EKTA NIKETAN - health care for the poor by the poor

Ekta Niketan was set up in 1983 in the village of Fatepur in Jharkhand (formerly part of Bihar). Janet Ganguli, a British nurse and midwife, lived and worked in this remote village from the mid 1970s, trained village health workers and later set up this centre.

The main focus of the work is health care which is carried out by the villagers themselves. The need for health care is very acute as there are no medical facilities for miles around and so patients come from a wide area.

The medical work continues to grow. Tuberculosis is very common in the area. Ekta Niketan is now established in the eyes of the villagers as a TB treatment centre. Even though government clinics offer free treatment, many prefer to come to Ekta Niketan.

Patients come on foot or by bike; those who can afford it, hire vehicles to get to this village clinic. They pay cost price for their medicines but no more.
At Ekta Niketan, village health worker Somra and his team carry out sputum tests under microscope and provide standard treatment.
Ekta Niketan is not solving all the medical problems in the area but for those it reaches, it saves lives.

If you would like to find out more about the Ekta Niketan clinic, please write to us.