With its 45 bed rural hospital, Community Care Centre and Outreach community health care today, SPARSH has become an integral part of healthcare for Latur and Osmanabad districts.
SPARSH (Sastur Project of Action Research Service Through Hospital)
SPARSH (Sastur Project of Action Research Services through Hospital), a public-private partnership initiative is a flagship project of The PRIDE India set up in 1996 post the devastating Latur earthquake to provide quality primary healthcare to rural poor from Osmanabad and Latur districts in the Marathawada region of Maharashtra State. Today SPARSH continues to touch lives through an integrated approach of providing sustainable community health services.
PRIDE India’s 45-bedded high specialty facility SPARSH Rural hospital is recognized under the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS), is ISO certified and accredited by the National Quality Assurance. It provides primary healthcare impacting the lives of 1,65,000 people every year. It also works extensively for support and care to people living with HIV/AIDS in 3 districts viz Latur, Nanded and Osmanabad. Besides clinical services it also has strong community initiatives on preventive health services for mother and child and elderly people which is implemented through 4 fully equipped mobile medical units reaching out to 126 underserved villages. The organization is trying to address the Sustainable Development Goals of ‘Ensuring healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.’
So far, the hospital has reached out to 318 villages in Osmanabad, Latur, Solapur & Gulbarga districts by changing the lives of17,98,329 patients to date.
Through SPARSH all essential health care services are provided which is accessible for all individuals and families in the community. The following are the services available for the patients in the hospital:
SPARSH services are mainly availed by people from Marathawada region, especially, border districts of Karnataka and Telangana.
- Out Patient Care (OPD) with well-equipped examination and consultation and specialist clinic rooms
- Reception and patient guide
- Waiting area
- Registration Counters
- Separate Male Female wards
- ANC & PNC Clinic
- Maternity ward and well equipped labour/ delivery room
- Paediatric wards and intensive neonatal care facility
- Diagnostic facilities like X-Ray and pathological laboratory test.
- USG Unit
- Services facilities like dressing and injection room
- Well-equipped operation theatre (OT)
- Dental Clinic
- Sputum microscopy centre (DOT centre)
- I.C.T.C. (Integrated counselling and Testing Centre)
- Link ART Centre
- Pharmacy Medical
- Blood Storage Unit
- Referral Transport System
- Non – Communicable Disease Control Programme
- Pantry and kitchen
- Computerized medical records
- Ambulance Services
- Well-equipped training centre
- Audio – visual aids
- Generator for essential services
Community / Training Centre
A community /training centre in the hospital premises serves the dual purpose of accommodating the relatives of patients coming in from long distances and carrying out various health educational and awareness programmes for these beneficiaries. The community/training centre serves as the nodal point for undertaking various community based social, welfare and development activities.
Care during all stages of pregnancy
Prenatal | Antenatal | Postnatal
Maternal and Child Health
The Maternal and Child health services are primarily aimed to reduce maternal and prenatal mortality and morbidity. SPARSH follows a continuum of care from pre- pregnancy to puerperium. We aim to ensure that every pregnancy culminates in the birth of a healthy baby and mother. In order to achieve this goal we provide general health advice for safe motherhood which includes health check up by a gynaecologist, laboratory investigations of their health status and counselling about diet & personal hygiene.
The newborn, young child is constantly in danger of contracting fatal diseases which can impair them for life. Therefore prevention, diagnosis and treatment at the early stages are very crucial. Therefore, for children below the age of 6 we detect and tackle malnutrition, promote breastfeeding and conduct immunization to prevent the child from diseases which are most prevalent among new-borns and infants. SPARSH celebrates the birth of each and every girl child born at the hospital by giving a small gift to the mother and the infant, taking a step towards breaking social taboos of favouring males.
Adolescent Reproductive Sexual Health(ARSH) programme is aimed creating awareness of sexual health among the adolescent girls in the community. Through topics ranging from menstrual health, personality development, good nutrition we ensure that the generation of tomorrow is healthy and aware.
Medical support | Linkages with government scheme | Psychological support | Orphan HIV+ children | Outreach services
Care and Support for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV)
PRIDE INDIA is working towards care, support and awareness for people living with HIV/AIDS since 2000. The organization has trained staff & dedicated facilities like Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC), Community Care Centre (CCC), Anti Retoviral Therapy (ART) centre and Designated microscopic centre (DMC) under one roof. It also has a well-equipped Pathological Laboratory with four trained Lab Technicians.
To promote the concept of ‘Home Based Care’, for people living with HIV/AIDS, Community Care Centre was set up at the hospital in the year 2009 with support from NACO (National Aids Control Organization) wherein patients are admitted for 3-5 days for care and support. While in the hospital they are also counselled to cope with HIV and regain their self-esteem and confidence.
The Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) centre was also started in 2015 with the help of Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society which has strengthened the programme and services remarkably. The Outreach workers also maintain a regular follow up of these patients to ensure their adherence to ART through regular home visits. Frequent awareness programmes are also conducted by the programme team to educate and enlighten people about the disease.
The PLHIV receiving services from SPARSH find it very effective which is evident from our post assessment report. Self-Help Groups of Women living with HIV have been formed and these women are trained on different skills like tie and dye, tailoring and other craft so that they get some livelihood opportunity and this ensures their greater involvement in the programme.
As part of its outreach services for PLHIV, PRIDE India, in the year 2013, initiated a Care and Support programme with the aim of providing a safe space for these people from high risk groups across Osmanabad district. The programme focuses on improving their access to information on welfare schemes, positive counseling and required health services. In the year 2015-16, PRIDE expanded its reach to more people living with HIV/ AIDS through care and support programme two additional districts viz. Nanded and Beed of Maharahstra.
Reaching orphaned children affected with HIV:
As of 2015, an estimated 13.4 million [11.4 – 15.7 million] children worldwide had lost one or both parents to AIDS. There are 220,000 children infected by HIV/AIDS in India. It is approximated that every year 55,000 to 60,000 children are born to mothers who are HIV positive. 30% of these children are likely to be infected themselves (UNICEF,2015) Our preliminary observation through the years has shown that there are many children who are affected by HIV/AIDS, many of them are orphaned and living with ageing grandparents some of cannot even afford full day meal for the child. In the absence of proper care & support, these children are becoming increasingly vulnerable. Some such children are known to have died due to absence of proper care, nutrition and ART adherence.
The CCC project run by PRIDE India has been graded ‘A’ twice and is considered as one of the best CCC from Maharashtra State according to the NACO evaluation report.