Nilakantha, a middle-aged journalist from Assam, recently participated in a weekly evening OPD clinic at Guwahati Press Club out of curiosity. He had a brief discussion with the attending doctor, who advised him to check his blood pressure. Initially, Nilakantha asserted that he had “no BP” (meaning no irregularity in blood pressure). But when the nurse at the camp measured his blood pressure, the outcome shocked the journalist. He had hypertension, which compelled the doctor to strongly advise him to take medicine regularly.

Meet Jyotiprasad, a news and features contributor to local newspapers in the city. On a casual visit to the Guwahati Press Club, Jyotiprasad saw the ongoing OPD camp and attended the same. When the attending nurse checked his blood sugar level, he was reported with high sugar level. The young journalist was advised a balanced diet and regular exercise.

One can find many such cases where the special evening clinic at the Guwahati Press Club has come as a blessing for the working journalists. Busy with their daily schedule, unable to manage time to visit a doctor, working journalists in the city are actively participating in the special clinics – named ‘Evening with a Doctor’.

Conceived and organized by the Guwahati Press Club, the Saturday health camp now has emerged as a regular healthy hangout for the press club members along with their dependants.

First started 10 months back, with the initial support from Dispur Hospitals, the evening clinic now is a regular Saturday feature at the press club. From a humble beginning, when Dispur Hospitals’ Dr Jayanta Bardoloi helped in raising a doctor’s chamber at the club premises, the last evening clinic on June 3 was conducted by a consultant urologist from GNRC Hospitals Guwahati, where Dr Samarjyoti Bora offered healthcare consultations to over 40 participants. The practicing doctor was assisted by the hospital’s nurse Easter and public relation officer Mrinal Ali Hazarika in conducting the program.

The previous camp on May 27 was attended by Dr Ashwin Rajagopal, a consultant on surgical oncology at Manipal Hospitals, Bangalore.

Till date, practicing doctors from Apollo Chennai Hospital, Medanta-the Medicity Hospital, Down Town Hospitals, Narayana Super-Specialty Hospitals, Swagat Super-Surgical Institute, Shankardev Nethralaya Guwahati, Wintrobe Hospital, Barthakur Clinic, Nemcare Hospital, Rahman Hospitals, Sun Valley Hospital, Dispur Hospitals, Sight First eye-clinic, Government Ayurvedic College, MMC Panbazar, Institute of Dental Science & Research Center etc have attended the camps.

(Some names were changed to protect identity.)

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About Nava Thakuria

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Nava Thakuria is a Guwahati-based senior journalist. He has been covering socio-political developments of Northeast India, along with its neighbours – Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar and Bangladesh – for various media outlets, for more than two decades.