When Sultana Sheikh learnt that her breast cancer treatment would go into lakhs she refused to get any medical attention. Even after her husband who works as an electrician assured her that he would arrange the money and give her the best possible care, her answer did not change.
“It was probably the guilt of making my entire family suffer emotionally and financially that made me believe that it was better to die than spend lakhs on surgeries that didn’t guarantee a healthy life,” Sultana, in her late 30s, tells The Better India.
Sultana is one of the millions who suffer silently. Caught at the crossroads of expensive healthcare in private and inadequate healthcare services in public hospitals. India’s healthcare system has a stark difference, the private hospitals provide excellent albeit expensive qualitative medicare and government hospitals struggle to even ensure enough medical staff.The Public Charitable Trust provides support to patients in preventive, early and final stages of cancer. Since its inception, CIMS has serviced around 38, 000 lives.
Accessibility and Affordability with respect to basic health care is something that the poor in our country is still striving for. Thus, patients like Sultana stand invisible in the grand scheme of medical care in India.
Against this backdrop, Pune’s Care India Medical Society (CIMS) is doing stellar work in treating terminally ill cancer patients free of cost.
he Public Charitable Trust provides support to patients in preventive, early and final stages of cancer. Since its inception, CIMS has serviced around 38, 000 lives.
It was one of Sultana’s family members who suggested that she try Vishranti, “When I got to know it’s for free, I had many apprehensions. But, I was surprised to see the excellent care provided by the medical staff. I am grateful to CIMS for looking after my and my family’s needs,” says Sultana, who has undergone chemotherapy at Vishranti.
In the Memory of A Mother Who Lost her Fight with Cancer
CIMS was started in 1993 by Colonel (Retd) N S Nyayapathi and his wife, Dr Madhuri Kavoori (an Anaesthetist) in the aftermath of an inconsolable loss.
“It was a devastating period for me when my mother passed away. Despite giving her the best of medical attention, she succumbed to the disease. I could not even begin to fathom about patients who cannot afford or access such care. The thought pushed me to start an affordable alternative for cancer patients in India,” Col Nyayapathi recalls in a conversation with The Better India.
Over a period of time, the duo also established other projects like Matruseva (health maintenance programme for women), and CANTREAT (therapeutic services) in Vishranti.
The CIMS trust bears the cost of running all these projects, the purchase and maintenance of necessary machines like ultrasound, MRI, PET-CT, machines that run tumour marker tests, X-rays, and endoscopy.
“Our yearly expenditures are in crores and often we struggle to meet them. We had started out without any infrastructure and back then we had only one resolve that no one should go through terrible pain. That resolve is helping us overcome financial challenges even now,” he says.
End Goal – Defeating Cancer, Spreading Smiles
Here’s the entire post about the inspiring Story of a son who helped a lot of People Fighting with Cancer and spread awareness !