The RVM Foundation Humanitarian Hospital, located near Bannerghata Road, Bengaluru, is a charitable hospital that provides free medical treatment and quality healthcare facilities to the underprivileged sections of the society: the abandoned, destitute and those suffering from other critical health emergencies due to poverty and homelessness.
Contents
- History
- Current patient capacity
- A no cash counter hospital
- A competent medical team
- Medical facilities
- The RVM Mobile Clinic
- Ambulance service
- 247 medical helpline number
- RVM Foundation Transit Home Facilities and Services
- References
Besides the hospital, the foundation also runs the RVM Transit Home at Doddagubbi Post in Chikkagubbi Village, which serves as a home to the homeless and to those who are abandoned by their families and the society. The home provides free food and shelter to the residents alongside a caring environment. Hundreds of homeless patients, after the completion of their treatment at the RVM Hospital, are transferred to the transit home for rehabilitation purposes once they recover from their respective aliments and also to provide them with continued personal care and shelter.
History
Built in 1998, the 'RVM Humanitarian Hospital' and 'RVM Transit Home' are run by the RVM Foundation, which is headed by Ravi V. Melwani, the founder. After a successful career as an entrepreneur and businessman, he decided to dedicate his life to philanthropy, spirituality and inspirational work, and the hospital and the transit home were born of this endeavor.
The hospital has been blessed by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, who acknowledged this thoughtful and much-needed humanitarian initiative.
Current patient capacity
The RVM hospital started functioning as a 100-bed facility. Currently, with a capacity of 215 beds, the foundation is working towards expanding the hospital facilities to accommodate 1000 patients.
A no-cash-counter hospital
The hospital provides free medical treatment to the poor and the destitute. It collaborates with other hospitals for advanced surgical procedures and ensures that the patients are not charged for the same.
A competent medical team
A dedicated team of qualified doctors, nurses and attendants work around the clock to give personalized attention to each patient. As and when required, a panel of experienced doctors visit the hospital (visiting consultants) to provide advice on medical complications that may require an expert opinion.
Medical facilities
The hospital is well equipped in providing medical care. It has a dialysis unit to provide free or subsidized kidney dialysis services to the poor. Other facilities include a fully functional operation theatre to conduct general and minor surgeries, an ICU (intensive care unit for high risk cases), a pharmacy, an X-ray center, an ECG unit, a laboratory and a physiotherapy center. The hospital has separate wards, such as the general ward, for male and female patients, along with specialized wards to treat cases with burns, TB and HIV. It also has an orthopedic wing and a pediatric wing.
The RVM Mobile Clinic
The hospital has a ‘Mobile Clinic’ that organizes and conducts free medical camps (blood donation camps, eye check-up camps and general healthcare camps) in remote and rural areas, where people are poor and healthcare facilities are nonexistent.
Ambulance service
The hospital has its own ambulance to pick up patients from the streets or slums, which is attended by a devoted service team.
24/7 medical helpline number
In a conscious effort to involve the city in its initiative of service to humanity and ensure that help reaches those who need it in time, the hospital has a 24/7 medical helpline number.
The residents of Bengaluru can call to this helpline number any time they spot a helpless or homeless person who is in dire need of medical attention. Without any delay, the location is noted and a service team is immediately dispatched to that place, with the ambulance to pick up and transfer the person to RVM Foundation Hospital .
RVM Foundation Transit Home: Facilities and Services
The RVM Transit Home has a current capacity of 130 beds. It is a home for the destitute and the poor who have been abandoned or neglected by their own families.
Most of them have faced severe challenges and undergone some kind of trauma – physical, emotional or mental. Some of them have faced domestic violence, abuse or are burn victims (accidental stove bursts or acid attacks). Their medical and personal needs are taken care by the home, and a team of doctors visits them from time to time to keep track of their recovery and well-being.
Thus far, thousands of people have been sheltered at the home. Once the residents are deemed medically and physically fit, they are transited to NGOs, rehabilitation centers and homes that the RVM Transit Home networks with, depending on their need or type of care required. Sixteen of such residents (Special Cases) have been adopted by the foundation for life, and they will continue to be with the home as long as they live.