Smile Foundation Health Program
Poor people often avoid visiting doctors in public health care systems. A round trip to a government hospital often takes long time resulting in the loss of a day’s work. Moreover, poor illiterate people often find the process of filling forms and making hospital cards to be too intimidating. Many poor families have reported unavailability of medicine in public hospitals, and purchasing medicines from a pharmacist is an expensive affair. It is for the above reasons that poor families often avoid visiting doctors for simple ailments unless necessary. When needed they often seek medical advice from a pharmacist or non-registered medical practitioners? I travelled with the Smile on Wheel Mobile Clinic to document how free medical advice and medicines make a positive impact in the lives of poor vulnerable families especially during the covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns. Lockdown has limited the movement of public transport and has resulted in loss of livelihood for many poor household. During this pandemic many public hospitals are converted to Covid-19 care unit resulting in limited access to health care staff and services. The Smile on Wheels Mobile Clinic of Smile Foundation NGO has provided a great service to the poor vulnerable household during this pandemic.
