A free Health Camp organized by College of Medicine, College of Dentistry and Thumbay University Hospital, Ajman for the workers of Al Suad Construction Company, Ajman on December 16, 2022, consisted of various ‘screening stations’ beginning with gathering demographic information like age, gender, height and weight measurements to determine BMI of the laborers in the first station. This station was manned by enthusiastic medical students, who provided them with health education and informative pamphlets. The second station involved measuring blood pressure, followed by estimation of random blood sugar in the third station. The fourth station had dentists who examined the oral cavity and teeth of the laborers. The last station had licensed doctors who tended to the medical problems that the laborers had and prescribed them with appropriate medication. Finally, after moving through all the stations, the laborers brought their respective pamphlets with all the values to the registration counter. Some laborers with health concerns detected on screening were counselled and referred to Thumbay University Hospital for further work-up.
Medical students who actively participated in this community engagement activity, echoed their experience saying, “It was a great learning experience for us as we came across laborers with various ranges of BMI, blood pressure and blood sugar values. We were able to associate lifestyles of individuals with their blood pressure and sugar levels, and other medical conditions. We also observed that a lot of the laborers consumed tobacco either in the form of cigarettes or spit/chewing tobacco which is injurious to health, we provided them with health education”
Another student reflected that “This camp provided me with a chance to learn how to be patient while communicating with people who are from different backgrounds and cultures, who have various behaviors, attitudes and beliefs. I was even able to adapt to the pressure of having to handle a large flow of people who were coming in to register after their tests were done.
I would really like to thank the organizers for this wonderful opportunity”.
“One of the core values of Gulf Medical University is to be socially accountable to our immediate community; and we want to imbibe these values in our students. A lot can be learned from the community, complimenting what they learn in the classrooms”, said Prof. Manda Venkatramana, Vice Chancellor Academics and Dean, College of Medicine proudly.