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Page 30 - The Indian EYE 081426
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    NORTH AMERICAN Newsline                                               AUGUST 14, 2026      |  The Indian Eye 30

              Where Compassion Meets Cancer Care

                       Experience and journey of a young Indian-American in Mumbai

            SPECIAL FEATURE
            By Raam Krishnan
                   n a narrow road in Mumbai,
                   just across from one of India’s
            Olargest cancer hospitals, a small
            storefront sits between aging concrete
            walls  and  steady  traffic.  Sandals  rest
            outside the door. Inside, Anand Clin-
            ic consists of a single room — white
            walls, plastic chairs, a desk, and metal
            shelves stacked with grocery packets.
                There are no examination tables,
            no IV stands, no white coats. Instead,
            there are lentils, protein flour, oil, and
            carefully assembled food kits waiting
            to be handed to families who have
            already spent everything just to reach
            the city.
                For thousands of cancer patients
            who travel to Mumbai each year, the
            most urgent cost is not only chemo-
            therapy, but sustaining the body itself.
                  The Journey to Mumbai
                Many families who arrive come
            from rural regions across India — Ma-
            harashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
            Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha,
            West Bengal, Assam, and the North-
            east. In their villages, access to diagnos-
            tic care is limited. Symptoms are often
            ignored until they become unbearable.
                Cancer remains stigmatized in
            many communities. Some believe it
            is contagious; others see it as punish-
            ment. Families frequently hide diagno-
            ses out of fear.                  hospital bills,” says Mehul Doshi, who runs Anand Clinic.
                Many patients come from ex- “But very few give them grocery or meal support.”
            tremely poor backgrounds. Daily wage   Even a small slum dwelling near the hospital can cost
            laborers may earn the equivalent of  ₹6,000–₹7,000 per month (roughly $70–$85 USD). Treat-
            one to  two dollars  a day. Others de- ment often lasts six to twelve months. As money runs out,
            pend on small landholdings — some- the first thing to collapse is diet.
            times less than half an acre — that   Chemotherapy reduces hemoglobin. Surgery weakens
            barely sustain a household. When ill- tissue. Recovery demands protein. Yet most families can
            ness strikes, income disappears almost  only afford basic staples like rice and wheat.
            immediately. A family member must     This is the gap Anand Clinic fills.
            travel with the patient to Mumbai,    The grocery kits provided by the clinic are designed not
            eliminating a second source of income.  just for the patient, but also for the family member who has
                Whatever savings exist are quick- traveled with them — someone who must survive in the city  chemists. When patients were too weak to travel, they needed
            ly exhausted. Jewelry is sold. Land is   without income.                             funds just to reach the hospital. Many could not afford rent.
            mortgaged. Livestock is given up sim-           An Accidental Beginning                 These everyday needs, invisible within the hospital sys-
            ply to reach the hospital.            Doshi never intended to start anything.        tem, often determined whether treatment could continue.
                By the time many families arrive,                                                   “I never planned this,” Doshi says. “It just happened.”
            they are already financially broken.  As a teenager, he donated blood regularly. Years later,
                                              he was asked to donate platelets for a cancer patient. Re-       A Platform, Not a Charity
                     The Hidden Gap           luctant at first, he eventually agreed.               Anand Clinic operates on a simple but unusual model.
                While trusts and charitable pro-  He returned again and again — ultimately donating   It does not collect money. Instead, it functions as a di-
            grams often help cover hospital bills,  platelets 294 times. During one patient’s treatment, he be- rect platform between donor and patient. Donors purchase
            basic survival is left unaddressed.  gan to notice something deeper. The issue was not just hos- groceries themselves and bring them to the clinic, where
               “Many trusts help them manage   pital bills. Families needed money for medicines from local               Continued on next page... >>

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