Five-year-old Rani lives with her family of six in Sukhraili Village, Gurugram. Her mother is the sole bread winner in the family and works in a private company in Gurugram.

During the pandemic, Rani suffered a serious injury on her right foot and was unable to walk properly. However, due to financial constraints she wasn’t able to go to the hospital or consult a doctor.

In the meanwhile, her family came to know about Smile on Wheels, a mobile hospital service provided by Smile Foundation to provide healthcare services to the under-privileged in rural areas and urban slums of India and decided to consult our doctors.

The team of Smile on Wheels van supported by Ericsson examined her properly and started immediate treatment. Due to quick action and adequate measures by the doctors, Rani’s injury started healing.

Rani and her family are happy and grateful that she’s finally able to walk on her own.

Five year old Yash lives with his family in the JJ Colony of Noida’s Sector 9. His father Sispal is a mechanic by profession and earns just enough to sustain their family.

Yash was diagnosed with burns last year. He wasn’t keeping well for a long time and needed urgent medical attention in the middle of the pandemic. Due to financial constraints, his family could not take him to a private hospital. Meanwhile government hospitals were full because of COVID patients.

During a regular visit of the Smile on Wheels van supported by Ericsson in his area, Yash visited the MMU and was diagnosed with burns. Smile on Wheels is a mobile hospital service provided by Smile Foundation to provide healthcare services to the under-privileged in rural areas and urban slums of India.

The doctors at Smile on Wheels prescribed proper medication to him and counseled his parents on how to take care of him. Due to correct treatment and care from his family, his condition started improving.

Yash and his family are grateful to Smile on Wheels team for saving his life during the pandemic.

“I feel terribly lonely all the time. When I go somewhere, people look at me as if they are looking at a thief. After a whole day of begging, I barely earn around 100 rupees and I feed myself. I see hatred for me in people’s eyes. I don’t have a home; and living in the street feels like a crime. Yesterday, some men in uniform asked me to open my bag and show what I was carrying. I told them I am a poor old woman and I haven’t stolen anything from anybody. They flung my bag in the middle of the street, and my husband’s clothes fell on the ground. My husband died six years ago, and I have a few clothes of him as his last and only memory. I live with them and I talk to them. I felt humiliated as I picked those clothes and put them back into my bag.

Today, when I woke up in the morning on a roadside, I saw a young lady sitting close to me. She asked me if I wanted to have some food. I got very afraid. Nobody has talked like that with me for so many years. She held my hand and took me to a bus where many poor people like me were being offered free healthcare and medicines. The girl offered me food from her tiffin, and then she took me to the doctor for my check up. I felt so different. I felt so loved by these young children, who promised to visit me every week. I was unable to thank her when she was handing me medicines, because I was speechless in gratitude. Tears rolled down my eyes and I wanted to hide that from her. I am going to share all of these with my husband and tell him that I have a new family now. I am sure; wherever his soul is – he will feel very happy about me.”