About Medical Care
In the year 2000, a wonderful, philanthropic physician by the name of Dr. A.R. Pai, from Bangalore, started his free clinic “The Amembal Medical Charity” from my farm. He would visit once a month and he hired a nurse from the neighbouring town of Gundlupet (25 km. away) who would be at the clinic 6 days a week. This free clinic was what started the good will of the local populations. Not only was free medicines given but minor procedures and surgeries were also paid for. This clinic opened a doorway into peoples lives and all their hardships which were primarily connected to poverty. After the passing of Dr. A.R. Pai, MCT found another remarkable and wonderful physician Dr. Sridharan from the neighbouring B.R. Hills Tiger reserve area.
MCT has carried on Dr. Pai’s work and it is only due to the Corona Virus that for the first time in 20 years that our clinic has been closed.
In this fragile landscape which is part of the Niligiri Biosphere, the local populations of both villagers and tribes, are poverty ridden. This is not a new fact as it is true of all areas where human and wildlife share the same space. MCT, through our free clinic brings about a dignity and respect to the patients who have been utilising our clinic. They have the ability to sit with a highly accomplished physician who listens to their troubles and woes and if necessary gets the right treatment required. In many ways, we are treating people health problems that are poverty related.
Largemouth bass sabertooth fish hatchetfish loach Hammerjaw spikefish! Cutlassfish frogfish sand dab sawtooth eel tenpounder crucian carp tilefish
What People
Say About Us
The Mariamma Charitable Trust has done really commendable work in protecting tigers and leopards from retaliatory killing, whilst also addressing the economic losses that the rural people face when their cattle are killed by large carnivores.
The Trust’s work in providing free health care and support for education also greatly helps to improve the lives of the poorest of the poor in the local communities
am a veterinarian with the Wildlife Trust of India and we work in close collaboration with the Forest Department of Karnataka. I first met Sunita when I was 14 years old.
She is totally dedicated to wildlife and is passionate about her work. My role is to attend to injured and dying animals and to build bridges between the local people who suffer losses and the Forest Department. Things have been so much easier with Sunita’s input. I feel she has made a great deal of change in the perceptions of the local people and has contributed greatly towards reducing human-animal conflict in this belt.
This area in the tiger reserve is a mosaic of communities, agricultural land and forests. Traditionally the villagers have tolerated the wildlife but as the human wildlife conflict has intensified, antagonism is fast replacing this tolerance.
Sunita and the Mariamma Charitable Trust are working hard to maintain the traditional tolerance through a multi-pronged approach that focuses on enhancing healthcare and compensating farmers who lose live-stock to large carnivores from the park. These steps are important precursors to achieving the larger goal – the co-existence of human communities and wildlife with both benefiting from the other; humans from the economic value that living close to wildlife can bring through tourism and for wildlife, the maintenance of their habitat, giving them optimal access to food and water. The local communities are confident in the Trust and the dynamic and committed team – your financial support will only further the cause of conservation in this outstanding environment.
