after leaving a Rs.1 lakh job offer. I was the Teacher-In-Charge at the Central Health Service. Here too I am both a teacher as well as a doctor.
Patients Speak
Krishna Tarai – Homemaker " I have come here before. Today I am here for my son’s fever. The doctors are very good and don’t charge anything but the Rs10 registration fee. They give us the medicines for free." Babun Mallick- Middle aged trader " I have no complaints against the present doctor (Dr. Sen) but I wish that the other doctors were more regular. There is a shortage of doctors here."
Unfortunately,
Red Cross Day Celebration On 8th May 2012
The training hall of the 300 year old enchanting building was well decorated to celebrate the 184th birth anniversary of Jean Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross Society. This year’s theme was “Youth On The Move – Today’s Young Are Tomorrow’s Future” The programme started with an opening song followed by the garlanding ceremony and a cultural dance. Then Mr. Shyamal Kanti gave a brief introduction on the life history of Henry Dunant and called out to today’s youth and asked them to join hands with this movement. An inspiring event unfolded in front of everyone’s eyes. Mr. Ram Prasad Sarkar, a retired serviceman, donated the savings of his entire life, ie., Rs.2,00,000, to the Red Cross Society. “I read about an incident in the newspaper that made me aware of the Red Cross Movement. I immediately took up the life membership and the little that I had saved over the years…is all I have, to give to this wonderful organization.”, said the proud old man, in a quivering voice.
The memorable function aptly came to an end with the singing of three versions of the song”We Shall Overcome – Amra Korbo Joy – Hum Honge Kamiyab ekdin”
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