Rotary chips in at TMH

RCB has aided bereavement support for grieving parents since 2011

Buldhana resident Suresh Manjulkar lost his 13-month-old son Dhanraj to blood cancer at Tata Memorial Hospital in Parel, in 2011. Hospital social workers helped Suresh and his wife Jyoti carried out last rites for the child at Shivaji Park Crematorium as Suresh had barely a few hundred rupees with him.

Since then, the hospital has provided emotional and financial bereavement support to financial weak parents of the deceased and Rotary Club of Bombay was the first, in 2011, to contribute towards this initiative.

Additionally, paediatric social workers ensure that one of them is beside the parents after a child dies. This is being undertaken by ImPaCCT (Improving Paediatric Cancer Care and Treatment) which also ensures financial help to
those who do not have money for treatment.

RCB’s aid, all way back from 2011, becomes all the more vital in the background of the difficulties faced by ImPaCCT in raising funds. Says Shalini Jatia, secretary of ImPaCCT, “Most donors want to contribute to curative purposes, while some contribute towards palliative care. Getting funds for bereavement support is most difficult.”

Dr. Shripad Banavali, head of medical and paediatric oncology at TMH, adds that there are four to six monthly
cases requiring bereavement support. He said, “At TMH, we aim to offer holistic care that covers cancer treatment
and financial, educational and nutritional support. Donors play a major role; we need many more donors to come forward.”