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Lucknow, June 21, 2022: MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck Sharp & Dohme (known as Merck & Co., Inc. in the United States and Canada) and Smile Foundation today announced the launch of three Smile on Wheels mobile healthcare units in the districts of Balrampur, Chandauli and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
Shri Brajesh Pathak, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, flagged off the mobile healthcare units today in Lucknow. Smile on Wheels is a national-level mobile healthcare programme focused on serving underprivileged children and women. Through the partnership, MSD Pharmaceuticals will fund three Smile on Wheels mobile medical units, that will provide primary healthcare services for underprivileged citizens in and around the three districts of Uttar Pradesh, under its CSR programme in India.
The programme aims to address the primary healthcare needs of 10 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh. The primary care services would be provided through enhanced technologies to doorsteps, thereby sharing the load of Government health facilities and delivery of quality healthcare.
“It gives me immense joy to flag-off these mobile medical units, which will support the healthcare accessibility measures in Uttar Pradesh,” said Shri Brajesh Pathak, Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister of Uttar Pradesh. “The Government of Uttar Pradesh continues to dedicate itself to improve accessibility to healthcare in the state and such complementary efforts deserve accolades,” Mr Pathak added.
Mr. Rehan A. Khan, Managing Director, MSD Pharmaceuticals, India Region said: “At MSD we are passionate about redefining healthcare and improving lives around the world. Building sustainable partnerships to meet India’s commitment for the unmet medical needs is one of our key focus areas. This partnership strengthens and supports capacity building for health care delivery,” he added.
“We are delighted to be able to provide access to primary healthcare services to those who need it badly but cannot access it,” said Vikram Singh Verma, Executive Director, Smile Foundation. “We are grateful to MSD Pharmaceuticals for their support to the Smile on Wheels initiative and look forward to continuing to work with them to provide primary healthcare services to the community,” he added.
The Smile on Wheels programme sends well-equipped medical mobile units, along with specialized doctors, nurses, medical staff, and medicines to villages and underserved communities to provide crucial access to healthcare services. The objective of the programme is to ensure improved healthcare services reach the doorsteps of people residing in unserved or underserved areas. Smile on Wheels provides free healthcare services to more than 1.5 million children and families every year across India.
About MSD Pharmaceuticals
For 130 years, MSD has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve lives. MSD is a trade name of Merck & Co., Inc., with headquarters in Kenilworth, N.J., U.S.A. We demonstrate our commitment to patients and population health by increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programmes and partnerships. Today, MSD continues to be at the forefront of research to prevent and treat diseases that threaten people and animals — including cancer, infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola, and emerging animal diseases — as we aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world. For more information, visit www.msd.com and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
About Smile Foundation
Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families every year through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and slums in 25 states.
