dna impact: Tata Memorial likely to offer lodging for squatter cancer patients

Hundreds of patients that currently stay on the road outside India's cancer treatment hub Tata Memorial Centre in Parel, Mumbai, may gain respite soon from the misery of living on the streets. A headcount of conducted by dna published in a report, 'Ailing and homeless in Mumbai,' on February 4, revealed that as many as 350 patients and their family members wallow in ill health and infection on pavements outside the hospital.

Rahul Shewale, member of parliament in Lok Sabha from Mumbai's South Central constituency has written a letter to Dr Rajan Badwe, medical director at Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) for cancer treatment, proposing that the patients and their families be relocated to Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority's (MMRDA) unoccupied flats.

“The patients and their families undergo immense amount of physical, social and psychological stress as they stay on roads. The MMRDA flats in Chembur that were originally built for project-affected populace in the city lie unoccupied at the moment. I have proposed that this area be used to relocate cancer patients into proper houses. This has been done after consulting with MMRDA commissioner UPS Madan,” said Shewale.

Thousands of patients throng the corridors of TMC from the city as well as from other states to seek treatment for cancer. Third-year B.Sc student 23-year-old Anil Mutheli had to dropped out of college to ferry his old cancer-stricken father Chottelal (61) to TMC, for treatment of cancer of the vocal chord. His mother Leelavati devi has also come in tow. The entire family stays on footpath since over five months now, after they were driven out of Nana Palkar Dharamshala in Parel, in under a month.

“The dharamshalas in Mumbai that offer refuge to outstation patients are overcrowded and often turn away patients and their relatives. At times they refuse to keep patients even for a single day. On other days, they may ask patients to sleep in the verandah as there is paucity of space. We managed to stay there for a month, but that is the maximum time any patient can stay in Nana Palkar. We were finally reduced to staying on the road,” said Anil, who has barely managed to save Rs two lakhs for his father's treatment. Hotel accommodation in Mumbai starts from anywhere between Rs 800 – 1000 in the central and south Mumbai areas, the exhorbitant tariff rates of which, the patients are not able to afford.

TMC director Dr Rajan Badwe said, “Our team will inspect the place and take a call about housing patients and their transportation as well as emergency medical aid needs.”

For these helpless patients spending one day on the pavement is akin to waiting for a lifetime. Sleeping on roads at night is highly unsafe for women patients or their relatives. A 16-year-old girl who had brought her 45-year-old mother for treatment from Ranchi was a victim of sexual assualt at the hands of local goons, few months ago. “Time halts here. We keep waiting for days in a row for our chance to arrive to seek treatment in the outpatient department. On other days, we stare in blank space sitting on the footpath. One night, goons cornered me by brandishing their weapons. I had to succumb to their sexual demands to save my life as well as my mother's,” said the traumatized teenager.

After dna's February 4 report, Mumbai's Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria assured that security around TMC will be beefed up after evening. “I will make sure that police presence including women police constables are deployed from evening onwards. The local police station at Bhoiwada near TMC and the control room have been directed to despatch manpower and a mobile van in the area to ensure security,” said Maria.