4 min readMumbaiMay 9, 2023 12:49 PM IST
First published on: May 8, 2023 at 04:46 PM IST
Being the biggest cancer institute in India, Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) gets around 50 calls daily about residential facilities for paediatric patients outside the hospital. Now work has started on a 12-storey building at Kharghar that can shelter 226 paediatric patients with their parents for free.
Along with accommodation, the paediatric patients will receive transport facilities to and from the treatment centres, counselling and vocational training. The foundation stone for the construction started by the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), part of the Tata Memorial Centre, was laid in April and the TMH signed a deal with St Jude India Childcare Centres, a pan-India NGO. During the 20-year course of the agreement, the hospital aims to help over 34,000 beneficiaries.
While cancer treatment may last as long as two years, the child may be an outpatient throughout this long stretch or may have brief periods where hospitalisation is required. Thus children who have to keep returning for follow-up visits need a place to stay and all other facilities every time they come back.
Doctors believe that housing the needy families on the campus at Kharghar will provide a safe and clean environment for underprivileged families during their children’s treatment.
Dr Sudeep Gupta, director of the ACTREC, said, “For better adherence to treatment, we try providing food, accommodation and free transportation so that underprivileged people coming from far-off districts don’t drop out of treatment.”
It will build an ecosystem for children to overcome the uncertainties of ill health with constant psychological and physical support. The centre will also simultaneously prepare them for a healthier and progressive future with future-ready skill sets.
During the stay of the children, special focus will also be paid on educational activities enabling them to learn and keep abreast of the topics and concepts being taught in school. “Learning is primarily activity-based. The child learns by participating in group discussions, conducting experiments, making models, creating charts and posters, role playing, completing worksheets and homework sheets, and engaging in various educational games and other activities,” said Anil Nair, CEO of the NGO, which has helped over 6,000 patients at their 40 centres across India. “This intervention helps children return to school after completing their treatment. Every centre has a library stocked with storybooks that children and families can access anytime.”
Many of the children slip into depression and sadness while undergoing treatment. So they will also be counselled along with their parents to express the feelings of anxiety, sadness, fear of known and unknown, anger, depression, helplessness and other emotions. “The counsellors give the children a space to speak from the heart without being judged. It helps them clarify their doubts that can’t be resolved by even their parents. They raise issues about their future and the quality of life after treatment. An open and true conversation helps them build a bond of trust with their parents and counsellors,” said Nair. The counsellors will have a masters in psychology and some work experience. “They will be trained in the centres before they are allowed to work independently,” he added.
Cancer is one of the fastest-growing non-communicable diseases and more than 50,000 children suffer from cancer in India. As much as 1.6 per cent to 4.8 per cent of all cancers in the country are seen in children under 15 years of age.
Doctors believe that housing the needy families on the campus at Kharghar will provide a safe and clean environment for underprivileged families during their children’s treatment. 
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