Expression of care

The seed was planted more than 50 years ago when Jawaharlal Nehru, the late Indian Prime Minister, said to Sir John Wilson, an advocate for the disabled: "You know sometime you ought to use a train, the Indian railways. It is most efficient and covers every village." The idea germinated years later when the Lifeline Express was created by The Impact India Foundation. This month the world's first hospital on a train celebrates its 10th birthday, geared to begin its 50th project after having successfully brought modern medical help, free of cost, to over 300,000 people in 15 states in India.

Carrying on the mission for the disabled, the express has travelled many miles. The facilities offered include restoration of movement, sight, hearing and cleft correction, including counselling and referral services. And as soon as the train moves forward, a follow up programme is conducted through arrangements made with the local authorities. Apart from bringing health awareness to the deprived residing in neglected rural areas, the train also conducts training of updated medical procedures.

It began when the United Nations decided that the best way to reach the goal of 'health for all' by the year 2000 was to get the citizens, corporate sector and the government to work hand in hand on mass health programmes. They called on large corporations in India who were keen on supporting the cause. The idea of a hospital on train was thus formulated. "It was amazing," says Zelma Lazarus, director of the project for Impact India Foundation. "We had absolutely nothing and everything came together. There were hundreds of people who wanted to come forward and help as the idea was considered to be very good."

The Indian Railways offered four old coaches, which had to be completely restored to include fully air-conditioned modern medical and surgical facilities, including a training centre. The foundation was then invited to begin the first project in Bihar. "At that time we didn't know what circumstances we would have to face," says Lazarus. She said they went into a remote area called Khalari assuming that there would be about 1,000 patients for the whole period of six weeks. "We stocked up on 2,000 so that we would have no problem as we had to drive for two hours to go to the nearest telephone. But we had about 3,000-5,000 people each day. It just goes to show that there is so much need."

The foundation fulfils its mission through other means as well. They have a mobile van service and have held various campaigns to make cities polio-free. They have also surpassed borders by having similar trains in China and Zimbabwe and a hospital river-boat in Bangladesh. "I remember there were three children born blind in a remote village and we went to great lengths to get them attended to," recounts Lazarus. "Today they can see but that is not the end of it. The foreign magazines picked up the story and they now have a lot of support for education and will be taken care of until they are old."

The foundation's future plans include adopting three majorly deprived districts with approximately two million people, and turning the areas into disability-reduced districts. At present the Lifeline Express is divided. Two coaches have been stationed at Anjar in Gujarat where the earthquake had taken place. The remaining four coaches are set to bring smiles to the people of Chhattisgarh in Madhya Pradesh. "There is such a lot to be done and what we do is just a little drop in the ocean," adds Lazarus. Indeed with statistics showing more than 90 million people in India being disabled, the journey hasn't even really begun.

To be a part of this unique drive, log on to www.impactfoundation.org

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