Mobile Medical Screening Clinic in India

摘要

Over a few years' time, the mobile medical screening clinic in Pojewal, a rural village in northern India approximately 3 hours' drive from Chandigarh, has expanded to serve more than 4000 people a year (see Figure l). The success of the Pojewal clinic is a testament to the dedication of those who run it but also to the visionaries who started its parent project, Asha Jyoti, which made it possible. Asha jyoti means light of hope in Hindi and Punjabi. RAD-AID's Asha Jyoti project was established in 2012 to address the health care needs of women living in the rural communities of northern India. This care includes screening and follow-up care for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and osteoporosis, and referrals to a public hospital for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care for those patients who need it. In addition, the project has a breast imaging education exchange between the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER, a tertiary hospital in Chandigarh) and the United States, which allows collaboration among program radiologists, technologists, and nurses. RAD-AID received funding from Philips Healthcare and partnered with PGIMER to create the Asha Jyoti project. Dr N Khandelwal, head of the PGIMER Department of Radiodiagnosis, along with Yatinder Chand, the main patron of the clinic who oversees several of the villages, also were instrumental in making the mobile clinic a reality.