Amritsar – India (Mission 8)

Arpan Global Charities embarked on its latest medical mission in January of 2010 to Amritsar, India, the hometown of its founder Dr. Sudeep Kudreja, a Neonatologist at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). This mission marked the charity’s eighth trip abroad since its inception in 2005.

Dr. Kukreja was joined by a large contingency of other physicians which included: three Anesthesiologists, a Colorectal surgeon, a Gynecologist, an Orthopedic Surgeon, a Thoracic Surgeon, two Pediatric Cardiologists, a Pediatric Intensivist, a Pediatric Pulmonologist, a Radiologist, a Nurse Practitioner, a Physician’s Assistant, a Pharmacist, three Pediatric Residents, a Dentist, medical workers in the fields of ECHO technology, Nursing, and Social Work as well as non-medical personnel, who each contributed to the overall success of the trip.

While in Amritsar they saw eight hundred patients and treated a variety of ailments ranging from Hernias to cardiac problems. There were one hundred and two surgical procedures performed which included Orthopedic surgeries on the Knee and Spine, Hip Replacements, Gynecological surgeries, Gastrointestinal surgeries on the Colon, Laparoscopic Cholecystectomies, Hernia repairs, as well as forty-five Echocardiograms.

Their trip also included visits to an orphanage and a Leper Colony. At the orphanage all of the sixty girls who lived there were examined and provided with basic comforts such as clothing, toys, food, mattresses and blankets. At the Leper Colony, where two hundred and fifty adults and children live, each of the Leper patients was examined and treated. In addition to the treatment, they also received clothing, food and toys for the children.

Since education is another important part of Arpan Global Charities goals, this trip was replete with didactic lectures and needed hands-on training for the Doctors and medical personnel in Amritsar. This gift of knowledge and training will serve the people of Amritsar for generations to come.

Once again Arpan (Hindi for giving) Global Charities lived up to its goals of providing free medical care to those who are medically underserved, of providing continuing education in the field of Medicine to help promote self-sufficiency and of providing compassionate charity for the less fortunate.