Togadia asks youths to volunteer as 'health ambassadors'

VHP chief Pravin Togadia today called upon youths to be "health ambassadors" and support 'India Health Line' - a network of doctors for providing free medical care to the needy.
The initiative was launched by Togadia last year in Delhi, Pune, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Rajasthan and Kolkata for facilitating a connect between the poor patients with medical fraternity.
"We had started the India Health Line as a national call center to attend to patients' calls who, after seeing a general practitioner, want to consult a specialist for further advice and necessary treatment," Togadia said at a training camp here.
"We are now expanding it to medical check up camps in various areas to ensure early diagnosis of diseases such as blood pressure, anemia, diabetes and obesity and we need educated men and women to come forward to work with us as Health Ambassadors," he said.

Togadia, himself a cancer surgeon, informed that the services sought by the health ambassadors are voluntary and the services offered to general public are free of cost.
"Those who volunteer for the service are being provided formal training by a panel of doctors. They are also being provided with equipments such as glucometer, blood pressure machine to facilitate the medical check ups," he said.

"To make sure the service reaches the entire population of the country we are targeting to build a workforce of at least one lakh health ambassadors across the country. Each of them will be expected to dedicate one Sunday every month for the medical check ups and they will be allocated various areas," the VHP leader said

Togadia said those belonging to economically backward classes can reach out to them if they are unable to afford treatment at private hospitals and they will be provided assistance.
"Also, we will run a lifestyle correction programme to educate people about prevention and cure of lifestyle related disorders," he added.