The Shri Onkar Singh Memorial Trust has been continuing with its benevolent work, providing free surgical and medical treatment to thousands of poor and needy patients. The Trust held its twenty-third free surgical cum medical camp at the peripheral town of Ranbir Singh Pura (R S Pura) in the Jammu district of the J & K State. Only some nineteen kilometers from the city of Jammu, R S Pura is close to the Indo-Pakistan border. Before the partition of India in 1947, this town was on the railway line connecting Jammu with the now Pakistani city of Sialkot. After partition, Jammu remained without a rail link with the rest of India till the nineteen-seventies when the Pathankot-Jammu line was established.

The Background

The Trust has organized several camps in the Jammu region, mainly in the interiors of this mountainous area. It was this time decided to approach the border area which is no better, as far as medical facilities are concerned, when compared with the remote interiors of the Jammu Province. The matter was discussed with Dr Jasbir Singh, the Director Health Services, Jammu, who graciously offered to us the premises of the Sub District Hospital R S Pura as the venue for our camp activities. Click here for additional pictures of the April Camp.

The Spadework

Dr Charak visited the R S Pura hospital in the first week of January 2010 to assess the feasibility of holding a surgical cum medical camp there. He revisited this venue in March 2010 during the Mini Medical Camp at Nougran. Dr Basant (Dr B K Sharma), the BMO in charge of the hospital, was kind enough to lend all cooperation to Dr Charak. The operational details for the forthcoming camp were discussed in detail and it was decided to go ahead with the camp from April 4 to 10, 2010 at the Sub District Hospital, R S Pura. Written material announcing the camp was handed over to the BMO for distribution in the rural areas around R S Pura.

A lot of work needed to be done at the R S Pura hospital before the camp could be held there. The areas earmarked for our stay and kitchen were virtually dilapidated. They were renovated and got ready for use by the time our team reached there. While Sh K N Padha and Prof. P S Charak monitored the progress here before we arrived, Dr Basant was all help whenever there was any need.

Arrival at R S Pura: Setting up the Camp

The team from Delhi started on the evening of April 3, 2010 and reached Jammu on April 4, 2010 around noon. The train, which was scheduled to reach Jammu station at 7 AM was delayed on the way by around five hours. From Jammu, the team reached R S Pura hospital by ambulances. The SOSMT ambulance had already reached here with medicines, equipment and other necessary material. OPD work was started in the afternoon. The operation theatre was got ready for use the next day. The list of patients for surgery the next day was ready by the evening. There were quite a few of these patients who had been short listed for surgery here from our previous medical camp held at Nougran between March 5 to 7, 2010.

The Camp Activities

A total of 2320 patients were attended to in the OPD. Sixty-five of them received surgical treatment. A record 31 had their gall bladders removed for calculus disease. Lab investigations, x-rays and ultrasounds were available in the hospital. Our last month’s Nougran camp was a great help as many surgical patients were already investigated and ready for surgery by the time they reached us here.