Grant amount: £13,500
This is the second year we have supported this brilliant project that helps improve the level of healthcare available to Tibetans in settlements across India.
Providing a good, consistent level of healthcare in Tibetan settlements has been problematic in the past. For a variety of reasons, newly qualified Tibetan doctors often find it a very daunting task to work in settlements, particularly remote ones. Young doctors are faced with a lot of responsibility; many of the settlements are in hard to reach areas, far away from the doctors’ friends, family or even the nearest fully equipped hospitals. Doctors are often on call 24/7 with little or no supervision and have no time to undertake further training.
The Department of Health works to provide salaries for settlement doctors but their limited budget means they can only afford to pay wages that are 50 per cent less than the average doctor’s salary at an Indian hospital. The stresses and strains of the position, together with the low salary, result in many Tibetan doctors being forced to eventually seek work elsewhere, leaving the settlements with no doctors and therefore dangerously limited healthcare.
Our grant gives a 45 per cent top up for the doctors’ salaries, ensuring they receive the wages they deserve for all of their hard work. Through this salary top-up scheme, six Tibetan settlement hospitals now have permanent Tibetan doctors employed, providing essential healthcare for the local Tibetan communities.
This year alone, over 35,000 Tibetan patients have received the treatment they needed and benefitted hugely from having qualified doctors working in the settlements; allowing them to lead healthy and happy lives!
