SAMITA MISHRA MEMORIAL FOUNDATION FOR CANCER RESEARCH
is a nonprofit organization working actively to spread awareness about cancer in common people to save as many lives as possible
CANCER CURE
Everyday hundreds of poor patients come to Tata Memorial Hospital (Mumbai) from across the country because they may be suffering from Cancer. Often they come with very little money as most come from underprivileged backgrounds. The high cost of initial diagnosis deters them from returning for treatment. A study done by the pediatric department at TMH showed that the dropout rate is 20%.
To overcome this, Indian Cancer Society (ICS) came up with the Dr. Arun Kurkure Initiation and Treatment Fund. This fund is aimed at poor patients who are unable to afford the initial costs of diagnosis and/or need help in covering certain part of their treatment costs.
Initiation Fund:This fund is given to poor patients who are unable to afford the initial costs of diagnosis at the Cancer Hospital. Any patient from a government hospital can take benefit of this fund. An amount of Rs. 15,000/- is given to the hospital so that the patient can undergo all the required initial tests at the hospital for his diagnosis. The objective is to enable them to do the various tests to determine the diagnosis. If this is not done, they may go back home only to return to the hospital with the cancer in an advanced state.
Treatment Fund: This fund is given to poor patients so that certain part of their cancer treatment costs gets covered. An amount of Rs. 10,000/- is given after the completion of the due diligence process done by our social workers. We hope that by funding a part of the treatment, it will enable the patient to seek other funding resources
In the last 3 years, ICS has helped 1942 patients by assisting them initiate diagnosis and cover part of their treatment cost. We have spent nearly Rs 2 crores through this fund in the last 3 years.
Process:ICS has robust and efficient systems to ensure every rupee of donation is put to good use.
Patients whose annual income is below Rs. 2 lakhs are assisted under this program. When the patient comes with the hospital case papers, ICS Medical Social Worker does a due diligence on the family background, income and the balance in his/her hospital account. Once convinced and after proper documents are provided, the funds are released for the diagnosis/treatment procedures. The entire process takes about 3-4 days. The social workers also help these patients through counselling.
Indian Cancer Society- Cancer Cure Fund (ICCF)
The Indian Cancer Society – Cancer Cure Fund is a flagship project of ICS which provides financial aid for treatment to needy cancer patients. Cancer is curable, if detected early and treated in time. However, most patients in India with cancer are not able to afford the treatment costs and therefore do not survive this disease. This project has transformed the lives of over 2500 needy cancer patients across the country, many of whom have completed their treatment and returned to productive life once again. ICS has implemented this at a pan India level covering over 28 states and we are pleased to report that 80% of the beneficiaries are less than 30 years of age.
This project is unique, first of its kind initiative of ICS in collaboration with HDFC AMC Ltd. In February 2011, HDFC AMC launched a Debt Mutual fund which gave the investors an option to donate 50% or 100% of their dividend income from this mutual fund to the Indian Cancer Society to fund the treatment cost for needy patients. ICS is grateful to each of those 2500 investors of this fund who have donated their income to ICS and have helped transform the lives of these patients through the Cancer Cure Fund Project. ICS would also like to place on record its gratitude to HDFC AMC for launching this unique product that has enabled ICS to raise the funds required for this project.
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