Medical/Healthcare Projects India

Project At A Glance

Location: Delhi Start point: Delhi End Point: Delhi Duration: 2-12 weeks Hours: 30-40 hours per week Food: Local food (3 times a day) Room: Host family or hostel Date: First and Third Monday of each month

Project Summary

Primary health care is one particular program significantly lacking resources and attention among the multitudes of impoverished people of India. People die every day due to simple causes because many villages do not have doctors or basic health care facilities such as clinics or hospitals. Volunteers with health care backgrounds can help fill this void by offering basic health care tips through informal education centers, schools or local organizations.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

Volunteers/interns who are interested in joining our volunteer health program must possess health care certification, such as an ID as a medical student, EMT or paramedic certification, or nursing or physician's credentials. We do not permit volunteers without medical credentials to work in this program due to the potential risk. The hospitals require a copy of your resume, clearly documenting credentials and education, before your arrival to the project. Projects will also require an official copy of your credentials.

Volunteer Responsibilities

Job responsibilities for medical project volunteers/interns in India vary dependent on education, skills, experience and qualifications and also on the community’s current needs. Volunteers/Interns are not permitted to perform major exams or surgeries. Most often volunteers help doctors or work as their assistants. As a medical volunteer in India, you could be placed in a large hospital or small rural health center. Most of the hospitals (regardless of size) have many departments: Emergency, Gynecology, Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, Hematology, Endocrinology, Oncology, Internal Medicine, Clinical Pathology, etc. so a volunteer may be placed in any department, but skills/qualifications will also be considered.

Volunteers may also take patients’ vitals: blood pressure, temperature, height and weight, and carry out health center tasks. You also assist in health camps, distribute medicines, provide tips to patients on health, nutrition and sanitation or provide counseling to patients. You may provide treatment for minor injuries or wounds and document patient records. The tasks and activities vary day by day!

Room/Food/Supervision

IFRE manages living accommodations, provides meals and supervision for volunteers for the entirety of their stay in India. During the volunteer period, most volunteers stay in our safe and secure home base, project hostel or host families. Our office and home base is located in Gurgaon, a beautiful city 40 miles a way of Delhi international airport. This location is very safe and manned with onsite security. It is a clean, sparsely furnished apartment but will meet all your needs as an IFRE volunteers. It is close to the local bus station. Info on amenities close by and transportation to nearby city, etc. internet café, restaurant and supermarket, local police station. This is the ideal arrangement for sharing your daily experiences with fellow volunteers and local staff. Home base bedrooms have multiple beds, so volunteers will usually share a room (same gender). Our in-country coordinator also lives at our home base to assist our volunteers 24/7.

Dependent on the season and flow of volunteers, you may be placed with a local host family or project hostel (mostly in orphanage). Our host families are socially respected and are experienced with hosting international volunteers. They have strong interest in our volunteers’ safety and well being and demonstrate this with caution and care. In most host family situations, volunteers will share a room with another volunteer of the same gender. Another viable option is an at-orphanage stay. Many orphanages in India have set aside special rooms to house international volunteers.

IFRE arranges room, food and supervision for volunteers throughout the program. All of IFRE’s cooks prepare a variety of delicious Indian food (naan, dahl and chapatti breads, curries, rice and pickles/chutneys). Details covering the arrangements for room/food are outlined in the prepared placement details. Volunteers will also have 24/7 access to IFRE's office as well as the mobile numbers of in-country coordinators. In addition, the director of the orphanage will serve as a local contact person for volunteers. IFRE's staff also visits each volunteer every 1-2 weeks as part of our program.