Doc’time Tunis – Associa-Med Tunisia

Name of the activity: Doc’time Tunis

Country/NMO: Associa-Med Tunisia

Program: Ethics and Human Rights in Health

Contact information: contact [email protected] to get in touch with the Activity Coordinator

Type of the activity: Continuous Activity

Category: Third-party Activity

Focus area: Rights of patients, doctors and medical students, Peace, peacebuilding and health

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions)

General description:

Doc’time Tunis is a health convoy organized by medical students, members of Associa-Med, the Tunisian association of medical students and interns. It is held annually in one of the rural regions of Tunisia, where there is little to no access to health care for various reasons : lack of means of transportation, no adequate infrastructure, scarcity of medical equipments. We offer total free of charge medical follow-up for every one of the 600 patients examined on the day of the health convoy. 

Problem statement:

Despite the numerous endeavors and the great number of programs put to work to guarantee health for all, Tunisia faces an important health system problem with a direct and large impact on vulnerable populations living in rural areas: 

Health care is exclusive to communities with good financial income and access to transportation.

A large proportion of the population, estimated at 21.7% in 2010, is not affiliated to the National Health Insurance Fund and has no social security cover for health.

Target groups:

• General population
• Medical students
• Doctors
• Other health professionals
• Children
• Youth
• Women
• Elderly people

Beneficiaries:

• General population
• Medical students
• Children
• Youth
• Women
• Elderly people

Objectives:

1. I) Medical Students :

1) Raise medical students’ awareness about the ongoing public health issues, mainly the lack of accessibility of health care for certain communities, especially ones living in rural areas. 

2) Acknowledge Medical students as agents of change and enabling them to contribute actively in humanitarian action and positively influence their society and also teaching them their responsibilities towards the development of healthcare in humanitarian settings. 

1. II) Associa-Med :

3)  Promote Associa-Med’s involvement in the humanitarian field and increase its visibility in the community. In fact, Doc’Time contributes to enhancing our association’s image as being competent, professional and a leading name in effective development of healthcare. 

III) The population of people living in the concerned regions : Touiref, El Kef, for this year’s edition : 

4) Work in harmony with local authorities, doctors and patrons in order to organize a health convoy each year, where we can provide the first medical consultations in the concerned rural areas 

5)  Provide free accessible medical consultations for people living in rural communities..

6) Ensure the necessary medical follow-up for the patients in need of ongoing medical surveillance.  

7) Fundraising : As a non-profit project, Doc’Time launches fundraising campaigns in order to obtain voluntary valuable financial contributions. The funds are raised to finance the health convoy, the operations and the necessary medical equipment, and thus provide them all free of charge to patients.

Indicators of Success:

1. I) Medical Students :

1.1) Create a team of 40 well-trained medical students, capable of identifying public health issues like the lack of accessibility of health care and applying the human rights based approach throughout this project.

2.1) Provide the participating medical students with the necessary medical, technical, and soft skills to conduct the project all year long. And that is through at least 5 capacity building training sessions, treating various topics such as advocacy and patronage and medical training that accompanies their formal medical education.

1. II) Associa-Med :

3.1) Promote the whole project on 2 realms : the digital one and through traditional media. The project through the past 9 years has gained great media attention through various appearances that discuss our work. 

For the 10th edition we aim for at least : 

– 2 television appearances including the tunisian national television 

– 5 radio broadcasts 

– 3 appearances on online magazines 

– 4 promotional videos 

– Attracting 3-4 patrons. 

III) The population of people living in the concerned regions : Touiref, El Kef, for this year’s edition :

4.1) Transform a highschool in the chosen rural region into a hospital for a day, Having 16 well equipped examination rooms, for the different specialities present during the health convoy.

5.1) Have at least 35 doctors and medical interns present at the medical caravan. Offer 13 different specialities for the patients during the health convoy:

• General medicine 
• Ophthalmology 
• Pediatrics
• Dentistry
• Gynecology 
• Rheumatology 
• Orthopedic surgery 
• Pneumology 
• Dermatology 
• Urology 
• Nephrology 
• ENT 
• Radiology 

5.2) Examine at least 600 patients and organize at least 1000 medical consultations during the day of the health convoy.

6.1) Monitor and take in charge patients in need of urgent surgeries by organizing at least 30 different operations following the health convoy

6.2) Ensure quality medical follow-up by addressing patients to the appropriate medical centers and clinics for further examination.

6.3) Provide at least 150 eyeglasses, 10 hearing devices and cover the needed medical equipment for all patients.

7.1) Collect funds in different locations such as supermarkets and centers with the aim to collect over 20.000 TND this year. ( we estimate the accumulated amount of funds raised over the past 9 years at about 145.000 TND )

Methodology:

Create an organizing committee and an extended committee to work on the project 

The Team is composed of 5 groups :

Doctors and Clinics, Fundraising, Mediatisation, Logistics and Patronage.

Organize different training workshops where the trainers are IFMSA registered.

Timeline for each group : 

Doctors and Clinics :

create an adequate specialties list after at least 2 field visits.

create a contact list for the participating doctors

contact at least 35 doctor and medical intern and have their confirmation

create a list of the participating doctors’ needs.

contact different clinics and hospitals for the possibility of organizing the operations after the health convoy.

Logistics :

conduct a field study to choose a rural region with no access to health care.

organize pre-visits to choose the highschool where the health convoy will be held.

contact the local authorities.

provide the needed equipment, buses and doctors’ needs.

make the organizational chart for the health convoy.

Patronage : 

Make a contact list for the potential patrons.

Contact different patrons and pharmaceutical companies for funds and medical equipment

Fundraising :

Organize fundraising campaigns and a fundraising concert in partnership with local artists.

Media :

elaborate a timeline for the media campaign 

produce videos and posters to document the progress of our project

contact media outlets for media coverage 

Plans for evaluation:

We plan to evaluate the impact of our activity based on our goals and indicators.

Here are the concrete points we will be able to report on when we are evaluating our activity:

1. Total amount raised and donated to DocTime 10 project.
2. Number of surgeries accomplished.
3. Average number of applications for each OC position.
4. Average number of partner medical teams, hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical companies and patrons participating in the project.
5. Post evaluation form for the OC members.
6. Post evaluation form for patients.
7. Post evaluation form for the volunteering doctors and medical interns.

External collaborations:

By partnering with different pharmaceutical companies, pharmacists, patrons, hospitals, polyclinics, medical and surgical specialists and analysis laboratories, we receive

the following benefits:

-Provide patients with free medicines and supplies. 

-Free physical examinations. 

We also work with the health ministry, social affairs ministry and local authorities.

All partners are patrons not sponsors, consequently all the funds are donations with no benefits in return.