GPM opens a medical center in tribal district of Mokhada

Today Gabriel Project Mumbai opens the doors of the Mokhada Community Health Center (Mokhada Aarogya Seva Kendra) in the Mokhada tribal district of Palghar, Maharashtra.

Mokhada Community Health Center / Mokhada Aarogya Seva Kendra

Four years ago, Gabriel Project Mumbai (GPM) began working in the tribal district of Mokhada, just a 4 hours’ drive from the slums of Kalwa. We expanded to this remote rural area as the 59 villages there were experiencing extreme poverty with severe child malnutrition, starvation and with little access to any healthcare! With 40% migration from villages in Maharashtra to Mumbai, many of the residents of Mokhada had migrated to the slums in Mumbai and Thane in a last move of desperation in the face of extreme poverty.

We set up food distributions, nutrition programs and emergency health treatments. 

While we know that the food distributions helped significantly with hunger, we quickly began to realize that nutritional needs are just the beginning. We kept seeing sick, unhealthy people with no access to any kind of medical professionals, which meant that emergency medical needs, communicable diseases, and treatable conditions like dysentery were causing high rates of illness and death. It also meant that people with chronic illnesses or noncommunicable diseases, like high blood pressure or diabetes, had no chance of getting better or controlling their symptoms. After countless discussions and research in the region, we decided to open a Healthcare Center located in the heart of the Mokhada district. It is a vital component in advancing a long-term vision for health and hygiene for the members of the community. 

With Israel Consul General, Mr Kobbi Shoshani outside the Mokhada Community Healthcare Center

The beautiful five-room medical center we built on a 1.5-acre central location in Mokhada is a vibrant center for health in the district. One room houses a diagnostic center for blood testing and vaccinations (sponsored by the Minkus family of Chicago and UJA Fed of New York) while another room contains an emergency dental clinic sponsored by the estate of Martha B Leigh). The other consulting rooms lead to a large hall used for patients and for after-hours training of medical staff. The medical center has been visited by the Deputy Collector of Palghar, Ms Ayoushi Singh and we are partnering with the Dr. Vasantrao Pawar Medical College in Nashik for ongoing medical programs at the medical center. Recently, we completed a large-scale oral health screening with the Indian Dental Association and a menstrual hygiene project with the Citizens Association for Child Rights (CACR) including a distribution of sanitary pads to 3200 adolescent girls. The medical center also works closely with government health bodies like the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS), Mokhada Rural Hospital and the Nutrition Rehabilitation Center (NRC).