Background: Prasanthi met Dr. Veerabhadra Singh in a meeting at GMR Foundation, Shamshabad, in Dec 2017. He came there for a medical camp. During discussion, Dr. Singh told about his activities in Dr. Ramadev Rao Memorial Hospital and also in various slums.

As part of Diabetes prevention, they issue a yearly card for Rs. 3000 wherein year long consultation for six categories of doctors is free, monthly free pre and post fast sugar test free, monthly knowledge session on one topic related to Diabetes, regular tests one time in a year.

Diabetes needs to be managed and the sugar level need to be controlled otherwise it will be a problem. So Dr. Singh and his team calls all the registered patients (around 250) for the monthly camp which is conducted on the last Sunday of every month.

TMAD decided to associate with Dr. Singh and devised an Outreach program:

Diabetes Outreach Program broadly consists of the following activities:

1. Making Calls to the registered patients on behalf of the hospital (a week before the camp).

2. Coming up with a database and Web page management so that data sharing and update is easy between hospital and TMAD Diabetes Outreach team.

3. Support poorest of the poor patients by way of paying for the yearly card.

4. Conduct camps in various slums, identify people in pre-diabetic stage and guide them to take precaution. Similarly for those who found to be Diabetic, provide guidance.

5. Reach Corporates and other institutions and help them get their staff be aware and conduct a pre-diabetic check up. Usually the HbA1c test costs Rs. 600 whereas the hospital can get it done for around Rs. 300 through a known lab.

6. Promote Generic Drugs which costs less and affordable for the patients who have Diabetes.

Those who are interested to be part of this program, pl. write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

1. Making Calls:

Each volunteer will be assigned 10 members. They will be given access to a shared excel sheet with their name against the members. As the program is on the last Sunday of every month, they need to call a week before (previous Monday to Wednesday) as not all members will answer the call or some numbers might be switched off, out of coverage area etc., We need to try for three days and if still they do not respond, send an SMS about the camp. The details need to be updated to the sheet against each name.

These details will then be shared with the hospital so that they can update their records. If, for any reason, the volunteer will not be able to call the numbers, it is their responsibility to find a back up and get the calls done. Once you agree to volunteer, it will be like taking ownership of those 10 numbers.

It does not take more than half an hour in a month (only the last week).

This is how a typical call will be:

1. Are you so and so person? (confirming that we are talking to the right person as per the excel sheet)

2. Am <Name> a volunteer of Dr. Ramdev Memorial Hospital, Kukatpally. (exactly opposite Vivekananda Nagar colony)

3. This is to inform you about the Monthly Diabetes Camp which is on <Date> and timings, 8 am to 12 noon.

4. Pre-fast and Post-fast sugar test is free. (Even if you do not renew your card also it is free and you can attend).

5. There will be a knowledge session from 9 am to 10 am by Dr. Veerabhadra Singh.

6. There will be a yoga and meditation class between 8 am to 9 am.

7. Will you be attending? (If not, ask them the reasons. Usually if they do not renew the card, they hesitate to come).

Typical Questions:

1. May we inform to other friends? (yes. it is free for everyone and anyone can come)

2. Can we renew card on that day? (yes. they can)

3. Are the medicines also free? (no. they have to buy)

4. Is food free after pre-fast sugar test? (no. they have to bring or buy as there is a canteen in the hospital)

2. Data Entry and Management

As of now, Dr. Singh shares the excel sheet of data to Prasanthi and then she allocates members to different volunteers. After they make the calls, she will send the updated sheet to Dr. Singh. The data related to members who are expired, relocated, wrong and invalid numbers need to be updated to the master sheet maintained by Dr. Singh.

We want a program to simplify this process and save time.

1. Come up with a Data Entry (new member) screen to record all new members so that the data is updated to excel sheet or database.

2. Come up with Data Update (modifications) screen to change phone numbers or their Yearly Card Renewal dates.

3. Come up with Calls Data (entry) screen to record the responses each month. This data should be saved in an excel or database to verify the following:

a. Attendance pattern of particular member for this program

b. List of members expired, moved out of station, changed mobile numbers, yearly card renewal time

4. To generate reports and update the master database/excel sheet with active members, based on the report data. 

5. Communicate to the members about their due date for renewal (before one month, fortnight and a week)

3. Support to Poor Patients

Instead of always looking for celebrating B'days or Anniversaries or Office Luncheons, if we can spend that money differently, it will make life easier for an year for a poor family.

For example, if one's budget is Rs. 3000:

* They can sponsor the yearly card for a patient

* They can sponsor Diabetic Prevention tests (Hb1Ac test) for 10 patients. 

4. and 5. are self-explanatory.

If any corporates are willing to sponsor this Diabetes Awareness and Prevention Program through their CSR, pl. write to Prasanthi (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or to Dr. Veerabhadra Singh (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

TMAD has 80G exemption. So if one donates 6k in a financial year, the donor gets tax exemption for 3k. If you want to donate, pl. visit this page for more details.