Every year, over a period of 16 days during the Esela Festival, thousands of pilgrims from around the tiny island of Sri Lanka visit the holy land of Lord Muruga (Skantha) in Katharagama (also known as Kadhirgamam) on the South-East side of the country. Many devout families and communities undertake this journey on foot as a form of intense Sadhana (spiritual practice.), walking distances as great as 400 kilometers (250 miles) to reach the holy land.
Many of the pilgrims are found to develop cases of food poisoning, physical ailments, dry coughs, asthma attacks, and migraines - the main reason being the extreme weather conditions under which they undertake the pilgrimage. Once they arrive at the temple premises, they camp under the shades of trees and bathe in the local river known as Manik Ganga (or Manik River) for the duration of the festival.
Since the year 2010, the SSIO of Sri Lanka has conducted a medical camp every year during the final seven days of the festival to serve these pilgrims. This project is organised jointly by the Coordinating Committee of the Western and Southern Region, along with the Sathya Centre of Colombo, and is supported by a team on average of 6 doctors, 3 paramedics and 5 volunteers reporting to duty each day. Pilgrims that showed symptoms that couldn't be treated with the facilities available at the camp were referred to the closest national hospital in the area.
This year the medical team strived to serve as many as 350 patients on a given day, with a total of 1,904 pilgrims having received treatment for their ailments by the end of the festival.
