February 10, 2016
Solidarity outreach extends to India
In the Indian province of Rajasthan, the public hospital of the city of Khimsar serves more than 150,000 people from 50 villages in the region. But it is staffed by only four doctors and the infrastructure is inadequate. AXA Solimed is behind an outreach program that will provide the hospital with better adapted equipment and expert advice.
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Just four doctors. Four doctors for a population of 150,000 men, women and children living in a region where they must travel more than two hours by road to reach the closest large hospital. Given the lack of medical infrastructure and equipment in the area, this situation could become deeply problematic.
AXA Solimed was launched in 2011 by AXA Assistance to bring technical and organizational support to hospitals in need of resources and medical equipment. The initiative consists in collecting medical equipment from European hospitals that is unused or has been replaced, refurbishing it and sending it to healthcare facilities in need, while also providing guidance in installing the equipment and teaching local healthcare staff to use it effectively.
On Wednesday, February 10, 2016, AXA Solimed is inaugurating the installation of new medical equipment at the Khimsar public hospital in India. The material, which was collected in the United Kingdom, includes an X-ray machine, an ultrasound machine, an ECG machine, a cardiac monitor, an incubator and an ambulance. A nurse from AXA Assistance will support local staff with the installation of the equipment and train them to operate it.
AXA Solimed: solidarity in action since 2011
The first AXA Solimed project was carried out in Dakar, Senegal, with the Albert Royer Children’s Hospital—the only pediatric facility in a country where half of the population is under the age of 16. Through AXA Solimed, 150 cubic meters of medical equipment from the Paris region’s public hospital network (AP-HP) has been collected and put to use. The hospital is currently in the process of installing its third shipment of pediatric equipment.
AXA Solimed projects also made it possible to equip a rural maternity ward in the Ivory Coast in 2013 and the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. This latest initiative was carried out thanks to fundraisers run by AXA Hearts in Action volunteers.
