Association of Medical Doctors of ASIA, founded in 1984, Consultative Status with UN ECOSOC since 1995

Since June after India’s first lockdown was lifted, AMDA Peace Clinic (APC) in Bodhgaya in the eastern state of Bihar has been providing foodstuffs every Tuesday to the families of pregnant women who are registered at the clinic. APC is similarly donating food items to a nursing home run by its former staff.

As of now, prices of vegetables are soaring in the country while household income has been dwindling and getting unstable.

The food distribution was held on the 11th and 18th of August, where 58 families each received a set of food items containing beans (1.5kg), chick peas (500g), potatoes (1kg), cooking oil (500ml) and salt (500g) on each occasion. In addition, APC provided flour (4kg) on the 11th and rice (4kg) on the 18th to those who were not entitled to the governmental aid.
 

The below comments are from the mothers of the pregnant women who received the food aid:

“My husband used to sell photos near the 80-feet Buddha statue which is one of the main tourist attractions in Bodhgaya. However, he had to close his shop during the lockdown, and neither tourists came back even after it was lifted. We are living on our savings but I don’t think it will last long. I have two children who go to school besides my pregnant daughter. However, I haven’t told my kids about our financial problems. The food aid we receive from the clinic has been so much help to us. I’m really looking forward to every Tuesday.” (Rink Devi, a mother of a pregnant woman registered at APC)

“I am a full-time housewife and my husband is working at a construction site. However, as there’s no job for him in construction at the moment, he’s working as a day laborer doing farming where he receives 5 kg of rice (worth 175 rupees) every day as his salary. He used to earn about 350 rupees a day which was enough to make ends meet, but that’s not the case anymore. As we’ve been close friends with a food-shop owner, he let us pay for our groceries later on. The food we receive from APC definitely helps us shop less. We really feel thankful for that.” (Sumitra Devi, a mother of a pregnant woman registered at APC)