INDUSEM-CDC-MVP-MUHS-INDIA-USA KUMBH MELA EMERGENCY PREPARDNESS INITIATIVE: Towards a Safe and Blessed HIND MAHA KUMBH in NASHIK2015

Written by INDUS MED NEWS    25 May, 2015    2:54 am .

INDUSEM held its National Building Emergency Preparedness workshops at Nashik in partnership with the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences and the Dr. Vasantrao Pawar Medical College, Nashik to support the Emergency Preparedness efforts undertaken to have a safe and blessed HIND MAHA KUMBH at Nashik in Fall of 2015. This event was held in April 2015.

INDUSEM has taken ground breaking efforts to prepare the Medical Community and Community leaders to address various aspects of Health Care during this mass gathering.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which is the Global Leader in Emergency Preparedness and the Official arm of the United States Government were the strategic and lead technical partners for this initiative.

Lead by the Global Health Leader Dr. Vikas Kapil, Experts from USA Dr. Kazzi, Dr. Sharma, Dr. Laserson, and Dr. Eisnor deliberated on various aspects of chemical and radiation injuries prevention and preparedness.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences Faculty lead by Dr. Sanjeev Bhoi, Dr. Praveen Aggarwal, Dr. Surya Dube, Ms. Nirmal Thakur and Dr Niraj Kumar took the efforts to train physician teams and community leaders on surge capacity and on site emergency management via two separate intensive hands on training programs.

The Local team was lead by the Innovative Meta Leader Dr. ArunJamkar Honorable Vice Chancellor of the Maharshtra University of Health Sciences.

The host team was lead by Dr. Pradeep Barde, Dean Dr. Mrinal Patil and Maratha Vidyaprasarak Samaj Secretary Dr, Pawar.

Attended by over 1000 Delegates these was a highly successful training program which will lead
Dr. Sachdeva from the National Disaster Management Authority and Dr. Himanshu Chauhan and Dr Patil from NCDC Government of India also were National Trainers for this event.

INDUSEM Leaders Dr. Jayraj, Dr. Vohra and Dr. Baviskar were esteemed faculty who provided skills training to the trainees.

Minister of state for water resource and development Mr. Vijay Shivtare, who inaugurated the workshop, urged that the KumbhMela be conducted in a manner that respects nature. “The biggest challenge could be that of crowd management, as about a crore people are likely to converge in Nashik on a given day,” he said

As progress is made and Hind MahaKumbh nears intensive efforts will be launched to implement the training and management strategies.

About the Hind MahaKumbh

As per Wikipedia “KumbhMela (/kum kum mel?/ or /kum m?la?/) is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river. It is considered to be the largest peaceful gathering in the world where around 100 million people were expected to visit during the MahaKumbhMela in 2013 in Allahabad. It is held every third year at one of the four places by rotation: Haridwar, Allahabad (Prayaga), Nashik and Ujjain. Thus the KumbhMela is held at each of these four places every twelfth year. Ardha (“Half”) KumbhMela is held at only two places, Haridwar and Allahabad, every sixth year. The rivers at these four places are: the Ganges (Ganga) at Haridwar, the confluence (Sangam) of the Ganges and the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at Allahabad, the Godawari at Nashik, and the Shipra at Ujjain. The name KumbhMela comes from Hindi, and in the original Sanskrit and other Indian languages it is more often known as KumbhaMela. Kumbha means a pitcher and Mela means fair in Sanskrit. The pilgrimage is held for about one and a half months at each of these four places where it is believed in Hinduism that drops of nectar fell from the kumbha carried by gods after the sea was churned. Bathing in these rivers is thought to cleanse one of all sins. The festival is billed as the “world’s largest congregation of religious pilgrims”. There is no precise method of ascertaining the number of pilgrims, and the estimates of the number of pilgrims bathing on the most auspicious day may vary; approximately 80 million people attended on 14 February 2013.

Mauni Amavasya traditionally attracted the largest crowds at the mela, held here every 12 years. The current KumbhMela was held on 14 January 2013 at Allahabad. The day marked the second and the biggest ShahiSnanam (royal bath) of this event, with 13 akharas taking to the Sangam. 10 Feb 2013 was the biggest bathing day at the MahaKumbhMela and probably the largest human gathering on a single day. Over 30 million devotees and ascetics took holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya.

When Sun and Jupiter are in Leo during the Hindu month of Bhadraprada (August-September) the HIND MAHA KUMBH will be held in Nashik.