BHEL’s CSR initiative on health through ‘Lifeline Express’ – providing
healthcare services for the poor and needy people of Bundelkhand
BHEL has undertaken yet another noble CSR initiative on health by engaging the services of ‘Lifeline Express’ train, the ‘world’s first hospital on wheels’, to provide free medical treatment to the most needy and poor people of Bundelkhand region. Appropriate / adequate medical facilities is the crying need of these under-privileged people, who constitute around 80% of the local population. These people shall be provided with medical treatment for their problems related to orthopaedic, neurological (epilepsy), cleft lips, ear, cataract, post-burn contracture release, dental disorders besides corrective polio surgeries for children below 14 years of age – medical treatment which they are unable to afford on their own.
At a function held at Jhansi Railway Station, the ‘Lifeline Express’ was inaugurated by Shri Pradeep Jain ‘Aditya’, Hon’ble Minister of State for Rural Development, Govt. of India in the august presence of a host of dignitaries/senior officials from BHEL and the state/district administration including Shri A.K. Dave, Executive Director, BHEL-Jhansi, Commissioner of Jhansi Division, DRM (North-Central Railways – Jhansi), District Magistrate (Jhansi) besides the CEO of Lifeline Express and his team of medical professionals. Banners, hoardings, posters, handbills and other communication tools have been pressed into service by BHEL to reach out to the people from the remotest corners of Bundelkhand so that they are motivated / encouraged to reach Jhansi Railway station to avail this free medical facility which is at par with the facilities available in any good hospital of the country.
The Lifeline Express train is a full-fledged hospital on wheels consisting of 05 coaches with all kinds of hospital equipments including 02 operation theatres (OTs) and 05 operation tables fitted with a CCTV camera, supporting equipments like generators, sterilizer rooms and medicine store rooms. The camera is attached to a state-of-the-art microscope which will relay the operation proceedings from the OTs on an LCD TV for viewing by doctors/medical specialists seated in the train’s auditorium (which has a seating capacity for 40 persons) in order to upgrade their knowledge about the latest techniques of surgery.
BHEL’s Jhansi Unit (the unit aligned to carry forward this noble intiative) has entered into an agreement with M/s Impact India Foundation (a renowned NGO, duly acknowledged by the Govt. of India to actively support various national health programmes) to engage their ‘Lifeline Express’ train to cater to the health needs of the poor people of Bundelkhand region. So far, the train has completed 135 such engagements having provided medical relief/succour to more than 7 lakh under-privileged people across the country.
