The Austin Centre in Old Sabzi Mandi provides free-of-cost healthcare to this community and has treated over 30,000 patients since its inception. One of them is Samavia, a 9-month-old girl who came with a respiratory complaint. Her mother was worried because she couldn’t sleep at night and would feel breathless. Samavia’s three older siblings often end up with nasal congestion, congested chest and ear infection. The doctor diagnosed the baby with chest congestion, nebulised her at the clinic and gave her medicines. Samavia’s father is a chowkidaar at a house and his small wage does not enable his family to get proper nutrition to keep healthy. Her mother has been coming to this clinic for a year now and is happy with the medical treatment and the friendly staff. Before the Austin Centre opened up, she had to pay for transport to a far-off clinic and then pay a fee of Rs.100 at the clinic too. Then she had the additional burden of buying expensive medicines from the chemist.
