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Medical CareOur Doctors FMCH doctors are also responsible for checking each child as they come onto the programme, noting his or her weight and height already recorded by our Community Health Workers. They also check for common illnesses that could be contributing to the child’s undernutrition. Poor feeding of infants and young children, especially when breastfeeding and weaning are not carried out properly, along with diarrhoea, TB, pneumonia, malaria and dengue are all exacerbated by the presence of intestinal worms and are major causes of undernutrition. Common colds and flu’ are taken seriously in undernourished children as they can easily lead to pneumonia. As a child continues on the feeding programme, their weight is monitored monthly and height monitored three monthly. If a child is found not to be making progress, the doctor will again run specific checks for disease. The numbers of children at FMCH with active TB have been as high as 25%, which is not surprising when Indonesia has the world’s third largest number of tuberculosis patients, and the figure is rising. The incidence of HIV/AIDS is low. Diagnosis of this condition can be costly for families and so FMCH sponsors medical tests needed for diagnosis. Once a child has been positively diagnosed as having contracted TB, FMCH encourages mothers to go to their local Community Health Centre to obtain free drugs to treat her child. If the local Health Centre does not have drugs available, FMCH will sponsor treatment of these children and members of their family. All children currently attending FMCH have been successfully treated for TB. Sometimes a specialist needs to be consulted for an ill child. If the family cannot afford to pay for a visit to the consultant, FMCH will sponsor the child through its medical fund. Likewise, if an operation is needed for a child attending FMCH, and the family cannot afford to pay the fees, FMCH endeavors to sponsor the child through its medical fund. MaintenanceIn addition to the monthly medical monitoring check-up, every month each very undernourished child and all pregnant or breastfeeding mothers receive a supply of multivitamins, either in syrup or tablet form depending on age. Every 6 months (October and April) FMCH organizes a deworming programme for all children and their siblings (>1 year old) attending the feeding programme and/or an FMCH early learning centre. In the deworming programme, antihelmintic drugs are given.
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Our
doctors work together at the Foundation for Mother and Child Health
(FMCH) holding medical sessions 3 times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday) during feeding programmes. They offer advice to mothers and
their children and also work with FMCH and Community Health staff trying
to analyze any medical problems that arise. Every mother who has a child
attending an FMCH programme can consult our doctors free of charge.
Wherever
possible FMCH encourages mothers and their children to use the local Community
Health Centre (puskesmas or posyandu) for treatment of TB and other common
conditions. It is essential that the community continues to supports the
health system already in place. Naturally if a child suffers from a condition
that cannot be treated free of charge by the Health Centre, FMCH will
endeavor to help the family financially from our medical fund.