Lifeline Express

Health India Railways

May 12, 2009

A commemorative postage stamp on the Jeevan Rekha Express, a hospital train, a collaboration between Impact India Foundation (IIF), Indian Railways (IR) and Ministry of Health :

Issued by India

Issued on May 12, 2009

Issued for : Department of Posts is happy to issue a commemorative postage stamp on Life Line Express.

Credits :
Stamp & FDC : Kamleshwar Singh
Cancellation : Alka Sharma

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Multi colour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Stamps Printed : 0.4 Million

Printing Process : Wet–offset

Printer : Security Printing Press, Hyderabad

About :

The Life Line Express, in partnership with Indian Railways, is the world’s first hospital on rails. The Life Line Express, one of the projects of Impact India Federation it comprises two operation theatres, post-operative recovery rooms, laboratory, X-ray facilities, an auditorium for workshops equipped with a TV and LCD projection facilities including a CCTV set-up connected to cameras in the main operation theatre, generators and other ancillary requirements. The coach with the second operation theatre can be detached from the rake and used as a stand-alone operation theatre. This feature is of prime importance for use in disaster management.
The main function of the Life Line Express is to provide medical and surgical treatment to the disabled in rural and tribal areas.
Each Life Line Express train project lasts for about 4 weeks in one location, but the work starts many weeks before the train arrives. Using Government’s health machinery, the message of free surgeries in conveyed to an average of one million people. Volunteers from villages are used to spread the message. State-run primary health centres screen around 25,000 people and select patients eligible for surgeries. Nearly 6,000 people are diagnosed on the train; local volunteers play a big role in getting patients to come to the train, and in running the over-all operation of boarding, lodging of the patients and their escorts.
Between the two operation theatres there are five operating tables, where surgeries of a similar type are conducted simultaneously.
The innovativeness of the Life Line Express project lies in the fact that “Impact India Foundation” has taken advantage of 75,000 kms of railway track.
The train has completed 93 five-week, sponsored projects having medically served 450,000 persons in the remote, rural interiors of India where medical facilities are scarce all given totally free of cost with the ‘donated’ services of 75,000 surgeons and medical personnel from all over India and abroad, together with a large number of volunteers from India and abroad. The number of surgeries conducted are approximately 70,000.
By making available quality surgical facilities of the Life Line Express to the poorest of the poor in the country; it raises the image of medical services for the rural poor.
Text : As per the material provided by the proponent.