Recently, paediatric haemato-oncologist Revathi Raj had a child patient from a village in West Bengal with a rare form of blood cancer that had spread to the brain. For 5-year-old Antara Ganai, a bone marrow transplant, costing ₹25 lakh, was the only cure.
“The patient’s parents fainted when I told them about the disease and the cost. They decided to take her back home. She was their only child, born after eight years of waiting,” said Dr. Raj speaking at a press meet on Tuesday.
But when Antara’s story was put on crowdfunding platform Milaap, donors contributed, and her transplant was done. “This June, Antara is ready to go to school,” said Dr. Raj.
Crowdfunding has become an increasingly popular method to help patients pay for high medical cost, and doctors in the city are now working with Milaap to recommend cases to the platform. Anoj Viswanathan, co-founder of Milaap, said they worked with 22 doctors from about eight hospitals in Chennai. “Since late 2014, we have had nearly 350 medical cases from Chennai hosted on Milaap and have raised nearly ₹10 crore for medical needs. We have had another 50 cases from the rest of the State. These include cases of transplants, cancer care and trauma/emergency care,” he said.
Doctors key
Since more and more cases were coming up on the platform, Mr. Viswanathan said they decided to work with doctors, because many of them in their individual capacities were raising funds for patients and could recommend cases. “The funds raised go directly to the hospital to pay for treatment,” he said.
Priya Ramachandran, paediatric surgeon at Kanchi Kamakoti Childs Trust Hospital, spoke of a baby who was born to a couple after they tried to have a child for 20 years. It had to be hospitalised for six months and undergo four major surgeries for a problem in the oesophagus. “The cost came to ₹17 lakh, all of which was raised by Milaap,” she said. Donors can contact the doctor or the hospital for details, said Mr. Viswanathan.
