Poor and underserved urban communities of Mumbai will benefit from the mobile health services through “Smile on Wheels” under CSR of a leading insurance company. General Insurance Corporation Ltd (GIC) and the non-profit Smile Foundation have come together to cater to the health needs of at least four lac urban slum dwellers in the western suburban localities of Mumbai
The Project called “Smile on Wheels” was launched on May 20 by the senior management of General Insurance Corporation limited and Smile Foundation. The launch took place at Flora Fountain at Hutatma Chowk, Fort Mumbai.
As part of the initiative, GIC has provided four fully equipped medical vans, one of which will cater to select locations in western suburban Mumbai Bandra, Kalina, Santa Cruz, Goregaon, Malad, Andheri, while the rest will be be sent to West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand, Bilaspur Chhattisgarh and Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.
These medical vans will provide regular health check-ups, basic pathological tests and doctor consultation. As part of the mandate, the doctors and paramedics also hold awareness sessions in the community to sensitize the locals on health and hygiene issues.
“Healthcare is a priority in our country. We are extremely happy to partner with Smile Foundation to promote better health and hygiene in the community,” said Alice G Vaidyan, chairman-cum-managing director, General Insurance Corporation Ltd.
“We are extremely thankful to our partners here for supporting this cause. If health care needs of the poor are catered to, we automatically off-load the poor of major expenses and worries, thereby helping them allocate their resources to other critical needs like food and education,” said Santanu Mishra, executive trustee and co-founder, Smile Foundation.
“We already have 40 fully functional medical vans catering to the health care needs of poor communities in various state of India and hope to add at least 40 more in the coming two years,” he said.
Soon after the fagging off ceremony for all the four vehicles, the vans will be taken to respective locations of operation. It will operate on the hub and spoke model, where all operations will be controlled and routed of from the central office.
