IRCTC Lifeline Express: 5 Points About Indian Railways Hospital On Wheels (Images Here)

Lifeline Express also has two additional coaches for cancer and family health.

The Indian Railways-operated 'Lifeline Express' provides crucial medical services in rural India. According to a report in news agency Reuters, Lifeline Express is a seven coach Indian Railways train which has till date treated about 1.2 million people. Lifeline Express is a train converted into a rolling hospital that has crisscrossed India for years and is treating people living in areas with scarce healthcare. It was launched in 1991 by the non-profit 'Impact India Foundation', said the report. It is also called as 'hospital on wheels'. (Also read: Indian Railways Mega Recruitment Drive)

(Patients cover their eyes as they wait before their cataract surgery on the Lifeline Express.)

Here are 5 things to know about Indian Railways-operated 'Lifeline Express':

1. The 'Lifeline Express' train is formed of specially-designed air-conditioned coaches. The train has two surgical operation theatres with three plus two operating tables, a sterilization area, two recovery rooms for patients, on-board power generators, a pantry car, storage for medical supplies, and accommodation for medical staff.

(Doctors perform middle ear surgery inside an operating theatre on the Lifeline Express.)

2. According to the official website of Impact India Foundation, Indian Railways' Lifeline Express provides a number of medical services including cataract surgery, plastic surgical correction of cleft lip and post burn contractures, counselling and referral services, immunisations and other preventive measures, nutritional assessment and services, among others.

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3. The train visits different parts of the country, usually rural areas with insufficient health care facilities, or areas hit by natural disasters, etc., and stays in each place for 21 to 25 days while medical care (routine as well as major surgery) is provided to the local people.