ANISHA FRANCIS

March 8: A ‘hospital on wheels' has been taking medical care and 'wellness education’ to the doorsteps of villagers in the state. The mobile hospital, organised by the Smile Foundation, caters to villagers who are either too ill or ignorant to travel to a PHC for med¬ical attention.

“Diabetes is on the rise among the rural population, and most of them are unaware of it as they have never had a blood sugar test. We also keep a look out for congenital heart defects in young children, as they need to be treated at the soonest,” said Dr J.S. Rajkumar, director of the Lifeli¬ne Multi-speciality Hospital that oper¬ation the hospital, through the Smile Foundation. A team of doctors from the hospital makes two field trips a week to villages around Chennai. In one section of the van, patients can get consultation, medical check-ups, treatment and immunisation.

In the front half, educative videos on breast-feeding, nutrition and sanitation are screened. While patients are not charged for any of the services, the hospital depends on support from NGOs to run the mobile hospital.

The hospital on wheels even has an operation theatre and a diagnostic lab¬oratory, equipped with an ECG and X-ray machine.

“We wanted to perform minor, day-care surgeries in the van, to save underprivileged villagers the trouble of travelling to a hospital for, say, her¬nia or hydrocoel operations. However, we have not received a green signal from the government that is under¬standably wary after villagers lost their eyesight at a free cataract surgery camp recently,” said Dr.Rajkumar.