World's First Hospital Train Brings Hope to Indian Villages; See Pics

A look at the Lifeline Express, a seven-coach train converted into a rolling hospital which has crisscrossed India for 27 years to treat people living in areas with scarce healthcare.

A patient walks past the Lifeline Express, a hospital built inside a seven-coach train, parked at a railway station in Jalore. (Image: Reuters)

Doctors perform middle ear surgery inside an operating theatre on the Lifeline Express, a hospital built inside a seven-coach train, at a railway station in Jalore. (Image: Reuters)

Patients and their relatives wait before the start of a cataract surgery on the Lifeline Express, a hospital built inside a seven-coach train, at a railway station in Jalore. (Image: Reuters)

Patients cover their eyes as they wait before their cataract surgery on the Lifeline Express, a hospital built inside a seven-coach train, at a railway station in Jalore, India. The Lifeline Express, a seven-coach train converted into a rolling hospital has crisscrossed India for 27 years to treat people living in areas with scarce healthcare. (Image: Reuters)

Movan, 77, is helped by a nurse after her cataract surgery on the Lifeline Express. "I am never going to forget the name of this train, never in my life," Movan said. (Image: Reuters)

A pharmacist sits behind a medicine distribution counter inside a government Primary Health Centre in a village in Jalore. (Image: Reuters)

Patients rest inside a recovery room after their middle ear surgery on the Lifeline Express, a hospital built inside a seven-coach train, at a railway station in Jalore. (Image: Reuters)

Dharmendra Singh, an ophthalmologist, speaks on his phone as he rests after conducting cataract surgery, on the Lifeline Express, a hospital built inside a seven-coach train, at a railway station in Jalore. (Image: Reuters)

Sanjay, 28, a staff cook, makes lunch on the Lifeline Express, a hospital built inside a seven-coach train, at a railway station in Jalore. (Image: Reuters)

Bhawri Devi, 41, rests on the floor of her house after her middle ear surgery on the Lifeline Express. "I was thinking that I had cancer in my brain. I had all kinds of thoughts. I went to the government district hospital, but there was no ENT surgeon. When I went to a private hospital they asked me for 50,000 rupees. I didn't even have 5,000 rupees," said Devi. "I heard about this train a month back. It took me about 12 hours to reach the hospital from my village... I am glad that I will be able to hear my grandchildren's voice... I won't go deaf." (Image: Reuters)

Bhawri Devi (L), 41, watches as her husband and son push an auto-rickshaw which got stuck in the sand on the way home, in a village in Jalore. "I was thinking that I had cancer in my brain. I had all kinds of thoughts. I went to the government district hospital, but there was no ENT surgeon. When I went to a private hospital they asked me for 50,000 rupees. I didn't even have 5,000 rupees," said Devi. "I heard about this train a month back. It took me about 12 hours to reach the hospital from my village... I am glad that I will be able to hear my grandchildren's voice... I won't go deaf." (Image: Reuters)