MADHU Mobile Diabetic Clinic: Caring for Urban Slums in Bangalore

MADHU Mobile Diabetic Clinic team consists of a driver, nutritionist, lab technician and doctor that visit 11 urban slum locations per month (sometimes up to 17 visits per month depending on the overflow of patients). They provide awareness, preventive care, and management of type 2 diabetes for almost 700 patients. And according to our latest statistics in the last 6 months: between 12%-31% of patients in each location are showing improvements to their type 2 diabetes and overall health.

Here are a few transformational stories of the MADHU Mobile Diabetic Clinic:

• As the doctor checks her pulse, Janaki manages to smile. She is one of the many patients treated by our MADHU Mobile Diabetic Clinic. Janaki was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes ten years ago. She explains to the Doctor that for the last two years, she hasn’t checked her blood sugar levels continuously; which is very dangerous. The Doctor gasps and asks her why she also does not take her insulin regularly. “It’s costly, Nuthiumbadha.” (150 rupees per vial). If she can’t afford it, she takes a tablet and that has proved to be less effective than injecting the vial of insulin, in specific increments. Janaki is a mother to one son and says that she will start taking better care of her diabetes, for him. The Doctor is happy to hear this! As she is about to leave, she is asked where she stores her insulin. She replies, “I have no fridge, so I keep it in a glass of water, that does it.”

• For seven years, Selvi has lived with Type 2 diabetes. With five people living in her home, she has a lot to do daily and that is her excuse for not taking care of herself. She has two sons and one daughter, two of which are married. When she is asked about her high blood sugar levels, she sheepishly grins and talks about the shop near her house, that serves wonderful tea. After being warned by the Doctor, she leaves with these parting words—“I’ll come next time. Don’t worry. Sugar will be taken care of.”
• The Doctor exclaims “Your sugar seems to be controlled, John. Keep up the good work!” His mouth curves into a smile as hearing this makes his day a much happier one. In January, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Shuffling between working as a construction worker and a helper in a chicken shop, he also has three children to take care of. Taking his medication, he walks out feeling content who has no more weight on his shoulders.

• Vasanthi has been a Type 2 diabetic for five years. When she first visited the camp in April 2015, her blood sugar level was 388. After 27 sessions of awareness, counseling, and medications, her blood sugar levels are under control and in the normal range. She proudly told our Doctor “The advice from doctors, practical teaching with charts and videos helped me reverse my diabetes!”

This project has just surpassed its two-year mark and we are thrilled to be seeing lives changed through the education, awareness, and medicine that our MADHU staff have provided these deserving patients!

Want to see this in action? Take a virtual tour of a location during one of the numerous camps here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8LAuRpkn0M