An innovative idea to help cancer patients proposed by a young cancer survivor from Hyderabad, Sushanth Kodela along with another cancer survivor, Chirag Kumar Shankar of Mumbai, has been selected for the finals of ‘The BigC Competition’, a worldwide competition of Livestrong Foundation, USA. The competition is aimed at bringing out the best innovations in the world that strives to make life easier for cancer patients.
Sushanth and Shankar have a start-up ‘unCancer India’ and their proposal to set up a cancer information centre was among the 752 ventures from 31 countries that participated in the competition. After elimination process, only five ventures made it to the final list and the duo will present their concept in the finals to be held at Austin, Texas, USA from October 14.
The friends had set up unCancer India at the incubation centre of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai in June, 2013. They have proposed to build a cancer information centre, wherein an individual or NGO can have access to information related to cancer. The centre will have patient education resources, patient support etc and can be scaled up to deliver resources for patients at the right time.
Twenty-six-year-old Sushanth, who has PG in social entrepreneurship from TISS, was diagnosed of a very rare cancer called Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma. “At the time of diagnosis, I thought it would be great if I survived a year. I have recovered and am doing absolutely fine. It was painful for me to have gone from pillar to post to find the right treatment for my condition. It made me think that if an educated person like me has to go through so much for the right information, how will the poor be able to access healthcare?” he said.
The youngster says cancer patients lack credible access to information during or before diagnosis. “They are left to fend for themselves and are highly dependent on support during such times. Usually owing to poor circumstances, patients give up on treatment,” he said.
To reach out to patients, Sushanth says that resources are needed. “While funding is one thing, we also need support from State governments, hospitals, religious bodies and NGOs in this sector,” he said. They can be reached at: uncancerindia@gmail.com
