Doctors Hit the Rails to Plug Medical Gaps - Russia

Russia using a medical train to reach residents, many in rural areas..and the set up is complete with telemedicine to reach specialists, and other hospital based MDs...BD

There is a line to board the train at Yemtsa, an isolated village in the far north, and a crowd of people stand in the thick mud below the door. Once inside, instead of putting on slippers they pull on blue plastic footwear covers that medical institutes make visitors wear. Instead of the aroma that a train packed with people exudes, there is that familiar hospital smell of antiseptic. The Nikolai Pirogov, a medical train run by Russian Railways, or RZD, was only in Yemtsa, a 19-hour train ride from Moscow, for 24 hours in October, but for many of the villagers it is a lifeline to a different medical world.

The medical train is there to fill a gap in villages and remote train stations that once had their own medical infrastructure.

The train is equipped with telemedicine capabilities so it can connect via satellite with doctors in the country's top hospitals to discuss and diagnose patients and decide whether to hospitalize a patient.