16 May 2006 — Amritapuri
Today Amma blessed AIMS Hospital’s new “mobile medical unit.” The unit will bring the state-of-the-art medical care of AIMS to rural areas via its satellite. Dr. Prem Nair, the Medical Director of AIMS, and Dr. Kumar Menon, a doctor working out of the unit, gave Amma a quick tour of the unit’s facilities. Amma then requested that all the ashramites chant Om lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu as she performed the arati.
The unit, which is as large as a city bus, contains facilities for X-ray and ECG, as well as a pathology and bio-chemistry lab.
Direct Relief International (a US-based NGO) has supported in setting up of this van while Indian Space Reasearch Organisation (ISRO) provides the satellite-technology and connectivity.
AIMS doctors have already used the vehicle for a three-week-long medical camp in Karaikudy, Tamil Nadu. It will soon be used to tend to residents of the tsunami-affected areas of Kerala and the tribal areas of Palakkad, Wayanad and Idukki on a weekly basis.
–Tulasi