BARBICAN DENTAL CARE GETS ON BOARD WITH IMPACT INDIA

As part of our campaign to ensure that people in the most remote parts of India will receive dental healthcare, we at Barbican Dental Care have teamed up with IMPACT INDIA FOUNDATION to provide essential equipment for the charity’s Lifeline Express.

The Lifeline Express is the world’s first hospital train.  To date over 500,000 patients, living in the remote rural interiors of India where medical facilities are scarce, have been treated.  Last year Impact introduced dental services as a trial measure on the Lifeline Express at Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh State. Patients received free treatment for scaling, fillings, extractions and minor surgeries and biopsies of a few patients were taken for diagnosis.  This trial project showed that there was an urgent need for dental healthcare and so we have donated funds to cover the costs of items such as a hydraulic chair, an oil-free compressor, a scaler with hand piece and other essential equipment.

Neil Sikka says, “In the west we are lucky to have access to affordable and professional dental care. However, in the farthest reaches of remote India it is beyond a luxury, with many not being able to receive treatment, even if they could afford it. As a result, people there live with the debilitating pain of toothache day in, day out. By teaming up with Impact, I am confident we will be able to provide dental care to those who need it and give them a reason to smile”.

In 2007, Neil opened a state-of-the-art dental surgery in his native India, to provide dental healthcare to the homeless and disadvantaged of Gwalior - one of the poorest and most deprived parts of the country.  In 2008 Neil teamed up with registered charity Dentaid, to provide essential portable dental equipment so that rural Cambodian communities around Kampong Cham can have access to professional dental health clinics.

For further information on Impact India, visit www.impactindia.org.