Travellers' Aid for the Sick

City services 

Rural people have limited experience or understanding of the complexities of the hospital system (hospitals in the capital city are frequently divided into specialties: Cancer Hospital, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, Chest Hospital, Hospital for Infectious Diseases, etc.). IRHS has stationed patient counsellors  in an office in Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station called Travellers' Aid for the Sick. Patient counsellors who work at the bus station rotate between patrolling the platforms and staffing a small healthcare centre. The roles of our patient counsellors at the station include:

• Finding sick people who have come to Hyderabad in search of medical care and directing them to the appropriate government hospital
• Guiding referrals from IRHS village clinics and 4 district cancer control programmes to the hospital where  they have an appointment
• Health education of travellers and bus station staff with a focus on life-style management such as monitoring blood pressure and blood glucose testing
• Basic first aid

Patient counsellors in hospitals

IRHS patient counsellors are stationed in all major government hospitals in Hyderabad. They work closely with the counsellors at Travellers' Aid for the Sick to ensure that rural people receive the care they are entitled to.

Their roles include:

• Guiding patients through doctor consultation, tests and treatment plan
• Counselling people about the treatment they will receive and offering support throughout their visit to the hospital, either as inpatients or outpatients
• Funding patients and their families when they cannot afford treatment, tests, transport, accommodation or food

Our impact since 2008