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Football is widely played here, with inter-Line competitions

held annually. A garden team is fielded for the tournaments

held in nearby towns. Cricket has only just started gaining

popularity in the last few years.

The Doom Dooma Golf Club or Plateau Club, as it was

originally known, is a 6339 yards par 71 course situated on the

estate. It was designed and built by Dr D.P. Williams, who

also held the distinction of being the first Golf Captain here.

The club has a record of a hole-in-one being scored by one of

the caddies, using but a club made of bamboo and wood.

Records show that tournaments have been held here since

1922, with the President’s Cup still in the reckoning since that

time, this trophy being played for during the Captain’s Prize

Day. The Hopping Mad Cup Golf Tournament, since

discontinued, was another interesting game played here. The

rules required that a seasoned golfer be partnered with an

amateur player. The wayward shots of this poor greenhorn

literally resulted in the experienced player getting ‘hopping

mad’! This scenic course is maintained by all the member

gardens of Doom Dooma Planters’ Club.

The hospital is an impressive hexagonal shaped structure built

under the supervision of a Chinese contractor around 1950.

This unique shape is evident as one enters the building and

finds a lush lawn with lovely old trees, shrubs, beds of flowers

and small pathways tucked away in the central area, with each

wing of the hospital opening out onto it. A Birth Register

dating back to 1938 has been carefully preserved.

The fruit garden adjoining the hospital provides fresh seasonal

fruit for patients as well as for the children of the estate.

Samdang has a total

of three dispensaries

along with the main

hospital. A number of

welfare schemes for

the benefit of the

workers have been

undertaken over the

years by the resident doctor and his able team. A large

number of cataract cases have been operated upon under the

MRIL Vision Project. Health camps on family planning,

hygiene, sanitation, malaria, etc are held from time to time.

The Mothers’ Club comprising around 20 members plays an

important role in convincing the workers on preventive

measures to be taken against illnesses such as malaria,

diarrhoea, dysentery, tuberculosis and Japanese encephalitis

as well as the ill effects of alcohol and tobacco products.

Samdang had been declared by the Ministry of Health &

Family Welfare, New Delhi, as a highly malaria resistant area

after two severe outbreaks of this illness. To counteract this,

an entirely new regimen of treatment was formulated and this

was found to be very effective in treating such patients. Anti-

malarial spraying is carried out each year and mosquito nets

impregnated with repellent are distributed among the

workers. All these measures have brought down the incidence

of malaria cases drastically, with zero mortality rates.

Laparoscopic sterilization camps have been widely attended,

with around 320 women undergoing this operation between

the years 2007 – 2011. In 2013, a total of 97 women accepted

IUCD ( Copper T) in a camp held for the first time with

government liaisoning.

Dipen Tanti, suffering from Fallot’s

Tetralogy (four defects in the heart)

since birth, was referred to Narayana

Hrudulaya Hospital in Bangalore, in

2011, for an operation to correct this

defect under the Government of

Assam’s Free Congenital Heart

Disease Treatment Scheme. The

operation was successful and this youngster is leading a normal

life now.This was the first such case in Doom Dooma circle.

There are around 12 ‘ASHA’ members who help in the

routine immunization of children and taking care of pregnant

women. Health check-ups are done in March, June and

September for the factory workers and staff each year.

First Aid training has

been given to factory

workers as well. A

periodic health check-

up for all chemical

handlers in the field is

done thrice a year.The

Medical Officer visits the garden schools and gives talks on

the various aspects of health and hygiene.

Since April 2014, the hospital has started complying with

various instructions of Rainforest Alliance especially on bio-

medical waste segregation and its safe disposal. Samdang

hospital was presented with the prestigious Best Hospital

Award in the South Bank for the year 2009-2010.

Samdang T.E. has been the proud recipient of the Company’s

Quality Award twice – in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 and the

Best Performance Award – Doom Dooma district in 2011-

2012. It is this tremendous commitment to excellence that has

catapulted this garden to an outstanding performance each

year.

JANUARY 2015 39

38 JANUARY 2015

The Team – Seated (L to R):

S. B. Singha, S. Deka (Superintendent),

Dr A.Tamuli, P. Tirkey

Standing (L to R): S. Yadav, S. Sah,

R. Gogoi, V. Singh