| A mobile pediatric service for India to bring the urban pediatrician into contact with the rural child is proposed. Essentially a minihospital on wheels, its equipment would include commonly used drugs, an immunization kit, emergency equipment, facilities for simple diagnostic techniques, provisions for an under-fives' clinic, folding furniture, and a medical records system. Staff would comprise a trained pediatrician, one postgraduate student, one intern, and four undergraduates, plus a pediatric nurse. This mobile hospital would visit nearby villages with a population exceeding 1 000, spending I day in each. Services would include health education (involving parents), emergency care, immunizations, an under-fives' clinic, and treatment of malnutrition, dehydration, and minor ailments. Serious, complicated, or clinically interesting cases would be transported to the base hospital. Once the scheme were established and parents convinced of its efficiency, limitation of family size would be encouraged. |