Surgery Support

Need For The Programme

The National Health Profile (2017) published by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence states that about a quarter of all rural households and one in five urban families in India are forced into debt or the sale of assets to meet hospitalisation costs. There is a wide gap between the demand and supply of secondary and tertiary Public Healthcare. Consequently, families sometimes have to forgo essential treatment that can restore the quality of a child’s life. Each year India loses more than 1 million babies under the age of 1 year. Greater than 95% of these deaths can be prevented with access to good healthcare. It is therefore imperative to provide the poor with access to quality healthcare. Pew Research Centre, using World Bank data, has estimated that the poor population in India has more than doubled to 134 million from 60 million in just a year due to the pandemic-induced recession.

Objectives

The Surgery Support Programme seeks to bring together children from disadvantaged sections of society and public and private healthcare providers in order to provide the children with affordable, timely and quality healthcare. Our vision is to contribute to the health, education and well-being of children to enable them to achieve their full potential.

Our Target

Quantum of support depends on the nature of illness, cost of the treatment, family economic background and other resources available at disposal. Generally, Ekam Foundation Mumbai partly supports the expenses of the child, however, in exceptional cases, Ekam Foundation Mumbai bears 100% cost of the treatment depending on the need and resources available. For this particular proposal, we are looking to cover approximately 100 children with an average cost of Rs. 50,000/- per child. Ekam Foundation Mumbai proposes to target children aged 0-18 years from disadvantaged populations living in marginalised communities of Navi Mumbai. The Surgery Support Programme has assumed larger importance in the pandemic aftermath due to the financial and economic adversity faced by low-income communities. The pandemic has given us a new need to support more children seeking treatment from far-flung rural and semi-rural regions of India. There is no rental or other administrative cost included in the administrative cost.

The Beneficiary Approval Process

1. The Patient Welfare Officer mans the 24/7 dedicated helpline, which acts as the guidance and counselling centre for children and their families in need
2. The Patient Welfare Officer looks into the socio-economic status and the medical history of the applicant
3. The medical history of the child is communicated to the Medical Director
4. Parents are requested to contribute in whatever small amount they can; they are also advised to seek partial funding from other NGOs, while Ekam acts as a last-mile funder by making available the remaining amount for the treatment. In rare instances, Ekam Foundation Mumbai may support the entire cost of the treatment depending on the treatment cost and the family’s economic position
5. The Medical Director and Medical Committee members assess the history of the ailing child, and their socio-economic status to approve Ekam Foundation Mumbai’s financial support
6. After seeking approval from the National Medical Director, the Patient Welfare Officer hands over an acknowledgement letter to the treating hospital
7. Post-surgery/treatment, availing one-month credit period, Ekam Foundation Mumbai makes payment to the hospital directly. No payment is made to the beneficiary’s family. The hospital is requested to acknowledge receipt of payments for maintaining the audit trail