KalingaTimes Correspondent
Bhubaneswar , Nov 2: Tata Steel will be hosting the Lifeline Express in next month in the mining town of Joda situated in Keonjhar district of Orissa.

To be stationed at Joda Railway Station, Lifeline Express, the hospital on rails, will start its operations from December 15 and continue till January 5 next year.

It will be equipped with a modern operation theatre that will offer diagnostic, medical and surgical treatment for prevention and curative interventions for the handicapped.

Tata Steel has sponsored Lifeline Express 10 times so far. Prior to this, the company had hosted Lifeline Express four times in Orissa at Gopalpur, Daitari, Jajpur Road and Meramundali. More than 75,000 patients had benefited from the Lifeline Express initiative of Tata Steel.

Lifeline Express in India provides medical services to the rural populace in interior areas that had railway connectivity.

Lifeline Express is an international initiative, which began in 1981 in England to prevent and cure avoidable disablement. Two years later, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO and the government of the participating countries formalised this movement to create for a better impact.

India was chosen as a site for the global launch of this unique initiative as the country had the capacity to tackle disability prevention and had, in fact, developed a number of low-cost technologies that were useful in preventing disabilities.

With technical and managerial support from Voltas, a leading company of Tata Group; Impact India was set up in 1983. Eight years later, with the Indian Railways and Voltas playing a major role, this unique model was launched.

Thus began a journey to improve the lives of those afflicted with post-polio deformities, hearing disorders and eye problems. Having completed a decade of service to the nation, a fourth discipline has been added, corrective surgery for cleft lip and minor burn contractures.

Indian Railways, Impact India , Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Government of Orissa and Tata Steel are jointly hosting this hospital at Joda.