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Wednesday 4 May 2011

The Railway Children (Curing Clef Pallet In India)

(Image Wiki)

Mandsaur railway station is one of the places visited by the Lifeline Express (also known as The Train of Hope). It is no ordinary passenger train but a fully functioning hospital train bringing hope to millions of people in India’s out of the way areas.
Many people form rural parts of India have poor access to hospitals and are not in a position to afford healthcare living on as little as $2 per day.
The problems faced by officials was not lack of facilities nor qualified professionals but the difficulty gaining access to the people who need it most. Babies born with a clef pallet were left untreated and often hidden away by their families.
You may cringe to look back at the days of the Raj, I do! but one thing we cannot deny is that India gained a superb railway network. The railway network is the largest in the world with 63,500km of track. With this in mind Indian officials looked at ways of using the railway to benefit the poorest people. There was the potential for transporting and administering medication and even performing operations on board. India rail willingly donated both carriages and workforce to the project. The charity Impact India donated funds to pay for medical treatment for those who would have otherwise gone without. Impact India supplied a medical workforce along with equipment.
1991 saw the major success of the Lifeline Express when two trains set to work. Today there are four trains in service carrying state of the art equipment such as X-Ray machines, anaesthetic equipment and defibrillators. The train’s operating theatres are staffed by some of the best doctors and specialist nurses.
The trains have accommodation for staff including air conditioned rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and there are patient waiting areas. Each train offers specific medical treatment for example orthodontics which cures the clef pallet. There are also vaccination programs and counselling services.
Teams are able to perform as many as twenty five operations per day with a full after care service available. Trains park at various stations up and down the country for two week periods. Hospital trains also operate in China and Zimbabwe.
The Lifeline Express has been honoured with a postage stamp, pictured above.

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