The New Town Residents’ Welfare Forum has started a Sunday camp to be held over the next two months to bring doctors and pathology labs closer to residents across the township. The first camp took place last week in DB Block next to the Newtown School. Coming Sunday, there will be one at Jal Vayu Towers and another in DA Park, that will also cater to residents of Balaka Abasan.

New Town Residents’ Welfare Forum will be holding more than 10 health camps across the three action areas in December and January. “The elderly are scared to visit hospitals now so we are bringing specialists from as many disciplines as possible and holding the camps in open-air parks,” said joint convenor of the forum Samir Gupta. A total of 12 camps will be held, with more than one on some Sundays, he added.

The first camp, at DB Block, was inaugurated by psychiatrist Kedar Ranjan Banerjee, a resident of AL Block, New Town.

“This is the first camp of its kind here and it was desperately needed. Sixty people have enrolled but even more and coming,” said Amit Kumar Basu, secretary of DB Block Welfare Association. “Not everyone can afford private healthcare and there have been times when our residents could not even find someone to fix a saline on them.”

Rudrasish Banerjee, a resident of the block, had come with his mother mainly for her eye check-up. “We live in a big city but healthcare here is minimal. We are glad something like this is happening,” he said.

Besides eye care, there was ECG, blood pressure and sugar tests, and consultation with doctor and dietician. “More than half the patients getting their blood test done today didn’t even know they had high blood sugar,” said Amit Singh, from Metropolis Health Care Chinar Park, who was doing the test.