DTMT Network

3M India, an Indian Subsidiary of a US-based 3M Company, has collaborated with Smile Foundation to support the primary healthcare needs of the underprivileged population by deploying four mobile healthcare units at different rural locations.

“The healthcare vans will be flagged off on September 6, 2021, from Gurugram, Haryana, and will move towards Siddharthnagar in Uttar Pradesh, Gaya in Bihar, Balangir in Odisha, and Goalpara in Assam to provide preventive, promotive, and curative healthcare facilities,” 3M India said in a statement.

The company said that with this partnership, the focus is to reduce the burden on public health infrastructure caused by COVID-19 by providing more than 1, 50,000 treatments in these four regions over 39 months (13,000 treatments per year per location).

“This initiative will also help in understanding the current scenario of the healthcare infrastructure in these areas and create awareness among people leading to improved behavior towards hygiene, social distancing, and overall wellness,” it further added.

 Smitha Gopalkrishnan, 3M India CSR lead, said that 3M India’s partnership with Smile Foundation focuses on promoting healthcare equity and will provide access to diagnostic and preventive healthcare services in remote and backward areas.

Gopalkrishnan added that as India continues to fight COVID-19 and its variants, initiatives like this will help strengthen access to primary healthcare in rural and remote communities.

“We are delighted to partner with 3M India. We are optimistic that this partnership will help us deliver healthcare services to those neediest sections in the identified areas,” Co-Founder and Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation, Santanu Mishra said.

“Our country continues to battle the pandemic with exemplary courage. It is time that all stakeholders increase coordination to reach out to those in dire need,” Mishra added.