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Weekly clinic at press club roles on

Nilakantha, a middle-age scribe of Assam, participated in the weekly evening OPD clinic at Guwahati Press Club out of curiosity. He had a brief discussion with the attending doctor, who advised him to check his blood pressure. Initially Nilakantha asserted that he had no pressure (meaning no irregularity in BP). But when the sister in the camp measured his blood pressure, the outcome emerged simply shocking. He had hypertension (280 by 170), which compelled the doctor to strongly advise him to take medicine urgently.

Meet Jyotiprasad, a young contributor of news & features to local newspapers in the city, who casually came to press club on a Saturday. He was asked to consult with the attending doctor and also check his blood sugar. The result was not comfortable for Jyotiprasad, as he reported high sugar level in his body fluid. The doctor, who preferred not to advise him any medicine immediately, but asked Jyotiprasad to have a balanced diet and also physical activities regularly.

There are many such case studies, one can find out from records of the unique healthcare initiative titled ‘Evening with a Doctor’. Conceived and organized by the active far eastern press club of India, the Saturday health camp now emerge as a regular healthy hangout for the member-journalists of s of Guwahati Press Club along with their dependants. It was launched ten months back with initial supports from Assam’s Dispur Hospitals, where Dr Jayanta Bardoloi helped in raising a doctor’s chamber at the club premises.

The last evening clinic on 27 May was conducted by Dr Ashwin Rajagopal, senior consultant on Surgical Oncology from the Manipal Hospitals Bangalore. The visiting doctor offered free consultations to nearly 40 media persons, where they also got their blood pressure checked in the camp. Today’s (3 June) clinic is scheduled to be conducted by Dr Samarjyoti Bora, a practicing urologist from GNRC Hospitals Guwahati in between 4 to 6 pm.

Till date, practicing doctors from Apollo Chennai Hospital, Medanta-the Medicity Hospital, Down Town Hospitals, Narayana Super-Specialty Hospitals, Swagat Super-Surgical Institute, Sankaradeva Nethralaya Guwahati, Wintrobe Hospital, Barthakur Clinic, Nemcare Hospital, Rahman Hospitals, Sun Valley Hospital, Dispur Hospitals, Sight First eye-clinic, Government Ayurvedic College, MMC Panbazar, Institute of Dental Science & Research Center etc have attended the camps.

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Senior journalist based in Guwahati.

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