The Lifeline Express, also known as the Jeevan Rekha Express, has reportedly arrived at the Barmer Railway station to offer free-of-cost medical aid to the disabled and rural poor. The services are going to be inaugurated on Sep 26 and will continue till October 16.
This hospital-on-train aims at treating patients residing in rural areas, where medical facilities are not quite accessible. The train was launched in 1991 post an agreement between a Mumbai-based NGO named Impact India Foundation (IIF) and the Indian railway ministry.
Registered as the world’s first hospital train in the Limca Book of Records, the vehicle has been developed to diagnose and treat patients with disabilities. In Barmer, the train will be treating cancer patients and those suffering from dental, cleft lip, epilepsy, and hearing difficulties.
As per the officials, the treatment will be given to 3500 patients identified under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) hailing from Barmer, Pokhran, Balotara, Phalodi, and other parts of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur.
As far as the cancer patients are concerned, the screening of oral, breast, and cervical cancer will be carried out from September 28 to October 10, while the surgeries will be done on October 7 and 8. After serving the patients in Barmer, the train will head to West Bengal.
In 26 years of its inception, the hospital train has covered 20 states and 184 districts, performing over 1.30 Lakh surgeries and more than 10 Lakh people have been treated in the out-patient department.
