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Pediatric Chemotherapy Treatment
Host Sponsor Information
Host club, Rotary Bangalore Southwest (RBSW) is one of the very active clubs in Rotary International District (RID) 3190 involved in community service. RBSW was chartered in 1981. In its 32 years of existence it has rendered many community service projects in & around South Bangalore. RBSW's flagship programs include "Water for Life", "One Free Dialysis a Day" and "Disaster Relief". Under "Water for Life" RBSW facilitates safe drinking water to children by providing Water Filters to needy schools. Under "One Free Dialysis a Day" RBSW supports Free Dialysis program of Bangalore Kidney Foundation. RBSW has been consistently providing "Emergency and Rehabilitation Relief" through survival kits and reconstruction program to the people affected by natural calamities.
Rotary Bangalore Southwest (RBSW) also runs a 12 bed Pediatric Chemotherapy Centre at Rangadore Memorial Hospital, Shankarapuram, Basavangudi, Bangalore, INDIA to help economically weaker sections of the society. This centre was setup during 2010-12 through two matching grants #74765 and #76067 of The Rotary Foundation (TRF) at a cost USD 90,200.
RBSW also has setup a Neonatal Intensive Care Units at P D Hinduja Sindhi Hospital, Bangalore during the year 2010-11 under the matching grant #74064 at cost of USD 27000. NICU plays a crucial role in reducing Infant Mortality Rate in poor urban populations. Even in a metro like Bangalore, only few private hospitals have NICU and they are very expensive. This unit is providing intensive care to the new born requiring neonatal treatment at a cost affordable by people from economically weaker sections.
Community needs
At least 10-12 children per 10,000 population are developing cancer in India annually. Over 60,000 cases of cancer in children are being reported in India every year, only one out of 10 receives complete therapy i.e, only a fraction of them manage to receive proper treatment. The number of cases of childhood cancer is increasing in India. Unlike cancer in adults, childhood cancers have a higher cure rate. But, this is only possible if the cancer is diagnosed at the right stage and the child is given right mode of treatment. In the developed countries 80% of the children with cancer are cured. Therefore, in India, the cure for children with cancer should be a priority. The common cancers among children are acute lymphoblastic leukemia or blood cancer, germ cell tumour, brain tumour and liver and kidney cancer, among others.
A decade back, childhood cancers were 2.5% of the total number of cancer cases. Today, they add up to 5.5%. Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai alone treats 2,000 new pediatric cancer cases annually. Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore treats another 3000 new pediatric cancer cases annually.
It was found that the poverty contributed to high mortality among the pediatric cancers. Poor parents often find it difficult to skip a day's work and bring the child for chemotherapy. The sight of children suffering from cancer is most heart-rending. The helplessness of parents with modest incomes and the pain in the innocent eyes of the suffering child add to the poignancy. The plight of these hapless children is keenly distressing to the mind and heart, profoundly moving and touching.
Chemotherapy being the most preferred method of treatment for children suffering from cancer. Rotary Bangalore southwest identified this crttical need of the community and initiated a pediatric chemotherapy treatment project, to provide free or subsidized medicine to children suffering from cancer. This project was started off in the year 2010-11 as pilot project with an initial capital of US$ 1000.00. Through matching grant route, RBSW could raise US$ 43000.00 to provide pediatric chemotherapy treatment to 43 poor children. This project is being executed in Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore, which is one of the premier institutes for cancer cure in India. Out of the 43 children supported by RBSW under the matching grant, 37 children have survived translating to a survival rate of 88%. But for the support provided by Rotary, these children and their hapless parents would have suffered the agony of a precious life wasted even before it had a chance to survive and grow into a useful citizen.
RBSW encouraged its Rotarians as well as other well-wishers to visit the Kidwai ward where these 43 children are being treated. Overwhelmed and impressed by the enormous difference this project is making to these children and their parents, financial support poured in to RBSW. As of now we have US$15000.00 collected. RBSW intends to carry this project on a continuous basis year after year and provide support for treatment for at least 85 children every year. We invite one or more Rotary clubs outside INDIA to partner with RBSW for global grant from The Rotary Foundation. With funds from the global grant we will be able to sustain this project in the coming years.
Brief description of Project
RBSW wants to make pediatric Chemotherapy treatment project a continuous one and proposes to treat 85 more children during rotary year 2013-14 under Global Grant under the Rotary's 2nd focus area "Disease Prevention and Treatment". Under this project we propose to provide cancer and related drugs to needy children either free or at subsidized cost so that the people from the economical weaker section of the society can get their children treated for cancer related diseases. We propose to continue this project at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore.
Area of focus
This project comes under the future vision of rotary's 2nd area of focus i.e. "Disease Prevention and Treatment". Rotary Bangalore Southwest has identified this as their thrust area.
Consumption of tobacco in various forms is being on the major concern for cancer, as part of disease prevention, in the last two years our club has conducted many awareness camps under the program CAT (Campaign Against Tobacco) in the high schools and college targeting students at their most vulnerable age.
It is estimated that out of 1 million new cancer cases reported in India every year, Kidwai receives around 20 to 25% of new cancer cases each year. 12000 of these new cases reported are children. Kidwai, being a government aided hospital, offers cancer cure at very nominal charges. Yet, even this is unaffordable to a vast number of people.
Kidwai is a major and a model comprehensive regional centre for cancer research and treatment offering sophisticated diagnostic and treatment services to ever increasing numbers of cancer afflicted patients from Karnataka and adjoining states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra. It stands 2nd in the country (next to Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai) in terms of organization, accommodation, equipment, staff and patient turnover.
This is a continuing program of our club. During 2012-13 more than 10000 students have taken pledge under CAT program to shun tobacco in their lives. We plan to continue this program during the rotary year 2013-14 in a bigger scale.
As for as the disease treatment, as mentioned earlier we have taken up this project. This project will help the children to enter the main steam of the society and contribute to the well-being of the society.
Sustainability and Measurability
Many donors have promised support to this project in the future too. A sustainable project is one that is able to be maintained or kept going supported with basic necessities and sufficient funds. Interest is not merely the growth of money, it is also the philanthropists and corporates getting interested in the project and donating year after year for the project. We have confirmation from at least ten donors who have promised continued support year after year for this project. Hence sustainability of this project is never in doubt.
As for as measurability is concerned we have created a procedure to track the child patients who undergo chemotherapy treatment and collect information on the progress they have made during and after the treatment. This gives us the data to measure the effectiveness of the project. We have used this method in our pilot matching grant project and found to be very effective.
Approximate budget
The following table below gives the approximate budget for this global grant project. We seek partnership from one or more international clubs and districts to join hands in this humanitarian cause.
Contributor |
Amount (USD) |
Contribution from TRF (USD) |
Rotary Bangalore Southwest |
15000 |
7500 |
RI Dist. 3190 (DDF) |
10000 |
10000 |
International partner club |
15000 |
7500 |
International Partner District (DDF) |
15000 |
7500 |
Total |
50000 |
35000 |
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Grand Total |
85000 |
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