mumbai

Updated: Jul 11, 2017 09:02 IST

After treating more than 12,000 patients from Central Railway for Re1 each, Dr Rahul Ghule’s clinic will soon attend to over five lakh commuters of the Mumbai Metro from August 15.

Five Mumbai Metro stations will get clinics and pharmacies, which will give a 15% rebate on medicines. Dr Ghule said that Mumbai Metro officials had approached him to set up a clinic at Ghatkopar, Andheri, Marol, Sakinaka and DN Nagar stations. The clinics will start when the Mumbai Metro is functional.

“Metro officials said they wanted to ensure that the passengers get immediate medical help in case of an emergency. They want to ensure the injured don’t remain unattended for long,” said Dr Ghule.

Read: This doctor’s clinic at a Mumbai railway station charges Re1 as fee, treats hundreds in 48 hours

If talks with state government and private medical care facilitators go as planned, the network is also supposed to reach out to every bus stand across all districts.

These clinics are functional at Dadar, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Mankhurd and Wadala stations on the Central Railway’s suburban line. They started on May 20 and have treated 12,555 patients so far. “Every day we deal with eight to 10 emergencies , which need investigations such as MRIs and X-Rays. Around 50 to 60 patients undergo treatment and blood tests for general diagnosis,” Dr Ghule said.

Accident victims at railway stations prefer these clinics to the medical attendants of Emergency 108 Ambulances at stations.

“I was surprised when I was asked to pay Rs 1 after suffering a heat injury that needed six stitches,” said 30-year-old Atul Autade from Gujarat. He met with an accident at Dadar station.

Dr Ghule said the clinics, equipped with two doctors and three attendants, ran round-the-clock and could tacle emergencies.

“Due to space crunch, we can’t admit patients for long, but perform minor surgeries, carry out diagnostic tests — both radiological and pathological — and offer complete paramedic support,” he added.

Bhavani Kumar, 60, from Ghatkopar said, “The doctors and staff are very cooperative. It’s very convenient as we get everything under one roof and it costs nothing.”

Dr Ghule wants to extend the service at every bus stand across 40 districts. He said that they had recently started a clinic at Vashi and two more would come up at Thane and Mankhurd stations this month.

“People travel and they meet with accidents. We will make sure that they have access to inexpensive medical aid,” said Dr Ghule.