The Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Sri Arjun Munda formally inaugurated the Lifeline Express, world’s first hospital on rails, supported by Tata Steel, at Sini Railway Station today. A unique initiative in providing health care in remote rural areas, Tata Steel has collaborated once again with the Government of Jharkhand, Indian Railways and Impact India Foundation to provide basic health facilities to the people living in the area around Sini Railway Station in Seraikela-Kharswan district in the state of Jharkhand.

Speaking on the occasion, Sri Arjun Munda, Hon’ble Chief Minister said that the Lifeline Express has been brought to this region by Tata Steel which was an expression of commitment of improving the quality of health of the people of the state. He said that the people of the state were its biggest asset and therefore improving the standard of health in the state was a necessity for the prosperity and progress of Jharkhand. He stressed that there was a need to encourage the corporate houses, like Tata Steel, who were contributing in the development of health infrastructure in the state.

Mr B Muthuraman, MD, Tata Steel said that industrial corporations have a social responsibility and Tata Steel has been working in this direction for nearly hundred years. He was of the view that since India is a developing economy and 70% of its population lived in rural areas with inadequate health services, corporate houses must share the responsibility, with the government, of developing health care infrastructure.

Lifeline Express offers on the spot diagnostic, medical and surgical interventions to the disabled free of cost. It epitomizes an international initiative, which began in 1981 in England to prevent and cure avoidable disablement. In 1991, Tata Steel got involved with Lifeline Express movement in India and took the mobile hospital to the most remote corners of our country. Patients with operable Orthopedic (Post polio deformities) disabilities, hearing related disorders, cleft lip and eye related operable disabilities would be given corrective surgeries and appropriate aids and appliances under this programme.

This is the tenth such initiative by Tata Steel. It has hosted this hospital at places like Chainpur, Jamadoba, Noamundi, Bamnipal, Gopalpur, Ghatsila, Jassidih, Bheltand and Jajpur in the past and this would be the 6 th Lifeline Express in Jharkhand. About 400,000 people have been benefited so far from these initiatives.

Tata Steel has since its inception believed that the ‘community’ is the purpose of an enterprise. Tata Steel, over the nearly-century old-partnership with the State, has set sustainability standards that do not have a match in the world. The growth of the steel plant in terms of technology and profitability over the years has always been matched by sustainable corporate welfare measures designed to "improve the quality of life" of the communities it serves. It has been conducting various community welfare programmes in the state of Jharkhand as well as all over the country. It has set benchmarks in corporate social responsibility and corporate governance.

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