Rela Institute and Medical Centre (RIMC) and Milaap created the best humanitarian partnership in Indian medical history
- Supported nearly 100 medical causes and raised over 5 Crores in just 15 months
Chromepet (Chennai) Feb 13, 2020: According to
the Directorate General of Health Services, out of the nearly 260,000
fatalities caused by liver diseases, 200,000 (76%) can be attributed directly
to cases of liver failure and that on-time administration of a liver transplant
could have saved nearly 10 15 percent of these lives. In fact, liver diseases
still claim 3% of the total deaths in the country.
India is
considered to be the most cost efficient country for transplants, in fact,
having the lowest cost for transplants in the world. But among some of the
critical organ transplants such as kidney, liver and heart, a liver transplant
is still the most expensive. An average treatment cost ranges between Rs.15-30
lakh. Out of the estimated 5000+ annual requirements of liver transplants in
India, less than 150- 200 transplants are done every year. High costs are a
major impediment to the treatment.
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(R) Prof. Dr.Mohamed
Rela, Chairman & Managing Director at RIMC with (L to R) Dr.Gomathi
Narasimhan; Dr.Ilanchezhian; Patient - Adrika Das with Parents; Anoj
Viswanathan, President and co-founder, Milaap
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To address
this highly under-represented ecosystem of Liver Diseases in the country, Rela Institute and Medical Centre (RIMC)
and Milaap, South-Asia's largest crowdfunding platform have joined hands to provide
support to thousands of patients in India and abroad who are struggling
with the financial crisis of an unprecedented medical situation.
Chennai-based Rela Institute and Medical Centre (RIMC) is a renowned name in the healthcare industry, not just in India but
across the world. RIMC was established with a vision to provide outstanding
clinical care with integrated highly qualified medical professionals, who are
equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure.
A pioneer in providing
comprehensive, multidisciplinary and specialised services for liver diseases in
the country, it is known as one of the most scientifically advanced hospitals
in India with a multi-disciplinary
team of Surgeons, Hepatologists, Intensive care, specialised in adult and
paediatric care) under the able leadership of Prof. Mohamed Rela, Chairman
& Managing Director at RIMC, a world renowned Liver transplant surgeon. The
team has the experience of dealing with over 1500 liver transplants in the last
10 years.
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(L to R) Prof. Dr.Mohamed
Rela, Chairman & Managing Director; Anoj Viswanathan, President and
co-founder, Milaap
The emergence
of crowdfunding as a platform has come as a ray of hope to families crushed
under the burden of the medical expenses from the treatment. In most of the
emergency or tertiary healthcare causes, crowdfunding is not the only source of
funding, and is often the last resort after exhausting all other avenues.
Milaap,
South-Asia's largest crowdfunding platform have helped people across all age
groups and raised more than 60 Crores for Liver transplants. Till date platform
has supported over 3000 fundraisers for Liver related ailments, of which more
than half are for children.
Speaking
about the collaboration, Prof Rela said,
"For a patient living with liver disease, the financial burden can be
tremendous. The cost of a liver transplant plus a lifelong commitment to
immuno-suppressant is out of the reach of a common man. Our collaboration with
Milaap has made liver transplants affordable for many. Their seamless process
of raising funds and withdrawal has set a positive impact on the families,
giving them hope at the most desperate time of their lives. Our unique
initiative ensures that no family turns down the treatment owing to the cost,
and we are happy that in just more than a year, more than 100 families have
already benefited from this crowdfunding."
He further
added, "RIMC has the unique feature of performing both live donor (about
75%) and deceased donor liver transplantation (about 25%), which is considered
to be the only program in India. We have the largest paediatric transplant
program in India holding the credit for performing a liver transplant in the youngest
child in the country(previous press release data to be quoted). We have
performed the first split liver transplant and first Auxiliary transplant in
India, both very innovative procedures requiring high technical expertise.
These success stories attract patients from across the world, and we are glad
that we are able to help them get a new lease on life with the best facilities
and treatment irrespective of financial constraints. Other than LT, we offer
multi-speciality care for all kinds of Neurological disorders, Cardiac Surgery
and Advanced Paediatrics with BMT (Bone & Marrow Transplant)."
Speaking at
the conference, Anoj Viswanathan,
President and co-founder, Milaap, said, "When there is a cure, no
matter how complicated or specialized, everyone deserves a fair chance to get
life-saving treatment, and it's heart-warming to see healthcare providers like
RIMC going one step ahead to ensure people get the quality treatments and care
they seek for their loved ones during tough times, without an 'affordablity'
criteria. Milaap aims to connect those in need with those who can help, and it
is amazing to see how so many patients are helped by complete strangers."
Present at
the event was Adrika Das who was
diagnosed with a rare genetic liver disorder Prothrombotic Disorder
(Protein C Disorder) after birth. Adrika suffered from necrosis on various body
parts and has undergone her treatment at Rela Institute and Medical Centre,
Chennai for a liver transplant. Her campaign on Milaap raised an astounding sum
of Rs 33 lakh overnight, which not only covered Adrika's liver transplant but
alsoa follow-up surgery to remove part of her intestine.
About Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre: Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre (RIMC), an International
Medical facility, is a quaternary care hospital dedicated to fostering and
responding to the needs of a diverse patient population. The hospital provides
high quality healthcare with state-of the art infrastructure facilities and
experienced, caring medical professionals RIMC is designed to provide
mult-speciality care with special focus on multi-organ transplantation and
critically ill patients. In addition to quaternary care in all specialties, the
hospital is committed to providing day-to- day "primary RIMC Is a
multl-super specialy hospital in a sprawling landscape of 36 acres located in
Chromepet, Chennai, Tamil and secondary care" to patients. RIMC has one of
the world's largest dedicated liver intensive care units. Nadu, India.
About Milaap: Milaap is South Asia's largest
crowdfunding platform for personal needs, especially healthcare and related
needs. Constantly endeavouring to make it easier for people to raise money
online for the causes that matter to them, the platform enables lay-people to
raise funds for personal causes and emergencies, especially for tertiary
healthcare like Cancer care, organ transplants and accidents. Milaap's
community of funders come from over 130 countries across the world and have
contributed more than 750 crores for 200,000+ projects across India. Over the
last eight years, Milaap has become a preferred platform for people to raise
and contribute towards the causes they care about in India. Milaap.org is
constantly working to take crowdfunding to the masses. The website has over 2.5
million page views every month and is growing 3x yearly. The platform
constantly adds new features based on user feedback to ensure a hassle-free
experience. The e-mail support extends over 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, and
is rendered via a dedicated team that hand-holds users through any procedure on
the website.
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