CANACONA: A senior citizens group of Canacona that seems to be inspired by Sanjay Dutt’s Bollywood film ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ has been practising a similar style of operation to bring relief and comfort to patients.
It all started with an idea to visit patients at the primary health centre, most of whom belong to the weaker section of the society, to enquire about their well-being once a year, during Christmas some years ago, says the President of Association of Businessmen of Canacona and a well-known patients’ rights activist Diogo D’Silva.
The idea seems to have been appreciated and now our small group, comprising of mostly senior citizens, has started the exercise on a weekly basis, he said.
This weekly programme includes visits to each and every bed of all the wards, where volunteers listen to their grievances and stories in a bid to motivate them. We try to make the patients as well as their family members feel good, D’Silva said.
A social activist and entrepreneur based in Canacona, Milan Desai, who is also a part of the group felt that by visiting patients and family members at the wards, the group was trying to spread kindness, goodwill and friendship.
The patients open up to us and discuss the difficulties as well as good things at the hospital, she said.
“What started as an experiment has become a routine affair for all of us. We are very satisfied when patients, who come from places like Cabo de Rama, Cotigao and other remote parts of Canacona feel happy on being visited by us,” she said.
