Doctors and social workers at Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) are irked over certain unscrupulous elements collecting funds in the name of helping cancer patients. They are appealing to people not to donate money to such individuals or non-profit organisations
"Some women, carrying money boxes, approaching commuters in the ladies first class compartment asking for donations for cancer patients is a common sight," said Shilpa Majumder, a social worker at TMH.
About three months ago, the railway police had detained a couple who was collecting money from commuters, claiming that it was on behalf of the hospital.
"We were approached by the railway police after they caught the couple. Our security personnel went to Kandivili station to verify the claim and found they were a fraudulent lot," said SH Jafri, public relations officer, TMH.
Another example is Jeevan Jyoti, a non-profit group, that publishes appeals in regional newspapers with names of patients from TMH, Wadia and some other hospitals.
One of the names was that of 27-year-old Sarmila Kumari (name changed), who registered for treatment at TMH a couple of weeks ago. Her name was used by Jeevan Jyoti in an ad in the Gujarati newspaper Mumbai Samachar.
"After reading my name, a social worker from TMH sent me to Jeevan Jyoti. To my shock, they had collected Rs40 lakh using the names of patients without any prior intimation. They said they would give me some money from the corpus," Sarmila told dna.
The hospital has put up information about patients who are in need of funds on its website www.tmc.gov.in.
"We appeal to those who want to help, to visit the website, click on the patient details and donate funds online or make a cheque payment directly to the hospital instead of falling in the trap of unscrupulous elements. Details of more than 170 patients who are most in need of funds have been put up," said HKV Narayan, medical superintendent, TMH.
He pointed out that donations were accepted on a patient-specific basis. Thus, in the event that a patient seeks discharge or expires, the excess funds are returned to the donor. "We wish to make the entire system transparent and accountable. By far we have received hundreds of donations online, some of this from Samaritans in far off places like France and Argentina," Narayan said.
About 60,000 patients seek cancer treatment at TMH from across India. Many of them are very poor and come from distant places in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa.
"Sixty per cent of patients require some or the other amount of subsidy for their treatment as they cannot afford expensive medication and treatment. The money given to bogus NGOs never quite reaches the patients, therefore we appeal to people who want to help cancer patients to approach the hospital directly," said Narayan.
Donate online to TMH
To help a cancer patient in need, visit the Tata Memorial Hospital website at www.tmc.gov.in. Click on 'How to Help' on the menu strap at the top of the page. Choose the gender and age limit of the patient you would like to help. Look through the profiles of patients registered on the site and donate funds.
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