Piramal Swasthya, the healthcare philanthropic arm of Piramal Foundation and MUFG Bank have launched ‘SAMARTH’ (Mobile Health Services initiative in Maharashtra). The initiative aims to enable better public health care delivery through mobile medical units (MMUs) to nearly two million residents of 96 urban slums of Mumbai and Pune. The key objective of this initiative is to address key healthcare requirements such as Mother and Child Health (MCH) and Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) management to ensure continuous access to critical health services.

Children, as well as adults, would be the key beneficiaries of the programme where services like technology-enabled specialist consultations, laboratory examinations and medicines will be provided free of cost through MMUs. In addition to this, ‘SAMARTH’ will provide support in COVID-19 pandemic management through awareness generation, tracking, active surveillance and follow up at quarantine facilities. MMUs in project SAMARTH are equipped with a telemedicine facility. 

The MMUs will use Piramal Swasthya’s integrated health records platform, ‘AMRIT - Accessible Medical Records via Integrated Technologies’. MMUs will also be supported with the population-based screening of NCD patients which includes diabetes and hypertension.

Aditya Natraj, CEO, Piramal Foundation said, “We are happy to collaborate with MUFG in their endeavour to serve the communities that live in tough conditions in the slums of Mumbai and Pune. The pandemic has disrupted healthcare services and they are highly affected. I believe that mobile health services will be an asset during these tough times. Through SAMARTH we hope to walk one step closer to the vision of Universal Health Coverage for all.”

Atsushi Deguchi, Regional Executive for India & Sri Lanka, MUFG Bank, said “COVID has left a deep impact on the lives of countless people across the globe. MUFG is doing its best to provide relief and comfort to communities affected during the pandemic. We are happy to collaborate with Piramal Swasthya in their efforts to build healthier communities by providing preventive healthcare facilities”.