Recently, on her recent visit to Western Railway’s Jagjivanram Hospital in Mumbai Central, Anila Verma realized that patients and their families found it difficult to commute to other referral hospitals such as Jaslok, KEM and Tata Memorial for extended treatments or tests. On September 22, a brand new 24-seater bus arrived at Jagjivanram Hospital, to be exclusively used for transporting patients and family members to other hospitals and medical facilities. The donors of the bus are the wives of Western Railway officials and staff led by Anila Verma, wife of R N Verma, general manager of Western Railway. Their group does philanthropic work for the welfare of railway employees and sometimes for people in general under the banner of the Western Railway Women’s Social Service Committee (WRWSSC).

“We often go to hospitals to see the patients and understand their problems. At Jagjivanram Hospital we came to know that transporting the patients to other hospitals particularly cancer patients is a great problem. The existing ambulance was not enough for this task. So, we thought of donating a bus, so that along with patients their relatives can also travel,” said Verma.

“This is the result of team work. All members of the committee are very hardworking. We work together. With me, there are office bearers like Pramjit Chug( vice president), Shikha Goyal (Secreatary ) Niharika Agarwal (Treasurer) and Radha Gupta( Joint secretary),” said Verma.

What draws these homemakers to work for society?

“The desire was always there. I used to teach housemaids and also inspired them for family planning,’’ said Verma.

... contd.